35 minutes ago, bpac55 said:

Just looking at the roster this morning, checking out who is probably gone and how the roster is put together.  Assuming guys like Alshon, DJack, Malik Jackson,Vinny,  DIck Rod, Ertz and potentially Jason Kelce if he retires, Darius Slay if traded are no longer on the roster...Carson would be the 3rd oldest player on the roster behind BG and Cox.  That changes of course if Carson is actually traded and any vets they might bring in.

Nothing else to this besides it just being interesting.  Also didn't realize TY McGill is 28.  I thought he was younger.  Adding a young boneafide DT in the draft is an understated need.            Cox is 30, Hargrave is 28, McGill is 28, Treyvon Hester is 28, Hassan Ridgeway is 26 and Raiquan Williams is 23.  Safe to say that McGill, Hester and Ridgeway are who they are and JAGs, although not bad for 4th DTs.  Not sure what Williams upside is, probably a 3rd DT at best.  Need to get a young guy or 2 ready to step in.

Brooks and Lane Johnson are still on the roster as well 

4 minutes ago, bpac55 said:

Just looking at the roster this morning, checking out who is probably gone and how the roster is put together.  Assuming guys like Alshon, DJack, Malik Jackson,Vinny,  DIck Rod, Ertz and potentially Jason Kelce if he retires, Darius Slay if traded are no longer on the roster...Carson would be the 3rd oldest player on the roster behind BG and Cox.  That changes of course if Carson is actually traded and any vets they might bring in.

Nothing else to this besides it just being interesting.  Also didn't realize TY McGill is 28.  I thought he was younger.  Adding a young boneafide DT in the draft is an understated need.            Cox is 30, Hargrave is 28, McGill is 28, Treyvon Hester is 28, Hassan Ridgeway is 26 and Raiquan Williams is 23.  Safe to say that McGill, Hester and Ridgeway are who they are and JAGs, although not bad for 4th DTs.  Not sure what Williams upside is, probably a 3rd DT at best.  Need to get a young guy or 2 ready to step in.

That's why it's a two year rebuild, that's how long it'll take to strip the roster of most of the veterans and their cap hits.

Howie started the rebuild last year on the margins, those are the guys who take 2-3 years to develop (later round picks, UDFAs, etc.), but injuries forced some of them to play. The advantage of being "bad" is you get to draft a few core players for a couple of years, you don't need a lot of these guys, AR build a team around McNabb, Tra and Simon, for example, but you need a few. You need to hit a few more later in the draft, then fill around the edges. Player development is key to filling around the edges, you don't get 10 high draft picks a year (unless you're Cleveland).

One reason you transition the vets out instead of dumping them wholesale is that a lot of rookies need a year to acclimate to the NFL, for every instant star there's a kid who needs that year in the weight and film room. So if you have Cox and Hargrave, you can work a couple kids into the DT rotation their first year, bigger role their second year, and starters their third year.

A few of the right players will raise the play of other players, a first rate WLB would help Edwards and Singleton, a top WR makes it easier on the kids, a ballhawking FS makes it easier to play press coverage underneath and so on.

 

I can't wait for Laurie's state of the franchise press conference in training camp, especially if Roseman further botched this Wentz trade situation 

 

Just now, Bacarty2 said:

This hurts my brain. The only(some how) strong point of this team is O-line. You have 2 Left Tackles on the roster and we want to use a top 10 pick to bring in a 3rd. 

 

Are the Eagles a "select the best available player team?"  If so, and the Tackle is the best available do you take the best available, reach, or trade?  Dillard is a question mark, Mailata showed well in my opinion, Lane is now looking like he is now a hit or miss for playing- though great when he plays even when hurt.   To me, tackle, guard, DT and DE are all needs, with Oline more urgent.  Not that more evidence is needed but the SB provided ample evidence of the importance of offensive and defensive lines.  Even a generational QB can't overcome poor offensive line play

16 minutes ago, Bacarty2 said:

I have it at 49% Wentz staying and 51% Wentz leaving. 

