1 hour ago, NOTW said:

I notice when evaluating Howie's offseason, I don't normally see this mentioned: he upgraded CB2 - last year's worst position - with Riq Woolen. People talk about WR and Greenard, but forget they added a great starting corner. That makes the overall secondary stronger.

Plus some of last year's moves paying off this year. Kendall in his 2nd year is now considered a viable backup who could start if Dickerson injured, Lampkin same at Center.

Bell as a 3rd round OT who has a lot of potential to be Lane's replacement. That would be huge to have his rookie contract as a 3rd rounder instead of 1st, and give them open options in the upcoming draft rather than be forced to draft a 1st round OT.

He also took care of contract extensions for both Davis & Carter, something many fans worried wasn't possible.

There's also the development of young players as they gain experience and only get better. Hunt is now the top Edge, after his rookie season many thought he was a JAG. Trotter is now considered starter caliber, people wondered about him as a rookie. Mukuba started as a rookie, hopefully he shows year two growth. Even Ty Robinson showed signs of life after being considered a bust.

If Woolen is the Woolen of 3 seasons ago…yes, but you have to remember he was pretty bad the past 2 years. That’s why he’s on a 1 year deal, was shopped at the trade deadline last year and benched multiple times.

14 hours ago, Chest Rockwell said:

They

Had

To

Trade

Him

Good lord. Move on.

Never

Said

Not

To

Trade

Him

Weru isn't gonna get claimed.

2 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

Getting 4 years of control on the cheap is a huge asset if you like the player.

Yup. It’s why i could see a team in a rebuild or expectations are bad this year taking a chance on claiming him if they like him.

15 hours ago, DaBirds said:

Why? The passing game was terrible last year. All they have to do is be in the top 22 to be better than they were last year with AJ.

They will.

So much was off last season. Mostly OC issues.

15 hours ago, aptosbird said:

I am not necessarily seeing it....this is a totally different offense and I left the preseason seeing some encouraging things. If Saquon/Tank can reach a combined 60 or so receptions in space this season..the offense will be very special.

True. I’m speaking mostly from a WR standpoint just a lot of questions imo.

54 minutes ago, FranklinFldEBUpper said:

Perhaps true. But developmental pass rushers with intriguing traits come around every year. Mailata was more of a unicorn at a more critical position. His upside was much more significant. That made him worth the wait.

You are probably right. I wouldn't put edge too far behind in terms of critical positions, especially with how expensive they are getting.

1 minute ago, jwill2420 said:

So much was off last season. Mostly OC issues.

Disagree. The general consensus of the media after the fact was that a) Patullo was a bad OC and b) the largest contributor was the play of the OL. Both can be true.

1 minute ago, Connecticut Eagle said:

Disagree. The general consensus of the media after the fact was that a) Patullo was a bad OC and b) the largest contributor was the play of the OL. Both can be true.

Online was an issue as well also Jalen had some questionable decisions the offense as a whole was off.

I think Lemon will be very good. He was drafted to be a volume target from the slot and for agility more than speed. His projection is to be the Eagles version of St. Brown, Kupp, or Nacua. All of those guys ran about a 4.57 to 4.60. Lemon is a 4.53 guy. His success will depend on his hands and agility more than size or speed.

Having said that, I really didn't like the routes Mannion had him running against the Bengals. Hopefully, those were vanilla routes because he definitely wasn't getting open.

51 minutes ago, FranklinFldEBUpper said:

Perhaps true. But developmental pass rushers with intriguing traits come around every year. Mailata was more of a unicorn at a more critical position. His upside was much more significant. That made him worth the wait.

Not to mention learning and playing OL is infinitely harder than DL.

1 hour ago, jojodancer said:

Howie has had an amazing offseason.As long as Greenard is who we think he is, that will tip the scales for me.

who do you think he is?

Because he’s a 29 year old edge who had 3 sacks last year and wasn’t healthy and isn’t healthy this year.

Saw Drew Sanders got cut. Don’t see it happening now - we have depth at ILB and edge - but there was a recent time when I think we would have been all over that. Really interesting player when he entered the league.

Shouldn't waiver claims be awarded today?

EDIT: Supposed to be shortly after 1pm today. Surprised nothing has leaked.

31 minutes ago, Wentz_Era said:

If Woolen is the Woolen of 3 seasons ago…yes, but you have to remember he was pretty bad the past 2 years. That’s why he’s on a 1 year deal, was shopped at the trade deadline last year and benched multiple times.

Well he's an upgrade over the garbage we had last year, that's for sure.

7 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

who do you think he is?

