EMB Blog: 2021 Offseason

[315Eagles]

3 hours ago, eagle45 said:

I absolutely didn’t want him.

 

4 hours ago, Mike030270 said:

There was actually a lot in here that didn't want Jefferson...

Cant speak for everyone but I preferred Tee Higgins over JJ.  But would absolutely have taken JJ over Reagor.

Wouldn't shock me one bit if Jefferson has a sophomore slump.

[eagle45]

5 minutes ago, 315Eagles said:

 

Cant speak for everyone but I preferred Tee Higgins over JJ.  But would absolutely have taken JJ over Reagor.

Wouldn't shock me one bit if Jefferson has a sophomore slump.

I might as well double down now...

I bet last year was the best statistical year Jefferson ever has.  
 

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

5 hours ago, LeanMeanGM said:

The questions were fine, his answers were awful.

"Jalen, what have you worked on this offseason to improve your game?"

"Everything"

"Can you expand on who you worked out with or some things specifically you did to improve any specific areas?"

"No, I don't want to get in to all that."

 

[eagle45]

I don’t agree with these comments that Hightower was a good route runner, even if some of them come from Avant.

He can glide downfield, but there is zero suddenness or agility to his game. 
 

He tracks the football like Agholor.

So we’ve got a WR who can’t shake anyone loose and separate underneath, is too frail to make contested plays underneath, is effective ONLY at separating deep downfield, yet cant track a deep ball to save his career...I’m not saying to cut the guy, but I do have little to no interest in watching his development.  
 

 

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

1 hour ago, Iggles_Phan said:

They fired him a week late...  he'll get sniffed next season.

Exactly the eagles didn’t fire him when everyone else fired the coaches. He was fired a week later so everyone had been doing interviews and he was behind. Like atlanta already had zeroed in on smith as their next head coach by that point. So it was does doug want to try to fight an uphill battle a week behind to make that ground up or take a coordinator job or sit for a year, take a break, collect paychecks and then get a head coaching job. 

[devpool]

4 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

I might as well double down now...

I bet last year was the best statistical year Jefferson ever has.  
 

Yup. Part of that reason is because it would be hard for any receiver to consistently put those numbers up. The other part is going to be a year's worth of NFL tape. He will still have Thielen opposite him though, so while he may receive more attention than last year he won't be able to be doubled too often. Should still have a really good year.

[bpac55]

7 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

I don’t agree with these comments that Hightower was a good route runner, even if some of them come from Avant.

He can glide downfield, but there is zero suddenness or agility to his game. 
 

He tracks the football like Agholor.

So we’ve got a WR who can’t shake anyone loose and separate underneath, is too frail to make contested plays underneath, is effective ONLY at separating deep downfield, yet cant track a deep ball to save his career...I’m not saying to cut the guy, but I do have little to no interest in watching his development.  
 

 

He has less wiggle than Torrey Smith.

[eagle45]

Watkins, on the other hand...better deep speed than Hightower, worlds better with quickness/agility and explosion, and can string together moves.

Sure, he has not demonstrated the best hands, but despite our recent experience with WRs, some players actually have the ability to make improvements there.

[Iggles_Phan]

20 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

I don’t agree with these comments that Hightower was a good route runner, even if some of them come from Avant.

He can glide downfield, but there is zero suddenness or agility to his game. 
 

He tracks the football like Agholor.

So we’ve got a WR who can’t shake anyone loose and separate underneath, is too frail to make contested plays underneath, is effective ONLY at separating deep downfield, yet cant track a deep ball to save his career...I’m not saying to cut the guy, but I do have little to no interest in watching his development.  
 

 

He managed to draw a few DPIs.  

[315Eagles]

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

Exactly the eagles didn’t fire him when everyone else fired the coaches. He was fired a week later so everyone had been doing interviews and he was behind. Like atlanta already had zeroed in on smith as their next head coach by that point. So it was does doug want to try to fight an uphill battle a week behind to make that ground up or take a coordinator job or sit for a year, take a break, collect paychecks and then get a head coaching job. 

I'm rooting for Doug but I dont think he will get a HC job, at least not right away.

Not sure he's viewed very highly around the league, eventhough he won a SB.

[bpac55]

20 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

Watkins, on the other hand...better deep speed than Hightower, worlds better with quickness/agility and explosion, and can string together moves.

Sure, he has not demonstrated the best hands, but despite our recent experience with WRs, some players actually have the ability to make improvements there.

I honestly think Hightower struggles to make the team.  

Smith, Reagor, Fulgham, Ward, Watkins, Grimes is my early guess for the 6 WR.  

