Rebuilding the team - discuss the future of the Eagles (orig post Sept 2020)

[ManchesterEagle]

3 hours ago, birdman#12 said:

LMAO at all the dump Howie talk.  This team has had one MAJOR issue since the super bowl win and that is INJURIES.  And the fact that they have made the playoffs for 3 straight years is a testament to how deep the roster has been.

Yeah, there is a bad contract or two, and the cap is tight, but that is a by product of having good players.  And he always manages to sign strategic free agents to build depth and an occasional starter.  The weak areas of the team also have to do with Pedersen and his coaching staff.  It isn't a one man decision making process.  

This team has had more injuries in critical positions than any other NFL team over the last 4 years.  And anybody who dismisses that is clueless.  It's a real problem with no clear answer.  But the amount of guys they lose has to cost them 2-3 games a year.

Fans whine about the drafting without ever really knowing how it measures up to other GMs.  Roseman is generally considered to be one of the top 5 GMs in the NFL year after year, so naturally philly fans want to dump him....f------- idiotic.  Fans cherry pick picks that didn't work out without ever considering that 31 other GMs didn't value certain guys well either.  It's a crap shoot, even with all the analytics.  Some guys have hit their peak in college and there's NO WAY to evaluate that.

Again, the biggest issue with the Eagles have been injuries.  But fans here call that an excuse.  If injuries don't matter, then neither does talent.  Teams will always take a step back or struggle when so many starters and backups lose significant time.

Just once, I'd like to see one of these rosters go thru a season with minimal major injuries.  I think most fans would change their tune about Roseman.

Agreed.

I do think the criticisms of Howie are overblown, particularly in drafting. Every team makes bad picks. Every team picks guys like JJAW. It's just we are more aware of it because we are focused on our own team. Look at the Cowboys draft last year. How many good players did they get?

The injuries on this team have been beyond ludicrous. Even the Super Bowl year. 

That's not to say Howie doesn't deserve some criticism. 

1) Completely ignoring linebacker over the past few years and taking a project linebacker in round 3 when we clearly need help now.

2) Failing to address outside corner, outside of Slay. 

3) The Hurts pick (Sure could do with Kristian Fulton right now - could have set us at corner for the next 3-4 years)

 

[NOTW]

5 hours ago, birdman#12 said:

LMAO at all the dump Howie talk.  This team has had one MAJOR issue since the super bowl win and that is INJURIES.  And the fact that they have made the playoffs for 3 straight years is a testament to how deep the roster has been.

Yeah, there is a bad contract or two, and the cap is tight, but that is a by product of having good players.  And he always manages to sign strategic free agents to build depth and an occasional starter.  The weak areas of the team also have to do with Pedersen and his coaching staff.  It isn't a one man decision making process.  

This team has had more injuries in critical positions than any other NFL team over the last 4 years.  And anybody who dismisses that is clueless.  It's a real problem with no clear answer.  But the amount of guys they lose has to cost them 2-3 games a year.

Fans whine about the drafting without ever really knowing how it measures up to other GMs.  Roseman is generally considered to be one of the top 5 GMs in the NFL year after year, so naturally philly fans want to dump him....f------- idiotic.  Fans cherry pick picks that didn't work out without ever considering that 31 other GMs didn't value certain guys well either.  It's a crap shoot, even with all the analytics.  Some guys have hit their peak in college and there's NO WAY to evaluate that.

Again, the biggest issue with the Eagles have been injuries.  But fans here call that an excuse.  If injuries don't matter, then neither does talent.  Teams will always take a step back or struggle when so many starters and backups lose significant time.

Just once, I'd like to see one of these rosters go thru a season with minimal major injuries.  I think most fans would change their tune about Roseman.