Because he’s a 29 year old edge who had 3 sacks last year and wasn’t healthy and isn’t healthy this year.

Who also had double digit sacks the 2 years prior, and had a 13.5% pressure rate last year (7th in the NFL). If he has that same kind of pressure rate this year, then he will be a very good edge.

AJ Brown was a great receiver and will do well in New England. There were issues that led them to part ways, it is what it is. It's silly to downplay him and rewrite history as if he was a bad receiver or won't be missed at all. They have to replace his production, and they're going to do that with Smitty getting bigger numbers than he's used to, and spreading the ball around to other receivers.

1 minute ago, vikas83 said:

Who also had double digit sacks the 2 years prior, and had a 13.5% pressure rate last year (7th in the NFL). If he has that same kind of pressure rate this year, then he will be a very good edge.

The defense will be fine and them some with or without Greenard producing at a high level. I tend to think it will be without and could actually see him being the 3rd best edge on the team by the end of the year if Nolan Smith can stay healthy.

I understand how good he was 2023-2024, but you certainly understand the odds are against reversing a downward trend at 29, especially considering that he's not even starting off healthy.

21 minutes ago, Connecticut Eagle said:

Disagree. The general consensus of the media after the fact was that a) Patullo was a bad OC and b) the largest contributor was the play of the OL. Both can be true.

The health of the o-line was a big factor. I think, though, that a competent OC is able to work on a fix to help hide the flaws in the o-line. Patullo wasn't capable of doing that part of the job. If I was going to I was listing the top 5 problems with the offense last season, I think inability to execute because of the health of the oline is fourth. The first 3 are the: 1) lack of creativity in the passing game, 2) failure to intetgrate run and pass concepts 3) predictability of the play calling. If the defense knows what you are going to run, it's really hard to routinely beat NFL players especially if the skill advantage you have is negated by injury. The Eagles, for a lot of last season, played like a HS Team that just thought their talent would out play the competition.

4 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

who do you think he is?

Because he’s a 29 year old edge who had 3 sacks last year and wasn’t healthy and isn’t healthy this year.

Miles frrom Garrett?

1 minute ago, NOTW said:

AJ Brown was a great receiver and will do well in New England. There were issues that led them to part ways, it is what it is. It's silly to downplay him and rewrite history as if he was a bad receiver or won't be missed at all. They have to replace his production, and they're going to do that with Smitty getting bigger numbers than he's used to, and spreading the ball around to other receivers.

The issue isn't Brown -> Smith at WR1, it's Smith -> ??? at WR2.

3 hours ago, HazletonEagle said:

3 safeties is crazy.

CB lack of depth is a major problem.

The lack of depth in those 2 positions will affect the season if its not fixed. But Im sure Howie knows that.

My question is- did we keep the best 53? Or did we keep a few guys we just hoped we could trade? And if they werent our best 53, then is the trade market even there?

Maybe we would be better off if we had Gushiken or Wisniewski on the team rather than Dalton and only 3 safeties.

Maybe the upside of Weru, or the play of Jake Majors made those guys more appealing than a backup blocking TE4.

And what the hell is Mondon still doing here?

Some combination of Gush, Wiz, and Pulley WILL be on the 71-man roster.

5 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

The defense will be fine and them some with or without Greenard producing at a high level. I tend to think it will be without and could actually see him being the 3rd best edge on the team by the end of the year if Nolan Smith can stay healthy.

I understand how good he was 2023-2024, but you certainly understand the odds are against reversing a downward trend at 29, especially considering that he's not even starting off healthy.

I'd argue looking at the sacks number, as opposed to the consistent pressure rate, overstates the "decline."

But I also think Hunt and Smith are poised for big years. Feels like we should have 3 very good edge rushers, and solid depth with Ebiketie and Epenesa. Our edge group is better than last year or 2024 (didn't have good depth and Huff was a zero).

5 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

Who also had double digit sacks the 2 years prior, and had a 13.5% pressure rate last year (7th in the NFL). If he has that same kind of pressure rate this year, then he will be a very good edge.

He's an adequate replacement for Phillips last season. I like the depth with Epenesa and Ebiketie vs. Ojulari and Uche last season. If Hunt improves and Nolan just stays healthy, this can be a very good group.

The Eagles have rolled with 3 safeties (for week 1) more times than I can recall over the last decade. While their starting safeties haven't always been awesome over that time frame, I can't remember them EVER being burned by a lack of depth at safety. When called upon, they've usually had a backup step in and perform adequately at worst.

Whether it has been Cooper or Maddox before him, they've usually had a CB who shifts over to safety pretty easily when needed.