EMB Blog: 2021 Offseason

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, E-A-G-L-E-S Eagles said:

Right.  Corners are an absolute premium position.  I'll be shocked if they make it out of the top 10.

Yep.  All the stars aligning for Paye to be the pick, and Howie overplayed his had making the trade so early.

[hputenis]

2 hours ago, greend said:

They really,really,really, really wanted he player?

I love when posters on here get mad at mock drafts when you fleece the other team.  Sorry Mr. Internet stranger!  Next time, I'll make sure to make it more realistic for your entertainment.  

[austinfan]

To be fair, Doug was the right coach at the right time. While the SB was everything going right, the next two years was everything going wrong. It evens out - but I think we'll take the high point as a fair price for the low points.

Howie rebuilt that 2016 team quickly, but that also meant it wasn't sustainable, built around veteran FAs in their peak years. But that kind of team needs a HC that manages the clubhouse, not one that develops young players. It also meant that the decision to rebuild meant moving on from Doug and Schwartz.

They should have blown it up after 2019, maybe as early as after 2018 (but was that really feasible?). That was the mistake.

Everything else stems from the decision to try to get back to the SB the next two years. Doubling down when Lowie should have folded.

A more fundamental rebuild has its own issues, see Cleveland, etc. And the Rams are still trying to grasp the bronze ring. It worked for TB after TWELVE seasons of missing the playoffs when Brady fell into their laps at the right time.

Hopefully, this has been a humbling experience for Lowie, "there's no success like failure, and failure is no success at all," the most dangerous thing in finance and football is to confuse luck with skill, and start thinking you're smarter than you really are.

[315Eagles]

10 minutes ago, E-A-G-L-E-S Eagles said:

The only one to cause me some concern would be if Pitts somehow slips down the board.

If Dallas takes Pitts then it's weapons galore for them.  

However, you have that many pass catchers then why even run the ball?  What good is Zeke who you just paid?  You only have 1 football and that's 4 guys you need to keep happy.  We've seen Cooper check out before.  Gallup is coming up on a contract soon and I'm sure he wants to play good and get a nice contract.  You cant make all these guys happy.

[Guest]

 

[Connecticut Eagle]

Just now, 315Eagles said:

If Dallas takes Pitts then it's weapons galore for them.  

However, you have that many pass catchers then why even run the ball?  What good is Zeke who you just paid?  You only have 1 football and that's 4 guys you need to keep happy.  We've seen Cooper check out before.  Gallup is coming up on a contract soon and I'm sure he wants to play good and get a nice contract.  You cant make all these guys happy.

Pitts means less catches for Cooper, Gallup, and Lamb.  I am not sure he has the marginal impact to their offense that he would in Carolina or Detroit.

That said, if he is there at #9, I would seriously consider making a trade to get him.

[greend]

7 minutes ago, hputenis said:

I love when posters on here get mad at mock drafts when you fleece the other team.  Sorry Mr. Internet stranger!  Next time, I'll make sure to make it more realistic for your entertainment.  

Yup like it's my gm resume that I'm posting or something

[ManuManu]

29 minutes ago, Original Sin said:

Like I have said over and over and over , quality scouting departments will find talent regardless. 
 
Sean Mcvays thoughts

The pandemic affected the college football schedule, led to cancellation of the NFL scouting combine and affected other opportunities for pro scouts to see prospects in person. Some prospects opted out of playing their college seasons.

But McVay said that would not affect evaluations.

"The tape is always the best guiding light,” McVay said.

No wonder they trade away all their picks. 

[Guest]

 

[Iggles_Phan]

4 minutes ago, pallidrone said:

The question and remarks were about Jefferson specifically and the hatred of Howie over the drafting of Reagor over him. You are bringing up a 4th round draft pick from years ago as reason why Howie stinks at drafting and your fueled hatred of him clouds your judgement. Is Howie the best drafter in the NFL? Not by a long shot. He is also not the worst. He is mediocre.