 

I'm no draft expert or anything and I used to defend their drafting that they were able to make some good picks.  But Howie can't draft and what I'm starting to see are that they have some awful, awful drafts and the few picks you can cherry pick to say are good picks they were guys that everyone knew would be good like Goedert and Sanders.  The defense hasn't drafted a stud player since 2 regimes ago in Fletcher Cox.  The core talent on the team is mostly leftover from Reid and Chip's years and they're all old and almost out of the league now.  Howie does better with free agents because they're proven and easier to know they're a good NFL player.  The draft has been horrid.  Look at 2017:  deep corner and RB class and look at the picks they made.  Terrible.  You go down the list of draft history in recent years and it's pretty pathetic.  I think they manage to get some good guys sometimes in later rounds because the scouts and coaches want them and Howie doesn't know these guys so he picks who they want, but in the 1st 3 rounds he wants to make his splash and they make moves like Sidney Jones and Jalen Hurts.  

Injuries are indeed a problem.  Also they have terrible LBs, a terrible secondary except Slay and McLeod who is decent but will be gone as a cap casualty.  They haven't drafted well on defense at all.  

Howie is no longer a "cap genius."  They're in cap hell the next 2 years - not just "tight."  They're going to have to have a MAJOR roster purge.  He has kicked the can down the road in these contract extensions and it's caught up to him.  And they don't have the young talent to replace these guys.  He was trying to reclaim 2017 and signed Jeffrey to a terrible contract and he's been injured half the time.  Jackson was great for a game or 2 in 2 seasons.  That money would have been better spent on getting a defender or a younger player.

Injuries are definitely a problem and the organization needs to really look at that.  They hired outside guys to head up medical and conditioning that came from teams that won awards for those areas.  So why isn't it working?  Does that just need more time for their methods to work?  Are the guys the Eagles had on the roster just too injury prone?  Are they scouting guys with injury history or more prone to injury?  I do'nt know but it's a real problem and to your point, you can't win with talent that is injured this much.  But the issues go far beyond injuries.  They have too many offensive coaches but poor offensive playcalling.  They have a 5th year QB they paid a boatload of money who can't make basic throws. They have lack of talent and poor drafting and aging veterans who you can tell aren't giving their full effort anymore while young practice squad guys step in hungry to make plays.  

It's just time for a purge and changes, the Super Bowl year might as well have been 10 years ago things have changed and the roster needs a shakeup.  And Howie is not the guy to rebuild a team through the draft.

[beto_eagles]

I just hope we don't realize how lucky we were with Howie at the helm because he's gone. 

Has he been perfect? No. But he's still among the top 10. And I absolutely hated the Hurts pick, but all GMs have their weird decisions from time to time. 

[brkmsn]

Some people are just closing the book on certain drafts way too early. In 2018 and 2019 we drafted 5 players each year. The 2018 draft is looking better every week now. The 2019 draft had 2 big misses (4th and 5th round). The 1st pick suffered an injury setback and then there's JJAW (wherever you sit on him). So if you've already made up your mind before the Eagles have, you may feel it was a bad draft. Hopefully people haven't already written off the 2020 draft.

[NOTW]

2 hours ago, brkmsn said:

Some people are just closing the book on certain drafts way too early. In 2018 and 2019 we drafted 5 players each year. The 2018 draft is looking better every week now. The 2019 draft had 2 big misses (4th and 5th round). The 1st pick suffered an injury setback and then there's JJAW (wherever you sit on him). So if you've already made up your mind before the Eagles have, you may feel it was a bad draft. Hopefully people haven't already written off the 2020 draft.

It's true people generally say not to judge a draft until 2-3 years later.  Looking at the drafts since Chip left and Howie took full control again:

2016
Wentz - average since Reich and Flip left, a lot of ups and downs (play calling and injuries to O line and WRs haven't helped either)
Seumalo - ok starting guard, injured now.  Nothing special, could be easily replaced
Mills - below average, that's being kind
The rest are no longer on the team.  Vitai was a good pickup in the 5th.  Stoutland's influence always gets them good mid-late round linemen.  The rest were crap.

2017
Barnett - took a 1st round DE in a deep corner class and he's decent but not a star.  
Literally the rest of the draft are busts, total garbage.