Vegas has a 3 horse race for a landing spot for Wentz. By Odds, no other teams are close. 

Colts(obviously) Bears.... and the Eagles. 

I think we should realistically start thinking he may return. 

 

Essentially Howie cant do anything right. Why all of a sudden would he be able to trade someone of Wentz's situation. 

Negative, Wentz is leaving, that is 100%.  Eventually they will deal him, no question about it.  Could not possibly try to run it back now.  They would probably have a hold out situation and end up cutting him or something.

I agree with the last sentence, as that has been proven out with supporting evidence over significant periods of time.  A total failure by any measure.  Still, they will execute the trade for Wentz, the only question now is where and for what.  

Based on what we are seeing play out in the media, we know these things are likely true:

1.  The Eagles have had substantive discussions with both the Bears and Colts for Wentz.  Both teams have given an indication of the maximum type offer they would be willing to make for Wentz.  This has been widely reported.  

2.  The Eagles are not happy with what they have been offered from these other teams for Wentz.  All of the context and reporting over the last week indicates this is likely the case.  When you are going to make this kind of move, which makes your entire franchise look like a joke, you at least want some return that you can try to spin and sell to the fan base and the league.  If you can't even get a decent return, it just makes them look that much worse.  The owner can try to lay it off on others, or he can take personal responsibility once this is done.  Either way, he looks like a clown.  Only a "Stafford level return" would save some some face, but that isn't happening.  

3.  Because they aren't getting great offers, the Eagles are trying to gem up interest from other teams, and also leaking stories to the media.  They are leaking alleged offers which are not real, in an attempt to drive up the price in a "bidding war."  It's likely some of the other teams that have been reported have spoken to the Eagles.  It's also more likely than not that none of those teams moved forward with further discussions or negotiations, which could be due to the Eagles initial ask in a return.

4.  Unfortunately, the rest of the league sees through the situation and what the Eagles are doing.  The Colts and Bears, who are reported to be "disciplined" in negotiations, have set a value on Wentz.  They will offer what they think is fair value, but not more, and if it doesn't work, they will work on the next solution.  No one looks at this as if Brady is a free agent or they are getting Aaron Rodgers or Russell Wilson.

5.  Speaking of which, there are a lot of QBs, including 2 top 5 QBs, that are in weird situations right now.  There has never been more potential flux in the QB market!  Both Wilson and Watson are speaking to the media, one demanding to be traded, the other waging a public relations assault on his franchise.  Goff and Stafford have already been traded.  In addition, you have many other QBs that have been reported to being available, like Matt Ryan, David Carr, Jimmy Garapolo, Sam Darnold and SB MVP/Champion Nick Foles.  Dak Prescott is a free agent, and no one knows where his situation in Dallas stands.  Cam Newton, Jameis Wintson are free agents.  Other guys like Jacoby Brissett and Mitchell Trubisky are also FAs.  They may profile as backups, along with a handful of others.  Plus, we have a draft coming up that looks to have a consensus of 4 first round QBs.  Bottom line?  Wentz is not the only solution for any of these teams, and more compelling options may present themselves.

6.  Wentz has spoken to the media, not directly but his "camp" has done their share of leaking.  He has said he is done in Philly, he prefers to go to Indy, but he isn't coming back here.  He isn't waging a PR campaign, as he knows that would only diminish his trade value and increase the chances that the owner won't grant him the leave he so desires, but he has made his intentions quite clear.  This has come through multiple sources over a period of time.  This wasn't just agent-speak or anything like that.

7.  Based on the above, there is no viable path forward for the Eagles and Wentz to continue together.  He will be playing elsewhere, and most likely be traded (best case scenario), and hopefully the Eagles get something useful.

