EMB Blog: 2021 Offseason

[bpac55]

2 minutes ago, garingovt2000 said:

Any team outside the top 15 you think is a lock to take a certain player?  I'll take a crack at it and say Najee Harris to the Steelers at 24

I think Harris is going to be a surprise player that falls in the draft.  From all reports he's an incredible guy, a great teammate and a heckuva football player.

With that being said, he's already 23.  To put that in perspective, Miles Sanders turns 24 in 2 weeks.  The shelf life of NFL running backs just isn't what it used to be and the Steelers have found great value in the middle rounds with Le'Veon Bell and James Connor.  Bell is 29 and pretty much JAG at this point and plays a very similar game to Harris.  To pick Harris in the 1st round you're almost guaranteeing you only get through his 1st contract, if that.  He'd be 28 by the time his rookie deal is up and for an NFL RB, that's ancient.  

I love Najee Harris, none of this is against him, it's just the way of the NFL and looking at things big from a big picture perspective.  

I can see the Steelers jumping on Javonte Williams in round 2.  He's just as good, if not better than Harris, he turns 21 this week and you get him on a 2nd round contract.  

[Freshmilk]

Just now, Bacarty2 said:

Until his brains become scrambled with one big hit. 

This is true of any player.

[Freshmilk]

1 minute ago, Bacarty2 said:

LULZ you serious clarke. 

Sure man. a 210lb Corner Back will have the same result as hitting a 220lbs wr and a 160lb wr 

If they hit him in the head area, yes.

[ManuManu]

I’m much less bullish on positional value than other years. I just want the Eagles to hit on the pick. Just be correct with your evaluation and draft a good player. We have so many needs it would be hard to pick a bad position to draft early. 

[austinfan]

Eagles have been a slightly below average drafting team the last five years, they've had the lowest expected value of picks during that period, so total value has been at the bottom. The Wentz trade, trades for veterans and no comp picks - no 2nd in 2016, no 1st or 3rd in 2018, 2020 was the only 'volume' draft in 5 years.

What I got reading that article in the Inqy today was there's been a disconnect in the organization, and I suspect it was because the coaches were win now guys who wanted to draft to need and the scouts were focused on upside and Howie felt he couldn't overrule his coaches in the early rounds. Winning a SB gives coaches a lot of leverage for a few years, we saw that with AR who got more involved with personnel in his later years - when he went to KC, he went back to deferring to his GM. It's been noted that Schwartz had a lot of personnel pull, probably because that was the only way he'd come here in 2016. This also explains why they traded picks for players, most coaches prefer veterans over rookies.

People knocking Sirianni's presser, what stands out to me is his focus on player NFL qualities, which sounds more like scout speak than coach speak - that is, he's less concerned with how the player fits his scheme than how the player fits the NFL.

This doesn't mean you take players who don't fit your scheme, but you don't overvalue players who do what you want but don't do it well. 

I think people are focused too much on the last few years, I go back to 2012-13, when there was limited coaching input and the focus was on rebuilding. 2016 was also a solid draft. Like most organizations, things work better when people are on the same page. I wonder how much friction there was between Howie and Doug, and Doug and Schwartz (who had his own power base as a de facto co-HC). Sirianni comes in without the SB baggage and Gannon was hired by Sirianni. There's no pressure to make "win now" decisions.

If there's an Eagle philosophy, it went awry, first under Chip, then after the SB. So expect a reset. I think they do value the lines, but the emphasis on DTs was also due to Schwartz, they never put that kind of resources into the position (Jerrigan/Malik/Hargrave, Barnett) before him. DBs have been an issue since JJ left, partially because they never invested a lot there, 2002 was the big draft, since then, Ware #89-04, Allen #37-10, Jarrett #54-11, Marsh #90-11, Rowe #47-15, Jones #43-17, Douglas #99-17. They've actually invested almost as much in LBs, Bradley #87-07, Smith #80-08, Kendricks #46-12, Hicks #84-15.

If I had to guess, Sirianni has a lot of confidence he can coach up WRs and TEs, while the defense is aging and in today's NFL, you need more speed and athleticism on defense to be competitive, so the back seven will get more emphasis the next couple years. So they might take a WR as BPA, they won't trade up for one. They will want to revamp the CB core, but if they go cover 2/cover 3, they'll focus on length, hips and tackling more than speed in the secondary. LBs who can cover, not just RBs and TEs but WRs on crossing routes underneath.

[dawkdaballhawk]

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

lol 

 

This will go over well 

[blindside]

"Slightly below average”. 😂😂😂

”How’s JJAW’s NFL career going?”

”ehh.. slightly below average.....”

[QBhunter58]

47 minutes ago, EricAllenPick6 said:

Chad Johnson has never worked as an NFL GM or an NFL scout.  Opinions of professional athletes are meaningless.  

Lebron James and Shabazz Napier comes to mind. I agree, I pretty much dismiss the opinions of most athletes regarding talent evaluation (unless they have played the guy on a regular basis)

[bpac55]

Per an Eagles page on IG.  

Caplan has said that "it's no secret Brandon Brooks is available for a trade"

He's also speculating Rashawn Slater at 12 for them.

[garingovt2000]

7 minutes ago, QBhunter58 said:

Lebron James and Shabazz Napier comes to mind. I agree, I pretty much dismiss the opinions of most athletes regarding talent evaluation (unless they have played the guy on a regular basis)

 

Bron Bron getting a lot of crap today for his deleted tweets about the officer who shot the one girl who was trying to stab the other girl.  The dude keeps talking about accountability and gathering facts but doesn't do it himself.  SMH

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, bpac55 said:

Per an Eagles page on IG.  

