This is the day…. The day the Phillies turn it around….

Probably lose tomorrow

8 minutes ago, HazletonEagle said:

Nadame Tucker to the Chargers. Damn.

You saw that Klein went 2nd round to Houston,right?

Rams got Dan Villari. They didnt need another TE. Damn.

Just now, just relax said:

You saw that Klein went 2nd round to Houston,right?

yep. ahead of some bigger names.

2 minutes ago, just relax said:

Much better. Sorry to say. JMHO.

I think you’re right but I don’t want to get too excited just yet. I’m always ready for a DAL letdown.

Just now, EaglePhan1986 said:

And it’s going to be easy to get a guy better than Hurts? I guess if Hurts really stinks they’ll get a high pick.

You don’t need a high pick. You need to be correct in your evaluation of talent, work ethic, and character. Hurts was the 53rd overall pick but the Eagles recognized his athleticism and intangibles. Just last year Tyler Shough was the 40th overall pick. The Saints had the #9 overall pick but knew he’d be available at 40 overall. He had prototypical size, good mobility, and can sling it 60 yards downfield without max effort.

They just need to evaluate, develop, and surround them with talent.

2 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

So I really like the Stowers pick. He's the one guy in this draft that was a hit for me...I was talking about this guy being on brand for Howie back in December. So what I'm about to say isn't negative, just some guardrails they'll need to avoid pitfalls in his development:

Stowers is sandwiched between two problems. If he's a true TE, he's going to have to learn to block. Otherwise, the way defenses treat him will shut him down in the passing game. And if he's going to be more of a stand up / slot / X....wide receiver (and apparently many scouts evaluated him as a WR and feel he belongs there)....then we need to question the rest of our WR corps. Adding a TE convert to a WR corps that is already kind of slow and filled with slot types is a fit issue. But he's also sufficiently uniquely and exceptionally talented as a receiver that I almost hate to compromise that by square-peg-round-holing him and forcing him too aggressively to develop as a blocker.

I legitimately would have passed out from shock if Stowers wasn’t your favorite pick from this class. He might have been the most E45 coded player in the draft.

Just now, ManuManu said:

I legitimately would have passed out from shock if Stowers wasn’t your favorite pick from this class. He might have been the most E45 coded player in the draft.

I'm not certain he's my favorite. I really like all the later picks besides the QB. But, yes, I do like the pick a lot. That said, he has a clear path to failure that needs to be avoided. Maybe not complete failure, but LJ Smith 2.0. They need to be thoughtful in their role for him.

Just now, eagle45 said:

I'm not certain he's my favorite. I really like all the later picks besides the QB. But, yes, I do like the pick a lot. That said, he has a clear path to failure that needs to be avoided. Maybe not complete failure, but LJ Smith 2.0. They need to be thoughtful in their role for him.

I’m an optimist. I choose to believe he will toughen up the more he plays the position and become a passable blocker. But that might be the Two-Hearted IPA talking.

Just now, ManuManu said:

I’m an optimist. I choose to believe he will toughen up the more he plays the position and become a passable blocker. But that might be the Two-Hearted IPA talking.

From what I hear about him, he's a high quality high effort do-what-it-takes kind of player and person. Unless we are trying to get to Gronk tier, most high volume receiving TE's succeed or fail in blocking based on effort. I think because he played for a lousy school and was lightyears ahead of the rest of his offense as a receiver, he was never asked to block...and that is over-distorting the narrative a bit that he's actually such an awful blocker.

Sadiq, as an example, was hardly used as a true receiver. Screens, sweeps, blocking....nobody says his routes are terrible. Maybe they are, maybe they aren't, but he hardly ran any with Oregon. He still went 14.

I'd rather have my high draft pick have a giant question mark over their blocking than their receiving.

10 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

This is the day…. The day the Phillies turn it around….

Probably lose tomorrow

I can remember watching a Cubs game back in the 1980s when they were mired in a 13-game losing streak. Harry Carey was always such a homer, and when the Cubs recorded the final out in the ninth inning to end the streak, Carey was ecstatic.