2018
Goedert - star quality TE, should be here beyond Ertz who will likely leave in free agency
Maddox - average at best, gets a lot of criticism
Sweat - rotational player, makes some decent plays lately we'll see how he does long term
Pryor - different people have mixed reviews on him, at one point he was anointed a solution at starter and lately fans are calling him awful
Mailata - 7th round project rugby player just made his first start and played well.  Another Stoutland influence working and coaching a guy up

Missing from the equation are the guys they should have picked.  Goedert wasn't a need at all, 2017 all the draft decisions were terrible, and they have not drafted top talent on defense at all.  Barnett is the best they've drafted and he's just ok.  The core best players on this team are from free agency, trades and Andy Reid.

The secondary and linebackers are absolutely dreadful apart from a free agent and a trade for proven players.  The DT position is strong and it's Cox (a Reid pick) and free agents and trades from other teams.  They cannot draft defense to save their life.

You also look at the old vets that are going to have to be purged due to the cap hell the next 2 years.  It's scary to think who will replace some of these guys and to think that Howie Roseman is in charge of retooling the roster with young talent to replace them.

[brkmsn]

4 hours ago, NOTW said:

You also look at the old vets that are going to have to be purged due to the cap hell the next 2 years.  It's scary to think who will replace some of these guys and to think that Howie Roseman is in charge of retooling the roster with young talent to replace them.

It remains to be seen if the cap will actually be lowered at all next year. So I'm not so convinced that we're in as deep a hole as the worst case scenario predicts. There is still an issue however and some things will have to be done to get under the cap. Players like DJax and Jeffery are already "unwelcome" to a portion of the fan base. This year's draft was an effort to find a new Z. JJAW was drafted last year to be the X. Greg Ward is doing fine in the slot. Goedert was drafted to replace Ertz. Sanders was drafted to become the starting HB. Mailata, Pryor, Dillard, Driscoll, and PTW were drafted with the mindset that we have an aging O-line. We drafted Barnett and  Sweat to compete at DE. We drafted a couple LBs that the team is hoping will become key players at some point. We drafted a few CBs and that hasn't exactly worked great, but due to injuries we were able to find other young, cheap help in players like LeBlanc. We haven't really addressed DT with a draft prospect, but we did trade for Jernigan and later, Ridgeway with draft picks. We brought in Hargrave through free agency probably viewing him as the heir to Cox. 

Not everything has worked or even will work, but it's not like there wasn't a plan in place to get younger and cut cost. Every year, there are some stop-gap players available that are willing to take a 1 year prove-it deal. If the cap really is lowered next year, I would imagine there will be 3 times as many of those players looking for the right situation to showcase themselves for 2022 and beyond. I'm not really stressing out over our cap situation. As I alluded to, many of the cap casualties we are likely to see are expected and, by some are actually being looked forward to. I won't be surprised if a player or 2 that we cut actually come back here on a prove-it deal like Jernigan did last season.

[UK_EaglesFan89]

1 minute ago, brkmsn said:

It remains to be seen if the cap will actually be lowered at all next year. So I'm not so convinced that we're in as deep a hole as the worst case scenario predicts.

As you recognise there is an issue and tough decisions will need to be made. And ultimately that means letting go of some of the older and more expensive guys. That's just business. 

We are in a difficult cap situation that's made worse by the fact that this roster just really is not that good. 

Having tons of cap space is a sign of a bad roster hence all the cap space. But being in a tough spot with cap space when the roster isn't actually a top half of the league roster is even worse. 

[Penn7980]

Howie has to bear some of the blame on drafting.  The personnel department should also take their share.  Coaches also have inputs on draftees, FA signings and trading for players.  Plenty of people to share the blame.

On Hurts, this is an unexpected draft pick.  Wonder if his presence has caused some issues with Wentz.  He may not have said much about that, but knowing someone is there waiting to take over can't be all that comfortable.  Doug began putting in plays for Hurts now and the steps would become louder each game.  He missed the SB win due to injury should have cast a shadow on his mind.  IMHO, Wentz's performance in the first few games may just be the results of him trying too hard to make plays to claim his leadership position with the team.  