[ManuManu]

For those concerned about Reagor being the slot this year, he also was the first person lining up at Z. Smith was at X. 

[315Eagles]

23 minutes ago, bpac55 said:

I honestly think Hightower struggles to make the team.  

Smith, Reagor, Fulgham, Ward, Watkins, Grimes is my early guess for the 6 WR.  

So is this the end for JJAW?

[ManuManu]

Per Bo Wulf...

With Slay out, it was a little curious that Avonte Maddox spent more time in individual drills working with the safety group than the corners. 

[bpac55]

1 minute ago, 315Eagles said:

So is this the end for JJAW?

did we ever have a beginning?

[eagle45]

16 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

Per Bo Wulf...

With Slay out, it was a little curious that Avonte Maddox spent more time in individual drills working with the safety group than the corners. 

Corner isn't working out for him, and he had a little swagger in his step playing safety as a rookie...so that is both interesting and rational.

[eagle45]

I wish we had Dillard as 1st team LT, Mailata as 2nd team RT.

It's just the best case scenario for having both OT spots figured out.

If Dillard isn't at LT this year, that cements the soon to be 26 year old as a 1st round draft bust and also assures the burning of a 1st round pick on an OT.

[HazletonEagle]

19 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

Per Bo Wulf...

With Slay out, it was a little curious that Avonte Maddox spent more time in individual drills working with the safety group than the corners. 

thats great news

[LeanMeanGM]

1 hour ago, Utebird said:

 I think you're giving up on hightower too quickly.

The guy shied away from contact and played scared but he also showed the ability to get behind a defense and run more than just that one route.

He was just a rookie last year playing in a horrid dysfunctional offense 

If he comes out and plays scared again I say cut him loose but if he shows he wants to compete and get dirty I think he can be an asset as a deep threat Z.

I’m not writing him off but I don’t think the "he was playing in a horrid dysfunctional offense” holds a lot of water when it comes to him specifically. Sure, he may be able to make some plays in a better offense, but there were easy plays to be made last year that didn’t happen that fall on him. 

[eagle45]

 

54 minutes ago, 315Eagles said:

I'm rooting for Doug but I dont think he will get a HC job, at least not right away.

Not sure he's viewed very highly around the league, eventhough he won a SB.

Doug probably needed an OC job again...he came off as a bit of a dunce with an exceptionally stale, bland offense in recent years.

Maybe thats Howie pulling the strings, maybe it’s Howie’s crap players....but no one is going to hand Doug the controls after that.  He needs/needed an OC job to get an offense humming.  If he did that, there would be reassurances about his intellectual ability to run an offense...combine that with his SB pedigree and he’d be the hot name again with the narrative that he just needed to get out of that toxic Philly environment.

 

[LeanMeanGM]

2 hours ago, Iggles_Phan said:

Doesn't bother me.  

My point was responding to someone who said the interview was bad because of the questions. The questions were fine there just wasn’t substance. 
 

This was the biggest takeaway.

 

[Utebird]

22 minutes ago, LeanMeanGM said:

I’m not writing him off but I don’t think the "he was playing in a horrid dysfunctional offense” holds a lot of water when it comes to him specifically. Sure, he may be able to make some plays in a better offense, but there were easy plays to be made last year that didn’t happen that fall on him. 

I can agree with that, he dropped some catchable passes and alligator armed a couple and when he did catch it looked totally lost.

He looked like a deer in the headlights all year 

Hopefully this year he's adjusted and can make progress.

Pinkston was the same as a rookie he played scared and seemed the league was just too big for him, he came back his second season and had a decent season 

Hightower has similar really similar stats to Pinkstons rookie season.

Pinkstons second season he had almost 600 yards and 4 tds.

I'd be ecstatic if hightower put up those kinds of numbers his second season, I'm not sure he will and I'm not saying Pinkstons career arc is the goal but 500 yards and 4 tds would be a sign of hope that he can be a contributor going forward.

Or hell fall flat on his face and be out of the league in another season, we'll see 

[Mike030270]

25 minutes ago, LeanMeanGM said:

My point was responding to someone who said the interview was bad because of the questions. The questions were fine there just wasn’t substance. 
 

This was the biggest takeaway.

 

That's a good answer IMO. Take the criticism as motivation 

[schuy7]

Gotta love Reagor talking crap before he does anything (again).

[blindside]

You guys are funny. You have a WR who got injured most of the season, gets killed by "fans” on Twitter, gets compared to a WR we passed on who has nothing to do with him and has to hear the media destroy not only his draft selection but everything about him and you want him to be all friendly and talkative? That’s unrealistic and silly. But carry on