Howie Nuggets

Posted: March 31st, 2025 | Author: Tommy Lawlor

Dave Spadaro has some of Howie’s comments.

Signing RB A.J. Dillon: "Talented guy, out last year with an injury, seems healthy, determined to succeed. He’s a great complement to the guys we have here – obviously, Saquon is in a league of his own and we drafted Will Shipley last year and we’re very confident in Will with what he did last year as a personal protector on punts having never made a tackle in his life and playing as well as he played on special teams, and then when he had time on the field at running back he had a couple of long runs and we are excited to see what he can do.”

The comments on Dillon aren’t noteworthy. I did find the comments on Shipley to be interesting. The vibe I got is that the team sees Shipley more as a role player than a backup RB. His value is more on STs than offense. Maybe I’m mis-reading his words, but that’s the vibe I got. There is nothing wrong with Shipley being a KOR and STer, as well as a RB. It will be interesting to see if the Eagles add another RB this offseason. They have shown interest in Jaydon Blue, who is far more athletic than Shipley.

Signing LB Joshua Uche: "This is a guy that we’ve had our eye on for some time. We were interested in him as a free agent last year and he decided to go back to New England. At the trade deadline, he was traded and we had some interest there at that time, too, but felt we had a good rotation going with the edge group. Joshua is a talented guy with a great work ethic who has shown the ability to get to the quarterback.”

It sounds like the Eagles have had interest in Uche for a while. The Eagles have liked situational rushers for a long time. You can go all the way back to a guy like ND Kalu. The Eagles didn’t spend much on Uche so there won’t be a lot of pressure on him. He can come in and do his job without having the focus on him.

Signing TE Harrison Bryant: "A lot of these guys, when they hit free agency, you’ve done a lot of work on them as they enter the NFL Draft and we did a lot of work on Harrison at that time. He has a dual-skill set in that he can block and he can run routes and catch. He was probably known a little more for that part of his game when he played at Florida Atlantic. You see him in some of the positions that we ask our tight ends to be in here and the roles that we ask them to play.”

If Dallas Goedert is gone (more on that later), Bryant could be your starting TE. He has a complete skill set. He’s not as big as DG. He’s not as good a blocker or running after the catch, but Bryant is younger and could develop into a solid starter.

Signing CB Adoree’ Jackson: "Another guy that we’ve had a lot of conversations about to bring to Philadelphia through the years and we’ve always had tremendous respect for his skill set. The first thing you think about with Adoree’ is his ability to run. He’s an extremely twitched-up, fast guy with really great movement and ball skills. I’ve said this to him, that I don’t know that we’ve seen the best of him in his career yet, so we get excited to get those kinds of guys who have that kind of talent in their body and are determined to come here and work hard, so it’s a great opportunity for him and for us.”

This feels like a bit of a stretch, but I’d love to be wrong. Most CBs don’t play their best football at age 30. To be fair, Jackson has spent most of his career playing on bad defenses. That puts a lot of pressure on CBs. The Eagles led the league in defense last year and should be good again in 2025. Playing on a unit like that could bring out the best in Jackson.

Signing OLB Azeez Ojulari: "We obviously know him well with us playing the Giants twice each season. He played at Georgia and we’ve got a bunch of guys from there who have played well for us. Azeez fits in right away. He’s got the ability to rush the passer and he has a lot of the physical and intangible traits that we look for and we’re excited to bring him here and hopefully help him play his best football.”

The Eagles spent more on Ojulari than the other free agents. This feels like less of a sales job. Howie is saying "The guy is good. We liked him. We signed him.”

Howie talked about LS Charley Hughlett, LB Patrick Johnson and RS Avery Williams. He focused on character in all of those comments. That matters on STs. You need guys that embrace doing the dirty work. Some players struggle when they aren’t starters or key backups. When you find guys that have STs ability and the right mindset, they can be valuable. Howie might feel that adding high character players has real value, even if they are backups and role players.

*****

Howie talked about the CJGJ trade.

He admitted the trade wasn’t about getting great value. It was financial. Howie also let us know that Sydney Brown is going to have a real shot to win the job. Don’t think about adding a veteran safety for now. The team wants a young, cheap solution at safety. Brown is healthy and will get his chance. The Eagles will likely draft a safety, either to challenge Brown or to add depth to the position.

Howie’s comments on Dallas Goedert didn’t say anything new or noteworthy. That’s kind of what makes them noteworthy. Rather than shoot down the rumors of a trade, Howie gave a generic statement. That tells us money is still an issue and something has to happen. I hate the thought of trading DG, but it feels more likely to happen than not at this point.

If this is the price of having Barkley and Baun, I can live with that.

Here is Zach’s piece on Howie’s comments.

*****

There was a lot of talk about the tush push. I’m not getting too fired up about this.

A bunch of coaches got asked about it. A majority of them said they were against banning it. They don’t vote, though. It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out.

Sean McDermott keeps playing the safety card, despite a lack of evidence that it causes injuries.

I hope the play stays because the Eagles are so good at it. If it is banned, it will put a chip on Nick Sirianni’s shoulder and that can help the team as well.

http://igglesblitz.com/2025/03/howie-nuggets/