"Cubs win! Cubs win! They just might WIN 13 in a row!!” Of course, they did not. They went right back to losing the next day.

I wanted to see a re-tooling at the end of last season. The Phillies were getting further and further away from contending. Instead, they’ve basically run it back yet again this year with the same guys who can’t get it done. They’re not Sixers-level lost in the woods, but they’re definitely going in the wrong direction organizationally.

I really like the Stowers pick, I know a lot of folks here wanted a better blocking TE but he is a tremendous athlete. A new style of offense will take advantage of his skills. He’s a smart player converting from QB to TE through his collegiate career. He’s a bit lighter than Tucker Kraft but I can see him doing the same kind of things as a receiving TE/slot.

Love the Uar pick, I think he is going to be really good, like star material good in the long run. I might be wrong on that but damn with his physical attributes and athleticism it’s worth a swing for sure.

9 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

I’m an optimist. I choose to believe he will toughen up the more he plays the position and become a passable blocker. But that might be the Two-Hearted IPA talking.

I agree. Players develop and he’s new to the position. He seems willing and quite frankly most starting TEs aren’t great blockers they just need to be not terrible

One thing about Lemon....he reeks of a Mannion pick.  It's either Mannion getting his type for his offense or it's Howie getting trendy after the JSN / Amon-Ra St. Brown success. I tend to think it's the former.  I would love, love to be very wrong about Lemon and have you guys throw it in my face after he's a smashing success.  But if he does bust, I could see Howie closing the book on those under-explosive WRs for good.  He gets athletes everywhere else and consistently gets burned by middling WR selections.

On the OL Eagles have a number of OTs between last year and Bell and now a few OGs that are all long shots to become quality starters but have potential. It would be very beneficial if one turned out and a home run if 2 of them did

5 minutes ago, Alphagrand said:

I can remember watching a Cubs game back in the 1980s when they were mired in a 13-game losing streak. Harry Carey was always such a homer, and when the Cubs recorded the final out in the ninth inning to end the streak, Carey was ecstatic.

"Cubs win! Cubs win! They just might WIN 13 in a row!!” Of course, they did not. They went right back to losing the next day.

I wanted to see a re-tooling at the end of last season. The Phillies were getting further and further away from contending. Instead, they’ve basically run it back yet again this year with the same guys who can’t get it done. They’re not Sixers-level lost in the woods, but they’re definitely going in the wrong direction organizationally.

Tbh it’s better if they completely collapse cause it’ll force them to deal guys at the deadline and make changes. Imo if they are like 7-8 games out of the wildcard by all star break they need to consider asking guys like wheeler if they can trade them. He has this year and next year then he is retiring. I’d like to see him compete and win a WS. If we are just bad then give him a shot to do it.

8 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

From what I hear about him, he's a high quality high effort do-what-it-takes kind of player and person. Unless we are trying to get to Gronk tier, most high volume receiving TE's succeed or fail in blocking based on effort. I think because he played for a lousy school and was lightyears ahead of the rest of his offense as a receiver, he was never asked to block...and that is over-distorting the narrative a bit that he's actually such an awful blocker.

Sadiq, as an example, was hardly used as a true receiver. Screens, sweeps, blocking....nobody says his routes are terrible. Maybe they are, maybe they aren't, but he hardly ran any with Oregon. He still went 14.

I'd rather have my high draft pick have a giant question mark over their blocking than their receiving.

Vandy straight up took him off the field on clear running downs. Thats very concerning. My hope is that he eventually becomes someone who can lose slowly, or at least try to complete his assignment. A clear step up from Calcaterra would be a massive win.

One thing going for Uar…and this will probably trigger someone…defensive tackle is probably one of the easiest positions to pick up with no experience in all of the sporting world.

The assignments are limited. The skill set isn’t exactly something that takes a lifetime to refine.