---------------------------------------------------

I know the owner wants to get on a Zoom call and talk about how they were "blown away by an offer" and "really so impressed by Jalen and so excited to see him as the starter" but that is not going to happen.  They need to maximize the return they get, before the situation changes and less is available.

I said before the season ends... a low first rounder by itself is a range for a return for Wentz.  He still does have some potential and value in the right situations.  Maybe 2 2nd rounders is fair...  or a 2nd and a conditional pick the next year. The absolute floor should be a 2nd and a mid rounder the following year.  Given his situation and cost, that is around what I expected them to get.  If the Bears offered #20 and nothing else, that's probably a good return.  Now, if they want you to take Nick Foles and his money coming back, I want an additional mid round pick this next year.

Maybe when this is over, the owner will take a look and try to figure out how and why this happened.  Maybe he will start to take some responsibility, and begin the process of extracting himself somewhat from the football personnel decision making... and identify the personnel leadership in house that is responsible for the mess.  Maybe begin finding people that actually know what they are doing.  One can hope.....

34 minutes ago, hputenis said:

For the OL experts in the blog:

Is there any chance Sewell can move inside to LG his rookie year?  If Dillard starts and looks good at LT and Mailata becomes the swing tackle (or replace Lane when he inevitably break down), this would be the only reason I would want to draft Sewell at 6 (if both the receivers are gone). 

O-Line is going to be interesting.  One of the holdovers on the staff is Stoutland and that's a great thing.  My questions start with the amount of input he had in who played vs. DP last year.

Was Stoutland on team JP or did he want Mailata out there?

IMO, Mailata is the starter at LT, no questions asked.  Dillard can cross train to be the swing tackle for the time being.  If/when Lane is gone or injured you can then slide Mailata to RT and plug Dillard in at LT.  Until that happens, put the best players out there and that is Mailata.  It shouldn't even be a discussion.  The discussion should be how can we salvage Dillard and make him a contributing piece.

I don't know enough about Sewell to say yes or no to him but I know that there are more holes on this team that could be filled early in the draft instead of using 6 on Sewell.

I want Nate Herbig training with Brandon Brooks this off-season.  Shed that baby fat and get yourself an NFL body.  

The O-Line as it stands should be    Mailata  Seumalo  Kelce  Brooks  Johnson     That's an above average NFL O-Line.  Dillard is swing tackle, Herbig/Driscoll are your plug and play lineman on the inside and potentially at tackle.  Toth and Juriga are depth/potential players.

A lot could change between now and camp though.  Kelce could retire and Brooks could be traded although I doubt it.  If Kelce retires, I'm plugging Herbig in at LG and sliding Seumalo to C.  I look to draft a C in the 3rd/4th.

Then you have    Mailata  Herbig  Seumalo  Brooks  Johnson    Dillard again is the swing tackle.  Driscoll becomes the Swiss Army Knife across the board, Juriga and Toth are depth.

Looking big picture maybe even as early as 2022 I think the line could be     Dillard  Driscoll  Seumalo  Herbig  Mailata   Your backups are Toth as the swing tackle, Jurgia is the plug and play interior lineman and you add some youth in the middle rounds of the draft.

It's important that Mailata, Herbig, Driscoll, Dillard, Toth and Juriga take a step forward this year.  I think they have enough talent on the team to have a very good O-Line but they all have to continue to improve and grow.  I'm cautiously optimistic about the line.  The young guys were thrown in the fire last year and went through a lot of growing pains.  They still have Stoutland coaching them up.  Health and growth is the key.

2 minutes ago, Freshmilk said:

Are the Eagles a "select the best available player team?"  If so, and the Tackle is the best available do you take the best available, reach, or trade?  Dillard is a question mark, Mailata showed well in my opinion, Lane is now looking like he is now a hit or miss for playing- though great when he plays even when hurt.   To me, tackle, guard, DT and DE are all needs, with Oline more urgent.  Not that more evidence is needed but the SB provided ample evidence of the importance of offensive and defensive lines.  Even a generational QB can't overcome poor offensive line play

Didn't you read his brilliant insight on the previous post?  This should not and is not a topic for discussion on an Eagles message board.  

