EMB Blog: 2021 Offseason

[Connecticut Eagle]

16 minutes ago, BGDutchNorris said:

Sports fandom is weird. One of the few professions where millions of people question how you operate daily, as if they know that sport better than you (a person who has been in this sport for years if not decades). People who study sports for a living get stuff wrong all the time.

Sometimes we, as fans, can be too emotional.

 

[Penn7980]

Seumalo, Brooks, Dickerson and Herbig.  Also throw Kelce in there. The interior OL is solid and deep.  The older players may miss time during the season.  There are chances for Dickerson to step in and play.  He could be the eventual replacement of Kelce, who is on the last leg of his career.  Herbig is an able back-up as shown from last season.  No point to move anyone of them. 

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

1 minute ago, Penn7980 said:

Seumalo, Brooks, Dickerson and Herbig.  Also throw Kelce in there. The interior OL is solid and deep.  The older players may miss time during the season.  There are chances for Dickerson to step in and play.  He could be the eventual replacement of Kelce, who is on the last leg of his career.  Herbig is an able back-up as shown from last season.  No point to move anyone of them. 

TIFWIW, Tim McManus talked yesterday on the radio and said he has heard Dickerson could potentially be the replacement for Brooks. That He’s heard different things on the subject of brandon Brooks. 

basically on Brooks contract the earliest i see him being gone is 2023 so i don’t know what to make of that. Looking at their contracts feels like lane and Brooks are here at least til 2023 

[hputenis]

17 minutes ago, EaglePhan1986 said:

Went straight to my V 

I'm getting my 1st Moderna shot on Friday.  I actually don't mind wearing masks in public because people disgust me in general.  I'm happy I don't have to see anyone's face and that they aren't spreading their germs everywhere.  However, it is pretty awful at the gym.  I can't stand wearing a mask when I'm working out, so I guess it will be nice to get back to normal.  

[austinfan]

4 hours ago, Iggles_Phan said:

Well, if he were taking these risks in Round 3 instead of Round 2, I think that would be a better spot to take that sort of risk, especially in Round 3 at pick 85 versus Round 2 at pick 37.  

Problem is the risk you take at #85 is with respect to maybe landing a solid starter, the risk they took at #37 was maybe landing an all pro OL.

Other teams use a similar calculus, so if you're rebuilding, why not go for the gusto?

Different calculation if you're a playoff team patching a hole.

[austinfan]

35 minutes ago, justrelax said:

It's one thing to run around in shorts and another to go full contact. I think this is clearly Kelce's last year. Both Seumalo and Brooks are coming off injuries. I think they'd like to give Dickerson some time to heal further and learn Stoutland's system (although I expect it's pretty much what he installed at Alabama when he was there). If they're going to move one of the four guys you mention, it's got to be Ertz.

As regards beating out Seumalo, sure, he could. However, Seumalo is their only move guard. Replacing him with a more powerful but less agile or fast player will take away their staple run - the outside zone. I've made this argument before. It would fundamentally change their running game. I don't think Stoutland would like to do that. We had to do it last year because we didn't have Seumalo for much of the year and played Herbig instead. We saw how that worked.

I've thought that Dillard might be the upgrade at LG, he has great athleticism to be a "move" guard. Driscoll is also athletic enough for that role. Opeta would be a dark horse candidate.

[Swoop]

To further illustrate why I take issue with Hurts, it's for plays like this. I went back and have been watching tape of Hurts and see this happen all too often, so far. Here he has two, potentially three wide open players. Instead, he stays focused on Alshon and then takes off running.

[Penn7980]

Just saw the announcement of signing Clark, who played G and T for the Colts.  If he is a T, it may push Dillard down the depth chart.  Driscoll filled in well last season when injuries were a problem.  Johnson is recovering from injury and Mailata continues to improve at LT.  The addition of Clark fortifies the OT positions and the OL looks pretty good and deep now.

[Saltpeter]

16 minutes ago, austinfan said:

I've thought that Dillard might be the upgrade at LG, he has great athleticism to be a "move" guard. Driscoll is also athletic enough for that role. Opeta would be a dark horse candidate.

Dillard/Opeta starting at LG would make a ton of sense if Sirianni/Stoutland's objective was to get Jalen Hurts obliterated in less than 2 seconds.

