52 minutes ago, greend said:

So far this draft is a meh for me.

I was on the anti-Greenard bandwagon all offseason. But the way they pulled it off eases the sting. I do get the sense Howie didn't like this draft. Dropping a 2026 3rd that may not have amounted to much and a 2027 3rd that likely gets replaced by comp picks next year, on top of a pretty reasonable contract, makes me feel like they'll get more help on the field without noticing the cost much.

Stowers can be exciting if he's utilized properly. That's a tricky situation, because I don't think anyone is precisely sure what the right utilization is going to be. Depending on how he's used, where he's used, who else is on the field, how he ends up playing in pads as a pro....he could either unlock parts of the offense and field or congest them. I know I may lean into workouts too much, but it's just interesting to think of what one of the most vertically explosive players in combine history can do...and he is a pretty polished receiver on top of that. The decision to make is if the poor blocking needs to be fixed (make him evolve into TE1) or accepted and avoided (WR, full time slot, more 12 personnel, H-back, etc etc).

Bell is a fun pick. Any OL purist who doesn't like leaning or standing upright is probably scoffing at the pick...and I realize Stout isn't here...but I'm still going to give them the benefit of the doubt on drafting and developing physically unique OL as they've done it so well, so many times, even pre-Stout with this franchise...

...kind of like how I'm not going to give them the benefit of the doubt when drafting physically underwhelming WRs. Devonta Smith is still physically unique and his separation-ability / route gliding was truly special. He was arguably the most dominant WR in modern NCAA history and ready-to-go NFL WR prospect. My point is that he was enough of a slam dunk solid player that his top 10 selection does nothing to convince me they've figured out how to identify, draft, develop, and integrate WRs into their offense. There are all pro 5'11" WRs without deep speed or explosiveness out there...but I'll believe that the Eagles can find one and get that (or something close to it) out of them when I see it. IMO, Lemon's downside is our typical WR pick and his upside is a good slot. I just don't see how that's a good first round investment. But the pundits all l-o-v-e the pick. So ideally I'm proven wrong on this.

I think this draft was fairly shallow in the areas of need for the Eagles, but Howie hit the top 3 needs with Lemon, Stowers, and trading for Greenard.

While WR is deep, it had just a few top end players and I think Lemon is one of those.

OT had just a few at the top, but with a lot less depth than years past.

Edge is just weak across the board this year.

For once LB isn't a need and this is a pretty good LB class all the way through

RBs can be had throughout the draft like most years

While I'm not the biggest fan of trading away 98 this year and another 3rd next year, they are both comp picks pushing them into "early 4th round" territory. There just wasn't anything there at Edge.

At this stage for safety, maybe we can explore the veteran trade route. Still can't believe they passed on EMC after he falls to you in round 2.

Budda Baker, Jessie Bates off the top of my head.

Kilgore and Scott from Miami are sitting there but they'll have to move into the round with very minimal picks.

9 minutes ago, Arsenal79 said:

The Stout Slurping is way out of hand. Sure he was a nice OL coach when he wasn't sabotaging the offense, but we've had great OL for the past quarter century.

The key factor is TALENT, as it always has been.

Exactly...so I asked this question before...if the Eagles didn't draft OL....do you think:

A) It's because the Eagles as an organizations suddenly don't believe in building through the trenches any more?

B) The Eagles believe that their trenches are still a strong point?

C) The Eagles believed that there were no players WORTH drafting over who they did?

D) Some combination of these

I don't think it's A and I think it's more B & C.....I think the Eagles will always look to strengthen their lines (both offensive and defensive) but I also believe (and they have tons of scouts, ability to meet with players, watch film, etc.) that they didn't feel that where they were drafting and when, that there was anyone worth drafting to improve their OL room. And we can armchair GM all we want, at this point, am I going to trust a team that has been one of the most successful for the last quarter century, or listen to some of you whinny biatchos?

I do think there is a possibility the Eagles fully intend to use Michael Carter II as safety this year and are confident he can do the job.

I don't think Vic would keep his mouth shut if he felt a position was being completely ignored in his last year of NFL coaching.

Let's get our new kicker, don't screw around, pick him in the 5th

C’mon let’s not do the homer fan thing where the second someone great leaves town they are no longer amazing anymore as a means of copium.

Stout was a generational OL coach. We’ve had the best OLs under him in the NFL for a decade had our most successful eras under him and he played a huge part in it. Will the team completely spiral into irrelevance without him? I don’t think so, but let’s not pretend he’s not some huge loss and didn’t make an incredible impact. Take it from the players themselves, our OL named their own university after the guy. Great coach, great developer of talent. And not every team and coach can develop talent well. We had a coach who was best at it in the NFL. I’m not gonna short change the guy now that he’s out the door. Look at that loser baseball team across the street that can’t develop talent to save their lives.