Caplan has said that "it's no secret Brandon Brooks is available for a trade"

He's also speculating Rashawn Slater at 12 for them.

He could only be a post June 1 trade, and the savings this year are only 1.07 million with 5.9 million dead cap hit.  Does not make sense to trade him.

[NCiggles]

20 minutes ago, Bacarty2 said:

LULZ you serious clarke. 

Sure man. a 210lb Corner Back will have the same result as hitting a 220lbs wr and a 160lb wr 

From a physics standpoint, I think having less mass would make the impacts have less force.  I mean force = mass x acceleration.  I am not sure that added mass makes someone less injury prone.   I think it makes it harder to win physical battles but he has done that a high level. He plays a position where it's more important to be an agile athlete than a big one.  

[austinfan]

12 minutes ago, blindside said:

"Slightly below average”. 😂😂😂

”How’s JJAW’s NFL career going?”

”ehh.. slightly below average.....”

So how is Tristan Hill DT #58, Parris Campbell WR #59, Andy Isabella WR #62, Jalen Hurd WR #67, Polite LB #68, Oliver TE #69 doing?

At that point in the draft, half the picks are whiffs.

[bpac55]

1 minute ago, downundermike said:

He could only be a post June 1 trade, and the savings this year are only 1.07 million with 5.9 million dead cap hit.  Does not make sense to trade him.

I think Brandon Brooks is going to prove a lot of people wrong this year.  I get that he's been injured, serious ones at that.  I just have a feeling he's going to have an Evan Mathis post age 30 career.

[hputenis]

Anyone know what happened to Demetric Felton recently?  He has plummeted in recent mocks.  I liked him as a possible 4th round, poor man's Curtis Samuel type, but if he's there in the 6th I feel like that's great value.  

[blindside]

3 minutes ago, austinfan said:

So how is Tristan Hill DT #58, Parris Campbell WR #59, Andy Isabella WR #62, Jalen Hurd WR #67, Polite LB #68, Oliver TE #69 doing?

At that point in the draft, half the picks are whiffs.

You missed the joke. 

[bpac55]

Just now, hputenis said:

Anyone know what happened to Demetric Felton recently?  He has plummeted in recent mocks.  I liked him as a possible 4th round, poor man's Curtis Samuel type, but if he's there in the 6th I feel like that's great value.  

Could be wrong but he's not that big and didn't run that well.

He's like 5-9 185 and ran a 4.6 I think.

[DeathByEagle]

47 minutes ago, garingovt2000 said:

Any team outside the top 15 you think is a lock to take a certain player?  I'll take a crack at it and say Najee Harris to the Steelers at 24

I wouldnt bet on that one. Steelers havent picked a offensive player in the first round in the last 9 years. Not to mention when they did it was offensive lineman. With them losing a starting OT and staring OLB I see them going in that direction. Steelers just seam to have more luck getting RBs in the 2-4 rounds so I think they stick to that method. 

[Freshmilk]

21 minutes ago, Bacarty2 said:

You do realize that you dont need head contact to get a concussion right. and it depends on the size of the mass and how it is displaced through out your body. 

i.e. hitting a little kid in the chest will scramble his brains because of the force while doing it to a grown man he may not move

I now realize I made a poor assumption when you talked about him getting his brains scrambled that you were not talking about him taking a hit to the head.  

[blindside]

14 minutes ago, Bacarty2 said:

You do realize that you dont need head contact to get a concussion right. and it depends on the size of the mass and how it is displaced through out your body. 

i.e. hitting a little kid in the chest will scramble his brains because of the force while doing it to a grown man he may not move

I think you’re overstating it. And the NFL rules are set up for him to be successful. With the right QB, he’s scary. But whatever. We’ll see how it goes for him

[DeathByEagle]

6 minutes ago, hputenis said:

Anyone know what happened to Demetric Felton recently?  He has plummeted in recent mocks.  I liked him as a possible 4th round, poor man's Curtis Samuel type, but if he's there in the 6th I feel like that's great value.  

Nice project but teams are not sure if he should be a RB or a WR. He doesnt have the route running skills to be a plug in WR just yet. Nice weapon though in the mid round to late round to get on a good WR coached team. Wait, Eagles HC was a WR coach, WR player and loves WRs....Hmmmmmm. lol. Howie would take him 2 rounds early Im sure. 

[blindside]

1 minute ago, Freshmilk said:

I now realize I made a poor assumption when you talked about him getting his brains scrambled that you were taking about him taking a hit to the head.  

Yeah, well.. the same players from the SEC go on to play in the pros. He’s had lots of opportunity to get his brains scrambled by real strong, big fast dudes. The average NFL player is bigger faster and stronger. But it’s not like he’s been playing flag football at Alabama. I just don’t buy that argument 

[LeanMeanGM]

20 minutes ago, bpac55 said:

Per an Eagles page on IG.  

Caplan has said that "it's no secret Brandon Brooks is available for a trade"

He's also speculating Rashawn Slater at 12 for them.

They just restructured him. They are going to put $15M more onto the cap to trade him? Sure.

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, Bacarty2 said:

Brooks will be out of this league when this team becomes relevant again. Sell him to the highest bidder. 4th sounds nice

Can't trade him until after the draft.  He will be here this year.

[Original Sin]

14 minutes ago, hputenis said:

Anyone know what happened to Demetric Felton recently?  He has plummeted in recent mocks.  I liked him as a possible 4th round, poor man's Curtis Samuel type, but if he's there in the 6th I feel like that's great value.  

Real poor testing , someone will get a steal of a football player