We've all known the Eagles to shy away from OL and DL in the 1st round, so there's zero chance that it could happen again.  

9 minutes ago, Alphagrand said:

Brooks and Lane Johnson are still on the roster as well 

My bad, yes they are.  I had the roster pulled up not showing IR guys.

9 minutes ago, austinfan said:

That's why it's a two year rebuild, that's how long it'll take to strip the roster of most of the veterans and their cap hits.

Howie started the rebuild last year on the margins, those are the guys who take 2-3 years to develop (later round picks, UDFAs, etc.), but injuries forced some of them to play. The advantage of being "bad" is you get to draft a few core players for a couple of years, you don't need a lot of these guys, AR build a team around McNabb, Tra and Simon, for example, but you need a few. You need to hit a few more later in the draft, then fill around the edges. Player development is key to filling around the edges, you don't get 10 high draft picks a year (unless you're Cleveland).

One reason you transition the vets out instead of dumping them wholesale is that a lot of rookies need a year to acclimate to the NFL, for every instant star there's a kid who needs that year in the weight and film room. So if you have Cox and Hargrave, you can work a couple kids into the DT rotation their first year, bigger role their second year, and starters their third year.

A few of the right players will raise the play of other players, a first rate WLB would help Edwards and Singleton, a top WR makes it easier on the kids, a ballhawking FS makes it easier to play press coverage underneath and so on.

 

No, that's why we are 2 years too late of the rebuild.  Many of us on here have been warning about this roster for the last 2 years.  

18 minutes ago, hputenis said:

For the OL experts in the blog:

Is there any chance Sewell can move inside to LG his rookie year?  If Dillard starts and looks good at LT and Mailata becomes the swing tackle (or replace Lane when he inevitably break down), this would be the only reason I would want to draft Sewell at 6 (if both the receivers are gone). 

 

16 minutes ago, Bacarty2 said:

This hurts my brain. The only(some how) strong point of this team is O-line. You have 2 Left Tackles on the roster and we want to use a top 10 pick to bring in a 3rd. 

 

 

9 minutes ago, hputenis said:

Wow you're an idiot.  It's like you only choose certain words to read and you scramble them together to create your own thought.   

I don't want to draft Sewell.  But there's a chance he's the most talented guy left at 6, which was why my question was if he can slide to LG to start.  Do me a favor and don't answer that last part, because I'm confident you have no clue at all.  

 

5 minutes ago, Bacarty2 said:

This shouldnt be a conversation for numerous reasons and yet you bring it up. 

And no, *IF* you draft him at 6, He's your LT day 1. 

 

Are Mailata and Dillard sure thing LTs?  I like Mailatas chances and think he can really be something.  I know what Dillard looked like initially, I understand how good his feet are, his quickness, and how good in pass pro he was in college.  I just don't know anymore, with the injuries, but more importantly with the potential toughness and love of the game issues that have been reported.  He never had the elite "length" but he did have the feet and athleticism.  If he finds that desire, he could be effective elsewhere, even though he initially bombed at RT and for some reason is only mentally comfortable at LT, where he has ever played.

The positional value of an LT is so damn high, if the best player at 6th overall is Sewell, I am absolutely fine (happy, even) if the Eagles took him.  This is a rebuild, and I don't know what I can count on from Brooks or Lane moving forward.

If Chase and Smith are gone, but Sewell is there... and you have him as a top 3 type LT... do you take the H-back/TE prospect instead?  Who do you take?  I would take the stud OL all day long.

The Eagles are sorely lacking in young talent, and more lacking in difference making players.... a difference making LT has a profound impact on an offense.