[DawkinsOwnage03]

We need to rebuild this team around JJAW

[brkmsn]

49 minutes ago, Penn7980 said:

Howie has to bear some of the blame on drafting.  The personnel department should also take their share.  Coaches also have inputs on draftees, FA signings and trading for players.  Plenty of people to share the blame.

On Hurts, this is an unexpected draft pick.  Wonder if his presence has caused some issues with Wentz.  He may not have said much about that, but knowing someone is there waiting to take over can't be all that comfortable.  Doug began putting in plays for Hurts now and the steps would become louder each game.  He missed the SB win due to injury should have cast a shadow on his mind.  IMHO, Wentz's performance in the first few games may just be the results of him trying too hard to make plays to claim his leadership position with the team.  

There are a lot of theories on why the Eagles drafted Hurts, but there's one that makes the most sense. The Eagles like to have depth that can step in and help the team. When Wentz was on his rookie contract, the Eagles were still spending about $7-8 million/year on the #2 QB. Now that Wentz is paid like a franchise QB, that leaves less money for the #2. Hurts will be cheap for a few years. 

[IrishEagle61]

Ok - Ive had a look at the offense and this is not necessarily what I think will happen but

We normally keep 24 offensive players on our roster each year. I think we can see 17 players that are very likely to be part of the 53 man next year.

On 53 Next Year

Carson Wentz	1	QB
Jalen Hurts	2	QB
Miles Sanders	1	RB
Boston Scott	2	RB
Jalen Reagor	1	WR
John Hightower	1	WR
Marquise Goodwin	2	WR
Quez Watkins	2	WR
Dallas Goedert	1	TE
Jordan Mailata	1	LT
Andre Dillard	2	LT
Isaac Seumalo	1	LG
Jason Kelce	1	C
Brandon Brooks	1	RG
Nate Herbig	2	RG
Lane Johnson	1	RT
Jack Driscoll	2	RT

I think if Mailata plays at leask ok the rest of the year they will be happy to go into next year with himself and Dillard covering LT.

Decisions then need to be made in relation 5 players in my opinion;

Zach Ertz - Mixture of cap casualty and just getting a draft pick as I doubt an extension is in the offing.

Desean/Alshon - Cap casualties/Time is up

JJ/Greg Ward - Greg Ward is a FA and JJ just probably not any good. Keep Ward

Kelce - Does he retire?

Players Needed

So that leave us with what players we need going forward. For me these are the positions ideally we would be able to address in the draft or FA

X Receiver - I hope 1st round WR. They probably keep JJ and push this another year.

LG/C Prospect - Depends on where they see Seumalo in the long term. Mid round unless Kelce retires. 

TE2 - I think Ertz is gone and the pick we get for him is used for his replacement (If we get a 3rd - Our original 3rd used!) Ultimately we move away from using 12 personnel as much.

RB2 - Decent Veteran pickup. Hopefully someone cheap. 2022 draft 

 

QB3/TE3/WR6/Backup OL - UDFA's or Vet minimum FA's or guys already on the roster.

Ultimately though I think we are hamstrung by the number of needs we have. The Defense needs a lot more love that Offense this offseason especially in the draft. No cap space either.

Goedert, Mailata and Herbig extensions maybe too.

[Cochis_Calhoun]

On 10/7/2020 at 9:21 PM, brkmsn said:

It remains to be seen if the cap will actually be lowered at all next year. So I'm not so convinced that we're in as deep a hole as the worst case scenario predicts. There is still an issue however and some things will have to be done to get under the cap. Players like DJax and Jeffery are already "unwelcome" to a portion of the fan base. This year's draft was an effort to find a new Z. JJAW was drafted last year to be the X. Greg Ward is doing fine in the slot. Goedert was drafted to replace Ertz. Sanders was drafted to become the starting HB. Mailata, Pryor, Dillard, Driscoll, and PTW were drafted with the mindset that we have an aging O-line. We drafted Barnett and  Sweat to compete at DE. We drafted a couple LBs that the team is hoping will become key players at some point. We drafted a few CBs and that hasn't exactly worked great, but due to injuries we were able to find other young, cheap help in players like LeBlanc. We haven't really addressed DT with a draft prospect, but we did trade for Jernigan and later, Ridgeway with draft picks. We brought in Hargrave through free agency probably viewing him as the heir to Cox. 