[jsb235]

36 minutes ago, BGDutchNorris said:

Sports fandom is weird. One of the few professions where millions of people question how you operate daily, as if they know that sport better than you (a person who has been in this sport for years if not decades). People who study sports for a living get stuff wrong all the time.

Sometimes we, as fans, can be too emotional.

At the same time, the people in charge of these teams aren't superhumans with abilities that go far beyond the normal person. If you have ever been around any large organization, you see people in them all the time who have risen up through the ranks without displaying any kind of special abilities. In football, the situation is made worse by the fact that the lower rungs are often full of people who have the financial means to subsidize themselves at the entry level jobs it takes to get their foot in the door. Arthur Smith may be a genius, but his father also owned FedEx, which paved the way for him. Is he special? We will find out know that he's the one in charge. He's gotten to the top of the mountain. We will soon find out if he really deserved to be there. The one thing NFL teams are really bad at is coaching and front office hires. Crappy teams often stay crappy despite the advantages of the draft because they can't hire good coaches and personnel people. And that is often painfully obvious to fans.

It's funny, because in picking the players, a tenth of a second in a 40 time or a quarter of an inch in arm length can mean the difference between getting drafted and working in insurance, but then the owner finds out a prospect was a fan of the team growing up, and suddenly he's a fourth round pick. 

[jsb235]

15 minutes ago, Swoop said:

To further illustrate why I take issue with Hurts, it's for plays like this. I went back and have been watching tape of Hurts and see this happen all too often, so far. Here he has two, potentially three wide open players. Instead, he stays focused on Alshon and then takes off running.

This screenshot is a great example of what was wrong all year with this offense - three receivers all on the same level, and the deep safety is easily able to give help on two of them. So really his choices are try to make the deep out to the top or take the checkdown. Running is fine here. They are giving him the same yardage as the checkdown.

[FranklinFldEBUpper]

3 hours ago, Iggles_Phan said:

I really liked him coming out.   This is a bad sign for Dillard, imho.  

Nah...his competition will be Matt Pryor. Frankly, I'd be shocked if Pryor makes the team. 

[EricAllenPick6]

11 minutes ago, Swoop said:

To further illustrate why I take issue with Hurts, it's for plays like this. I went back and have been watching tape of Hurts and see this happen all too often, so far. Here he has two, potentially three wide open players. Instead, he stays focused on Alshon and then takes off running.

Great pic.  Two wide open guys.  I'm not sure that tells the whole story there, though.

Unless I'm missing something -- he has no throwing lane to that side. 

The pocket is a mess, he's got Miles right in his face on the right side looking to double team the DE.  I'm guessing since Alshon was covered the only play would have problem been to move up in the pocket (is that what he did?) and to see how the field looks.  At that point, he might have been looking at 15 yards with no defenders and Zach Ertz to throw a block to the linebacker that's present.

[LeanMeanGM]

2 minutes ago, jsb235 said:

This screenshot is a great example of what was wrong all year with this offense - three receivers all on the same level, and the deep safety is easily able to give help on two of them. So really his choices are try to make the deep out to the top or take the checkdown. Running is fine here. They are giving him the same yardage as the checkdown.

Pretty sure this was 2nd and 22 and the result of the scramble was 3 yards, so, it's pretty bad 

[Iggles_Phan]

5 minutes ago, austinfan said:

Problem is the risk you take at #85 is with respect to maybe landing a solid starter, the risk they took at #37 was maybe landing an all pro OL.

Other teams use a similar calculus, so if you're rebuilding, why not go for the gusto?

Different calculation if you're a playoff team patching a hole.

Sure.  Go for the gusto... and on a team that has very limited talented players under 25, why not just blow another high draft pick on a player that is just as likely to bust out (this time due to injury) as he is turn into this All-Pro.     And let's not forget, there is risk in drafting any player.  He might not turn into the player you think.  There are no guarantees on his transition to the NFL, in addition to his injury history.    So, let's not anoint him an all-pro just yet.  Right now, I'll be happy just to see him last an entire season in the NFL.