Yes, I do think it is ludicrous because nobody knows anything. Jerry Jeudy was a FAR superior college prospect over Jefferson. He started almost every game for the Broncos and had a less then stellar year (856 yards and 3 TDs). Does that means that Jefferson would have done better there?

To address the other things;

1) Pumphrey - We are really talking about a 4th round pick? One that was taking towards the end of the round. This is the nonsense I am talking about. Drafting is already hard enough to hit on the right combo of talent, work ethic, personality and mesh within a system, but now we are holding 4th round picks against a GM? That to me is completely unreasonable.

2) JJAW - Looks like a bust to me. Probably would not have taken him. Do not agree that DK Metcalf would have been any better. They should have drafted Terry McClaurin there, who was and probably still is a better player then both of them. They wanted a Alshon clone.

3) Hurts - taking a highly ranked QB in the second round as protection from your oft injured starting QB is a problem? Some people rank the backup QB as the second most important position in football. While I was shocked at the selection, after thinking about it for a bit, it made a ton of sense. Who knew that Wentz was so thin skinned that it would have bothered him so much. At the very least the Eagles figured that out now.

4) Cap - it doesnt matter at all and is a silly talking point. IMHO if you are not spending the limit, you are doing it wrong.

Where I think Howie has been completely weak has establishing a solid coaching staff that can coach up players, especially rookies. I think Doug was great for coaching veteran players, but was totally out of his league when it came to coaching up young players. When he won the Super Bowl, the Eagles doubled down on signing the Vets and keeping the old team together because they thought that was their only chance, which I think was a stupid thing to do.

So at what point does the blame shift from the drafter to the coaching staff? Why is it that Rasul Douglas, Sidney Jones and Nelson Agholor were all considered busts, but somehow found success outside of the Eagles organization? Even Mack Hollins got a second contract.

Read my expanded response to afan if you wish - I addressed most of these.    I didn't dig in to ALL of the issues, I just hit the highlights.  The list is far too long, and I have laid it out multiple times since the end of the season.  I just hit the highlights now.  

 

But, to hit your highlights to your counter: 

1 - Pumphrey - Just an example of bad process, they panicked.  They were targeting a Sproles clone, and he was the last one left.  So, they got jumpy.  Bad process.  Don't zero in like that because it makes you see things in a prospect that aren't really there.  (kind of like this comparison floating around that Howie likens Paye to Graham.  That's a scary report.  And could lead to a recurrence of confirmation bias in their evaluations... looking for Graham's replacement, specifically, as they know he's on his way out now).

2 - JJAW - That selection has nothing to do with Metcalf, or any other WR.  JJAW was just a terrible pick, and by reports, was liked by Lurie for reasons that have nothing to do with the football field.   HORRIBLE process.

3 - Hurts - He wasn't that highly ranked.  He was again, Howie looking at him like he was Russell Wilson, and just had to take him.  Bad process.

4 - Cap - this is a silly talking point?   Oh, they didn't have to restructure a whole lot of players to get under the cap to be in compliance?  They didn't have to basically sit out the free agent market because they didn't have money to spend?   They are in a 'better' spot in the cap now, because they once again have a QB on a rookie contract... except that oops they are forced to carry a huge dead cap hit in 2021 because they backed themselves into a corner and had to trade Wentz?   And the Eagles are not at the spending limit, the issue is that they've gone OVER it... and have another $23M in dead money already lined up for 2022.  Yay silly talking point.  Because no teams have ever been handcuffed and unable to make a move for a specific player or players because they didn't have the cap space to do so.  

 

You clearly aren't following any argument that I've made since about mid-way through this past season.  The coaching staff AND Howie are to blame.  But, since they are all gone, why mention them now?   They paid for their mistakes and were fired (or at least most of them)... but Howie still sits atop the pile of flaming turds that he is responsible for creating.   So, that is why the focus is on Howie... because he's the lone survivor.  It can't be that hard to understand that there's no point in bemoaning how Doug will handle this draft or which players he can or can't develop, can it?  

 

I wanted a clean slate.  But rather than that, we have the architect of the turd pile still in charge of it.  Great.  I can't wait to see what he does next.