Not everything has worked or even will work, but it's not like there wasn't a plan in place to get younger and cut cost. Every year, there are some stop-gap players available that are willing to take a 1 year prove-it deal. If the cap really is lowered next year, I would imagine there will be 3 times as many of those players looking for the right situation to showcase themselves for 2022 and beyond. I'm not really stressing out over our cap situation. As I alluded to, many of the cap casualties we are likely to see are expected and, by some are actually being looked forward to. I won't be surprised if a player or 2 that we cut actually come back here on a prove-it deal like Jernigan did last season.

The NFL and NFL PA have agreed a cap floor of $175million, that would leave us on current numbers over the cap by a shade under $85million, even a cap that remains as is has us near as dammit $60million over,

Even if we cut DJAX, Alshon, Graham and Malik Jackson (as post June 1st), then decline Barnett's 5th year option we'd only save $51million which would leave us on a flat cap with about $19million from rolled over cap to fill the resultant holes in free agency and keep for in season emergencies, anything close to the $175million floor and you're looking at trades for Ertz or Cox to give yourself any operating cap room because most of the big ticket players you'd look at for restructures are too old or too marginal performance wise to make any sense keeping around for extra years, you'd be compounding the can kicking that has put us in this situation, rather than doing the sensible thing and taking your medicine to cure the problem.

[brkmsn]

1 hour ago, Cochis_Calhoun said:

The NFL and NFL PA have agreed a cap floor of $175million, that would leave us on current numbers over the cap by a shade under $85million, even a cap that remains as is has us near as dammit $60million over,

Even if we cut DJAX, Alshon, Graham and Malik Jackson (as post June 1st), then decline Barnett's 5th year option we'd only save $51million which would leave us on a flat cap with about $19million from rolled over cap to fill the resultant holes in free agency and keep for in season emergencies, anything close to the $175million floor and you're looking at trades for Ertz or Cox to give yourself any operating cap room because most of the big ticket players you'd look at for restructures are too old or too marginal performance wise to make any sense keeping around for extra years, you'd be compounding the can kicking that has put us in this situation, rather than doing the sensible thing and taking your medicine to cure the problem.

Those are moves we can look at on paper based on knowing nothing else at this time. Some moves are likely anyway at this point regardless of the cap just based on player cost vs production. I do not see the Eagles declining Barnett's option. It may be possible to get some players to buy into pay cuts. I know you're against it (because that's why we're where we are in 2021), but restructuring some contracts is an option. We don't know what the Eagles will do before this year's trade deadline. All I'm saying is there are a lot of unknowns still.

[NOTW]

On 9/28/2020 at 11:37 AM, NOTW said:

Step 1: Fire Howie. 

No, don't keep him to do contracts.  Then they can just fire the next GM and hand it back to Howie.  Nope, get him out of the organization.

There are other teams in the league with success managing the cap, negotiating contracts and making trades with other teams.  Howie USED to be good at those, but then he started making bad trades, bad contract extensions that have hurt the cap and his terrible drafting hurts the team more than his cap managements helps.  He has absolutely no business being over the draft which is the primary way to build the team.  He succeeded at buying a championship with some good free agent and trade moves and they were able to catch lightning in a bottle with Foles playing well and the team rallying around the underdog mantra.

Then they got cocky and kept believing their own hype.  The team is not hungry anymore.  Some guys are lazy, some are entitled, some are just collecting a paycheck.  It stands out when you see young guys like Sanders, Ward, Goedert giving a lot of effort and making plays.  I will credit Brandon Graham, he gave a lot of effort yesterday and made plays.  Kelce always gives 100% too.  But overall the team isn't hungry anymore.  Even Lane Johnson was getting beat a lot yesterday and has had injury concerns.  