And I'm going to go ahead and disagree 100% in the different calculation on a playoff team 'patching a hole'.  Playoff teams should be patching holes with veteran free agents, not draft picks.  The draft picks should still be used for refilling the talent base.  So, a playoff team needs to find quality players that can fill in as the older players phase out, not drafting a DE because they 'need a DE'.  Because a lot of times when teams do that sort of thing, they still end up needing a DE, but also have wasted a high pick on a player that couldn't do what they wanted him to do, and missed out on other talented players that they were blind to because they were zeroed in on need.   There are very few examples of this team successfully filling in holes by drafting for need.

[garingovt2000]

20 minutes ago, Swoop said:

To further illustrate why I take issue with Hurts, it's for plays like this. I went back and have been watching tape of Hurts and see this happen all too often, so far. Here he has two, potentially three wide open players. Instead, he stays focused on Alshon and then takes off running.

Sometimes screen shots don't show the whole picture.  Looks like we need about 25-30 yards to get a first down

[Iggles_Phan]

6 minutes ago, jsb235 said:

This screenshot is a great example of what was wrong all year with this offense - three receivers all on the same level, and the deep safety is easily able to give help on two of them. So really his choices are try to make the deep out to the top or take the checkdown. Running is fine here. They are giving him the same yardage as the checkdown.

The out to the 40 yard line is WIDE OPEN, why would he be relegated to the check down?

[jsb235]

Just now, LeanMeanGM said:

Pretty sure this was 2nd and 22 and the result of the scramble was 3 yards, so, it's pretty bad 

Yes, Jalen Hurts can't scramble, and has never made a big play with his legs. Don't be the guy who makes results oriented arguments. Look at the picture. It is telling you the right play is for him to run. If some dlineman gets lucky and trips him up, that doesn't make the decision bad.

[Iggles_Phan]

6 minutes ago, FranklinFldEBUpper said:

Nah...his competition will be Matt Pryor. Frankly, I'd be shocked if Pryor makes the team. 

I've already erased Pryor from my mind.   There is no Pryor.  

[LeanMeanGM]

2 minutes ago, jsb235 said:

Yes, Jalen Hurts can't scramble, and has never made a big play with his legs. Don't be the guy who makes results oriented arguments. Look at the picture. It is telling you the right play is for him to run. If some dlineman gets lucky and trips him up, that doesn't make the decision bad.

He was pushed out of bounds

[jsb235]

1 minute ago, LeanMeanGM said:

He was pushed out of bounds

I can show you 100 plays from the pros and college where he turned a similar situation into a 20+ yard gain. So what's your point? That he can't run? That he should always throw a checkdown in that spot?

Of all the things to criticize him for, this play seems like a pretty dumb hill to die on. 

[FranklinFldEBUpper]

As someone else noted, the Eagles needed 22 yards. That's a lot. Sure, I guess maybe he could have made a throw to get them ten or fifteen yards. But let's not act like there was a big play downfield to be had. There wasn't. 

I think Hurts displayed a tendency to run too quickly last year, but I'm not sure that this is play to cite as an example.

[greendestiny27]

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

TIFWIW, Tim McManus talked yesterday on the radio and said he has heard Dickerson could potentially be the replacement for Brooks. That He’s heard different things on the subject of brandon Brooks. 

basically on Brooks contract the earliest i see him being gone is 2023 so i don’t know what to make of that. Looking at their contracts feels like lane and Brooks are here at least til 2023 

I brought this up a couple months back. Moesher hinted at this towards the end of the season and again a couple months ago. 

[LeanMeanGM]

2 minutes ago, jsb235 said:

I can show you 100 plays from the pros and college where he turned a similar situation into a 20+ yard gain. So what's your point? That he can't run? That he should always throw a checkdown in that spot?

Of all the things to criticize him for, this play seems like a pretty dumb hill to die on. 

You're the one saying the checkdown would have gotten the same yardage and that a defender got lucky and tripped him up. All I said was both those things didn't happen. 

 

I do think he should look past his first read before running though. 

[Iggles_Phan]

3 minutes ago, FranklinFldEBUpper said:

As someone else noted, the Eagles needed 22 yards. That's a lot. Sure, I guess maybe he could have made a throw to get them ten or fifteen yards. But let's not act like there was a big play downfield to be had. There wasn't. 

I think Hurts displayed a tendency to run too quickly last year, but I'm not sure that this is play to cite as an example.

It was 2nd down. So, getting half of it on that play would have been a good outcome.