This is a moot point, because I do not see any scenario where he makes it past 5th... but if he did, I cannot understand why we would not be excited to get him.  This team isn't drafting a receiver and competing next year.  This team is in cap hell, with little talent, other than aging vets, and is trading it's "franchise" QB.  New coaching staff.  This is a 3-6 win team next year.  Have to be mentally ready for the re-build....

2 minutes ago, Bacarty2 said:

I stopped reading after this. Nothing is 100%. 

Howie screws up everything he touches. 

Wentz is beef is only with Howie, (it seems) and theres numerous work arounds.

is 49/51 an extreme outlook, probably. thats my gut though. Realistic(Vegas odds) it seems like its about 40% he stays. 

 

I agree, you are right about that, nothing is for certain.... also of course true that Howie has been a total failure in every respect.

But I believe what we know indicates this is a done deal.... Call it 99%.

8 hours ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

 

Curious if he'll take the fines or show up

30 minutes ago, hputenis said:

For the OL experts in the blog:

Is there any chance Sewell can move inside to LG his rookie year?  If Dillard starts and looks good at LT and Mailata becomes the swing tackle (or replace Lane when he inevitably break down), this would be the only reason I would want to draft Sewell at 6 (if both the receivers are gone). 

@justrelax

I'm sure Peters played b/c Stoutland wanted him to play, I don't think Doug told Stoutland who to play. Peters was better than Mailata (who struggled the first half) for two games before he injured the toe and essentially ended his career. Stoutland was probably happy to get to sit Mailata for a short stretch (his head had to be spinning) and let him absorb his first half experience - and he bounced back, playing at a higher level. Mailata still made his share of mistakes, and his technique is inconsistent, but he should be much better in 2021.

Herbig lacks the feet for LG, he's more likely to be a center in the mold of Jamaal Jackson or a RG, but he limits you a bit. Lacks the feet to get to the second level on screens and off double teams. But can anchor against the pass rush. They'll probably push him to get into better shape.

Driscoll is more suited to LG, I really liked watching him, and think he'll be a starter if not this year, next year.

Toth is a wild card, he wasn't ready last year, but coming out of Army he was undersized and needs that year in the weight room. Not sure if Juriga is a NFL player or if Opeta will be healthy (disc problem).

I think Brooks will be fine at RG, but I've got my doubts about Lane and his ankle. But I can go with Dillard - Driscoll - Seumalo/Herbig - Brooks - Mailata, still much better than 2020. Need to add some young blood, but not a priority early unless BPA falls into their laps.

 

24 minutes ago, austinfan said:

That's why it's a two year rebuild, that's how long it'll take to strip the roster of most of the veterans and their cap hits.

Howie started the rebuild last year on the margins, those are the guys who take 2-3 years to develop (later round picks, UDFAs, etc.), but injuries forced some of them to play. The advantage of being "bad" is you get to draft a few core players for a couple of years, you don't need a lot of these guys, AR build a team around McNabb, Tra and Simon, for example, but you need a few. You need to hit a few more later in the draft, then fill around the edges. Player development is key to filling around the edges, you don't get 10 high draft picks a year (unless you're Cleveland).

One reason you transition the vets out instead of dumping them wholesale is that a lot of rookies need a year to acclimate to the NFL, for every instant star there's a kid who needs that year in the weight and film room. So if you have Cox and Hargrave, you can work a couple kids into the DT rotation their first year, bigger role their second year, and starters their third year.

A few of the right players will raise the play of other players, a first rate WLB would help Edwards and Singleton, a top WR makes it easier on the kids, a ballhawking FS makes it easier to play press coverage underneath and so on.

 

Is this not true for every team in every draft?

25 minutes ago, RememberTheKoy said:

I can't wait for Laurie's state of the franchise press conference in training camp, especially if Roseman further botched this Wentz trade situation 

 

I don't think Hugh Laurie is going to talk about it.

10 minutes ago, bpac55 said:

My bad, yes they are.  I had the roster pulled up not showing IR guys.