6 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

I do think there is a possibility the Eagles fully intend to use Michael Carter II as safety this year and are confident he can do the job.

I don't think Vic would keep his mouth shut if he felt a position was being completely ignored in his last year of NFL coaching.

Vic knows a few things in this situation

• Your best defense is a great offense

• We are still another year away from true progress due to the lack of one position

• It's more than likely Vic's last year so he is just chilling 😎

11 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

I do think there is a possibility the Eagles fully intend to use Michael Carter II as safety this year and are confident he can do the job.

I don't think Vic would keep his mouth shut if he felt a position was being completely ignored in his last year of NFL coaching.

That’s probably part of it but I think a lot of it is

1) They just want to prioritize offense and premium positions this draft.

2) The safeties probably weren’t Fangio types. Fangio likes rangy safeties that can cover a lot of ground and be a center fielder type and a lot of the safeties in this class while really good are not that. A lot of them are box safeties and that isn’t Fangio’s ideal safety.

Makes me wonder if they don’t draft one if they end up trading for one.

So we have f all left today…

Howie must really think this draft class is bad

9 hours ago, BigEFly said:

I kind of wonder if they don’t have a handshake arrangement with Becton that gets signed the day comp picks aren’t impacted.

He was cut. Comp picks were never in play

12 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

C’mon let’s not do the homer fan thing where the second someone great leaves town they are no longer amazing anymore as a means of copium.

Stout was a generational OL coach. We’ve had the best OLs under him in the NFL for a decade had our most successful eras under him and he played a huge part in it. Will the team completely spiral into irrelevance without him? I don’t think so, but let’s not pretend he’s not some huge loss and didn’t make an incredible impact. Take it from the players themselves, our OL named their own university after the guy. Great coach, great developer of talent. And not every team and coach can develop talent well. We had a coach who was best at it in the NFL. I’m not gonna short change the guy now that he’s out the door. Look at that loser baseball team across the street that can’t develop talent to save their lives.

You conveniently left out how he sabotaged the offense due to hubris and ego about his "run-game coordinator" status. And enough with the "generational" nonsense - he was handed an insane amount of talent, and it's not like he "coached up" any bums or talentless guys into becoming great.

The game passed him by. We've had great OL before Stout and we'll have great OL after Stout, as long as Howie continues to bring in big-time TALENT.

Dan thinks they are building an offense for another QB. Wild.

Genuinely think the worst spot on the team is backup OG. If Dickerson gets hurt again, and he will, who plays? Cam at least has Kendall behind him. We have Johnson/Bell now at OT.

Not sure how they fix this given this guard class and teams don't trade OL.

19 minutes ago, DeathByEagle said:

Let's get our new kicker, don't screw around, pick him in the 5th

We actually have no long snapper. I expect one today in rd 7 or a priority UDFA

2 hours ago, eagle45 said:

And that goes back to why I don’t like our first pick. A primary slot WR in round 1 and a hybrid TE who is primarily a big slot may not fit well together.

Yep. That’s why the pick is so confusing. Well that and Howie basically saying when he talked about adding blocking to the TE room he meant just having a third string TE who is a designated blocker.

Time to look at New England’s roster to see if they have any safeties to include in the AJ Brown trade.

2 hours ago, HazletonEagle said:

Draft today. Barely. Need more picks.

Flyers playoff action today

It's interesting to see so many other teams fans saying Howie keeps getting away with it and loving our draft

9 minutes ago, RLC said:

Genuinely think the worst spot on the team is backup OG. If Dickerson gets hurt again, and he will, who plays? Cam at least has Kendall behind him. We have Johnson/Bell now at OT.

Not sure how they fix this given this guard class and teams don't trade OL.

I’d argue safety is right there. Mukuba looked good at times as a rookie but got hurt and a worry with him was always his size. Epps is ok. Michael Carter might just be a backup at this point of his career and he’s also being asked to be full time safety not hybrid slot and safety.

2 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

Time to look at New England’s roster to see if they have any safeties to include in the AJ Brown trade.

Was looking at the FA class next year at safety, there’s a handful of guys with deals coming up and teams that had regime changes. I still wonder if something happens in that area in the trade market after the draft before the season starts

When we traded the 4s to get Lemon I thought we were going to miss out on a decent TE2 who could block in that range. Turns out the board has been picked clean. I think teams saw what McVay did with heavy personnel and will try to copy it. There’s no other reason why so many guys projected as backup TEs went late in round 2 and throughout round 3.

3 minutes ago, NOTW said:

It's interesting to see so many other teams fans saying Howie keeps getting away with it and loving our draft

Because they don’t spend a second thinking about scheme and fit. It’s more about, "hey, I know that name!”