32 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

From what I hear about him, he's a high quality high effort do-what-it-takes kind of player and person. Unless we are trying to get to Gronk tier, most high volume receiving TE's succeed or fail in blocking based on effort. I think because he played for a lousy school and was lightyears ahead of the rest of his offense as a receiver, he was never asked to block...and that is over-distorting the narrative a bit that he's actually such an awful blocker.

Sadiq, as an example, was hardly used as a true receiver. Screens, sweeps, blocking....nobody says his routes are terrible. Maybe they are, maybe they aren't, but he hardly ran any with Oregon. He still went 14.

I'd rather have my high draft pick have a giant question mark over their blocking than their receiving.

He is a truly BAD blocker. Like, comically bad. On top of that, I don't think he has the frame to get into the 255 pound range to ever be an in-line blocker.

If he can be mediocre blocking on the move, I'd be happy. Crack some guys from motion, hit a guy on a WR screen when lined up in a bunch formation. That kind of thing.

Just now, TEW said:

He is a truly BAD blocker. Like, comically bad. On top of that, I don't think he has the frame to get into the 255 pound range to ever be an in-line blocker.

If he can be mediocre blocking on the move, I'd be happy. Crack some guys from motion, hit a guy on a WR screen when lined up in a bunch formation. That kind of thing.

Then maybe he should be considered as a WR.

Just now, eagle45 said:

One thing going for Uar…and this will probably trigger someone…defensive tackle is probably one of the easiest positions to pick up with no experience in all of the sporting world.

The assignments are limited. The skill set isn’t exactly something that takes a lifetime to refine.

More important is the path to playing time is easier. Unlike Mailata, we can get him snaps in a rotation. We have high snap volume DTs ahead of him, so getting the kid 10 snaps a game so he can actually improve with real experience without risking an entire game like you would at OT is a huge benefit to playing DT.

2 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

Then maybe he should be considered as a WR.

He doesn't really have the speed for that in my view, despite the low 4.5 forty -- if you watch him in college, it's not like he was really burning guys with speed. Stowers is a matchup chess piece. Too fast and athletic for a LB too big for a DB. The playbook needs to include a lot of pages dedicated to exploiting him tactically. I am going to be very disappointed if the Eagles didn't have a very specific plan mapped out for how to use him before they made the pick.

17 minutes ago, TEW said:

He doesn't really have the speed for that in my view, despite the low 4.5 forty -- if you watch him in college, it's not like he was really burning guys with speed. Stowers is a matchup chess piece. Too fast and athletic for a LB too big for a DB. The playbook needs to include a lot of pages dedicated to exploiting him tactically. I am going to be very disappointed if the Eagles didn't have a very specific plan mapped out for how to use him before they made the pick.

Yep. The play speed works well against LBs. Not so much against corners and safeties. Maybe it works better if he gets savvier as a route runner.

10 minutes ago, TEW said:

He doesn't really have the speed for that in my view, despite the low 4.5 forty -- if you watch him in college, it's not like he was really burning guys with speed. Stowers is a matchup chess piece. Too fast and athletic for a LB too big for a DB. The playbook needs to include a lot of pages dedicated to exploiting him tactically. I am going to be very disappointed if the Eagles didn't have a very specific plan mapped out for how to use him before they made the pick.

Stowers doesn’t run like a WR; his stride is gangly, like a pass-catching TE. He would have little or no value trying to convert him to WR. He can excel in the middle of the field, but wouldn’t have much impact out wide.

I think most will be surprised how much Lemon sees the field and how little Stowers does in 2026. I’m pretty sure when Howie/Nick discussed Stowers they mentioned him being a guy to make plays on 3rd down, then added in 1st and 2nd down as an afterthought. They’ll have packages for Stowers as a 3rd down receiving weapon, but it’ll be Goedert on 1st and 2nd downs. Stowers will intern for 2026, bulk up in the weight room, and learn the craft of playing TE properly so he can take over as TE1 in 2027. If he becomes a pass-catching TE like Ertz, the Eagles might draft a more rounded one in the next couple of years to pair with him.

Lemon, OTOH, will hit the ground running, play 80% of the snaps, and get about 90 targets I predict.