Time for change and it starts with the GM.  

Step 2: Get voices outside the organization to help you pick a proper GM.

They had the right idea hiring Joe Douglas, it just didn't work out but keep that philosophy:  look at guys from successful organizations that draft well and have a solid philosophy.  Then EVERYTHING you do is filtered through that philosophy.  Hiring coaches, scouts, personnel evaluators, the players you draft and sign and trade for, the conditioning, the way you practice, the scheme, the play calling, everything.  They have to stop changing their identity based on who the coach is.  Yes, they should be innovative and continue to grow and evolve but within the guidelines of the philosophy.  For example, you can value building both lines and having strong defense but still adapt scheme and players to the changing landscape of the NFL.

Step 3: Coaches

A new GM might want to clean house.  But I would say Doug has earned at least another year or two to work within a new structure.  Doug needs to have an OC to call plays and he can game manage and be aggressive.  You want to keep Fipp, Stoutland and probably Duce.  Schwartz' contract is up and he'll be gone anyway so a new DC can hire new coaches.  I'd also be ok if a new GM wanted Doug gone to start over.

Step 4: Purge the personnel department

Blow it up, rebuild it.  Bring in staff from other teams.  They need better scouts and a new structure where the GM has final say on the draft but is someone knowledgeable to make those decisions, and a solid team building their draft board. Utilizing analytics is great but you need a balance of "the football guy" who just knows what works and doesn't.  No team drafts perfect and there are always hits and misses but this team cannot draft.  The only good draft picks they seem to make are the guys that everyone including fans know they're going to be a good player. Case in point, they draft Sanders who everyone thought would be a good RB and they draft JJAW in the same round while passing on other better WR options.

Step 5: Purge the roster

Salary cap issues, injuries, and age aside, complacency and laziness have also set in.  They need to start this now by having a fire sale before the trade deadline.  Collect draft picks, dump salaries and at the end of the season release players or let walk in free agency and get those comp picks.  People will debate Wentz but contract wise you have to keep him for now.  You may want to bench him and see what you have in Hurts but the next GM will decide the QB position for the future.

You probably keep most rookies and 2nd year players to see how they do in camp next year (but JJAW should be cut like yesterday).  Their contracts are not a problem anyway and can always be cut if better players are selected next season.  But of the core guys you keep:

Offense:  Sanders, Scott, Goedert, Reagor, Ward, Kelce, Lane.  You need replacements for Kelce and Lane to develop as they don't have as much time left.  

Defense: Slay, Hargrave...honestly they do have to keep some defenders just to have bodies but there's not much else worth mentioning.  Need a total rebuild of the defense.  Cox and Graham have been good but salary and age means they have to go. 

Step 6: Medical and conditioning

They hired new directors over these areas and injuries are just as much a problem as before.  They need to really rethink this and analyze it.  Are they scouting players with injury history or poor conditioning or from "weak" conferences with "soft" players?  Revisit the Chip Kelly era where despite anything else you didn't like about him the team was healthy.  Players said they felt well conditioned as the season went on.  Find what was working well and implement major changes.  The injuries are just at an absurd level at this point.

 

 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

8 hours ago, NOTW said:

Step 1: Fire Howie. 

No, don't keep him to do contracts.  Then they can just fire the next GM and hand it back to Howie.  Nope, get him out of the organization.

Spot on. 

Why on earth would we want to keep Howie around? That move makes zero sense. 

So he either moves sideways to just deal with contracts (which turns out he's not this wizard of the cap) or he moves upwards to oversee others we bring in to help draft. So then he has influence still. 

Why would we keep him? Why not just fire him and be done with it?

[Wink]

Of Howie the genuis, Gerry, Mills, Schwartz, Wentz and a host of more overpaid players on this team.

When are we going to hire real Football Men who know what they are doing?

Guess we need to lose on out to wake Lurie up....

[UK_EaglesFan89]

Howie yes, hell yes, absolutely without doubt. 

Gerry yes. No question. He's a bad player flat out bad. 