[Connecticut Eagle]

 

[ManuManu]

Minshew expected to be offered around during the draft.

A good cheap backup that will cost significantly less than a second round pick. 

[315Eagles]

4 minutes ago, Connecticut Eagle said:

Pitts means less catches for Cooper, Gallup, and Lamb.  I am not sure he has the marginal impact to their offense that he would in Carolina or Detroit.

That said, if he is there at #9, I would seriously consider making a trade to get him.

I don't think he will but if Pitts fell to 10 Dallas would take him no question.

I'd try to trade Cooper if that happened.

[ManuManu]

 

[Alphagrand]

Just watched a fluff pre-draft interview that Spadaro did with Sirianni and Roseman.  Am I crazy, or is Howie taking on some of Nick’s mannerisms?

[Iggles_Phan]

11 minutes ago, austinfan said:

Hopefully, this has been a humbling experience for Lowie, "there's no success like failure, and failure is no success at all," the most dangerous thing in finance and football is to confuse luck with skill, and start thinking you're smarter than you really are.

Why would they need to be humbled if the only mistakes they made were Desean and JJAW?   Seems that according to your defense of them, they made all the right moves and were actually just the victim of some bad luck.

Seems the next most dangerous thing in finance and football is to confuse bad luck with lacking skill, and start thinking that you're just the victim of circumstances, rather than the one who created those circumstances.   When one builds their house in a dry river bed, one should expect that it will be washed away eventually. That's not bad luck, that's poor planning.

 

[Connecticut Eagle]

Just now, 4for4EaglesNest said:

I'm telling you.  We traded down because of Deshaun Watson.  They wanted to have the ammo to trade for him if his off the field issues were settled by now.  That's why he pulled the trigger so soon.  

Their trade was an add on to the Miami/SF trade and they received nice compensation from Miami to make the deal. 

It was a singular opportunity.  I don't believe they could have chosen to turn on Madden one day and make the trade.

I believe them when they say they were OK going back to #12.  They didn't have to make the deal.  And it's not post-draft spin trying to convince the public why they love the guy they took.

[Iggles_Phan]

3 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

Minshew expected to be offered around during the draft.

A good cheap backup that will cost significantly less than a second round pick. 

They don't exist.  They cost at least a 2nd round pick, or up to $10M.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

 

So what would be worse.  Carolina and Dallas taking both the corners ahead of us, or NO and Carolina doing the same ??

 

[greend]

4 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

Minshew expected to be offered around during the draft.

A good cheap backup that will cost significantly less than a second round pick. 

we'll trade a 2 for him

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Alphagrand said:

Am I crazy, or is Howie taking on some of Nick’s mannerisms?

[ManuManu]

Just now, downundermike said:

So what would be worse.  Carolina and Dallas taking both the corners ahead of us, or NO and Carolina doing the same ??

 

I’d laugh at NO making that kind of move for a non-QB. They used two 1s to draft Marcus Davenport. They didn’t learn their lesson. 

[greend]

2 minutes ago, Alphagrand said:

Just watched a fluff pre-draft interview that Spadaro did with Sirianni and Roseman.  Am I crazy, or is Howie taking on some of Nick’s mannerisms?

Didn't watch, Spadaro's face makes me want to punch it.

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

37 minutes ago, Cliftoma said:

Smoke screen.  Cowboys will go OL.  I don't think they want to go CB 1st round again after failing to re-sign both Claiborne and Jones.  

Their OL has gone downhill fast and Tyron Smith is on the fast track to Jason Peters status.  

Just saying. Smith is there through 2022. His dead money is 17 mil this year and 12 next year with only 5 mil savings. Even in 2023 it can go either way. 8 mil dead money and 9 mil savings. 

[Connecticut Eagle]

Just now, downundermike said:

So what would be worse.  Carolina and Dallas taking both the corners ahead of us, or NO and Carolina doing the same ??

 

I was early on the Surtain bandwagon.

That said, what are your thoughts on the notion that Gannon will not need elite CBs to play in a Cover-2 scheme?