Mills, no. I think he is what he is. As a back up? As a depth guy? I think he's fine. The failing has been on Howie to bring in talent to move him down the depth chart. 

Schwartz yes. I think he takes a lot of harsh criticism from us as fans. I think some of that is unfair and a lot of it is just. But I think he's taken this defense as far as he can.

Wentz, that's a tricky one. I don't want to be out on him. I don't want to give up on him but I'm fast getting there to be honest. 

[ManchesterEagle]

3 minutes ago, Wink said:

Of Howie the genuis, Gerry, Mills, Schwartz, Wentz and a host of more overpaid players on this team.

When are we going to hire real Football Men who know what they are doing?

Guess we need to lose on out to wake Lurie up....

Howie, Mills, Schwartz and Wentz were all key parts of our Super Bowl year in different ways, so let's not be too down on them. Plus up until this year, this team has done pretty well with a horrendous injury list.

It looks like Schwartz's time might be coming to an end. We will see about Howie and Wentz. I suspect they will get more time. 

Gerry needs to be replaced, I'll give you that.

[UK_EaglesFan89]

Just now, ManchesterEagle said:

Howie, Mills, Schwartz and Wentz were all key parts of our Super Bowl year in different ways, so let's not be too down on them. Plus up until this year, this team has done pretty well with a horrendous injury list.

It looks like Schwartz's time might be coming to an end. We will see about Howie and Wentz. I suspect they will get more time. 

Gerry needs to be replaced, I'll give you that.

Dude come on. There is no defense for Howie. He absolutely lucked in to that SB win. He is a bad bad GM. Terrible in fact. 

[LacesOut]

Holy crap, a Wink sighting!! 

Howie can stop drafting, Gerry can stop pretending to play D, and Schwartz can stop coming into the NovaCare Complex for work.

Mills and Wentz can stay as is. Just need to play better!!

[ManchesterEagle]

1 minute ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Dude come on. There is no defense for Howie. He absolutely lucked in to that SB win. He is a bad bad GM. Terrible in fact. 

I think that's a little harsh mate. You have to give him some credit for that. A lot of those moves before 2017 were great. Wentz looked a legitimate superstar before his injury in the Super Bowl year. He's picked up some really nice players as well (Jeffery was a great pick up before that contract). You have to give him credit for players like Ward, Fulgham, Sanders, Goedert etc.

But yeah I see the big faults as well, particularly in ignoring the LB position and not addressing the secondary properly beyond Slay. (Didn't replace Jenkins adequately, CB2 was a disaster etc)

 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

8 minutes ago, ManchesterEagle said:

I think that's a little harsh mate. You have to give him some credit for that. A lot of those moves before 2017 were great. Wentz looked a legitimate superstar before his injury in the Super Bowl year. He's picked up some really nice players as well (Jeffery was a great pick up before that contract). You have to give him credit for players like Ward, Fulgham, Sanders, Goedert etc.

But yeah I see the big faults as well, particularly in ignoring the LB position and not addressing the secondary properly beyond Slay. (Didn't replace Jenkins adequately, CB2 was a disaster etc)

 

I can give him credit for that year whilst still saying he's a bad GM. He is the biggest issue there's no doubt. 

[Wink]

Hello Laces baby!

Manchester- You can't live off 3 years ago, enough is enough.

Let's focus on the present and it is not going to get better.

Sorry to break it to you but Wentz needs to go too, 5 years and still making the SAME mistakes.

Mills play better?  What are you watching, playing 10 yards off the receiver and trailing guys into the end zone.

I don't want him as a backup, good bye!

[Moderator6]

Essentially the same as rebuilding the team topic. 

[nipples]

While he was better yesterday, I’m still out on Wentz as the franchise. He wasn’t BAD yesterday, but still makes rookie mistakes holding the ball too long. He is just an OK, and inconsistent QB overall. He wasn’t the reason they lost yesterday, but you want your franchise QB to be the difference maker that wins you games.  Not just a guy who is good enough (sometimes) to not lose the game by himself.