No, that's why we are 2 years too late of the rebuild.  Many of us on here have been warning about this roster for the last 2 years.  

Imagine if the Eagles started a rebuild after the 2018 season. You think there's controversy over Wentz? That would have be a total s**storm.

If they had let a bunch of veterans walk instead of restructuring contracts, the theme would have been how cheap Lurie is, valuing money over competing. And Howie would have been crucified. I'm sure Wentz would have felt so much happier without a couple veterans targets and having Dillard start at LT as a rookie.

And of course, would you rebuild with Doug and Schwartz as your coaches? Neither gives you any confidence they could manage that sort of transition. Yet, it would have been difficult to fire them a year after a SB and after getting back to the playoffs. The Philly media would have had a field day.

Whether they started the rebuild after 2019 instead of after 2020, there would have been a similar impact, Hargrave's contract runs out in 2022, so Slay is the only cost, and if they trade him, they'll recoup a draft pick. It's not like DeSean, Jeffrey, Malik, Curry et al had trade value, so cutting them a year early would have made no difference, and by going 4-11-1, in effect, it's like they started the rebuild after 2019. Still would have taken to 2022 to move out the veterans and their contracts.

No combine or private workouts , you'll see what these teams scouting departments are made of.

You'll have pro days , but those are scripted and run by the agents. 

It will be interesting looking back in a couple years. Some teams will nail it , many won't. 

2 minutes ago, austinfan said:

Imagine if the Eagles started a rebuild after the 2018 season. You think there's controversy over Wentz? That would have be a total s**storm.

If they had let a bunch of veterans walk instead of restructuring contracts, the theme would have been how cheap Lurie is, valuing money over competing. And Howie would have been crucified. I'm sure Wentz would have felt so much happier without a couple veterans targets and having Dillard start at LT as a rookie.

And of course, would you rebuild with Doug and Schwartz as your coaches? Neither gives you any confidence they could manage that sort of transition. Yet, it would have been difficult to fire them a year after a SB and after getting back to the playoffs. The Philly media would have had a field day.

Whether they started the rebuild after 2019 instead of after 2020, there would have been a similar impact, Hargrave's contract runs out in 2022, so Slay is the only cost, and if they trade him, they'll recoup a draft pick. It's not like DeSean, Jeffrey, Malik, Curry et al had trade value, so cutting them a year early would have made no difference, and by going 4-11-1, in effect, it's like they started the rebuild after 2019. Still would have taken to 2022 to move out the veterans and their contracts.

Wrong man wrong.  If you couldn't see that Alshon was never going to be Alshon again then you don't bring him back.  You bring in younger replacements to grow with Carson.  You don't trade for DJack.  The domino effect of running it back and bringing veterans is 100% why we are here.

In 2018, Carson was 26 years old.  Injury aside, he was coming back from a near MVP season.  You had the perfect chance to build a young core around him and it didn't happen.  They surrounded him with aging, declining, expensive players. 

4 minutes ago, Desertbirds said:

Is this not true for every team in every draft?

Teams that think they're playoff bound tend to reserve more roster spots for veterans, ST and backup types. Coaches don't generally want to have to plug in a late round pick/UDFA rookie if there are injuries.

Look at the 2017 team, bottom of the roster:  Maragos (30), Sproles (34), Means (27), McDougle (26), Barner (28), Graham (32), Watkins (26).

On the margin, if you're rebuilding, you reserve spots for young players, if you're competing, you reserve more spots for veteran backups.

Also depends how good your coaches are at player development, outside of Brown as an emergency pickup, the OL backups were Pryor, Driscoll, Herbig, Opeta, Toth, Pierschbacher - there are always veteran scrubs like Brown you can pick up, but Eagles stuck with the kids, probably b/c they trusted Stoutland.

Look at the DBs, the same thing, except they weren't coached up very well. Seymour was the only older addition, and he was a reclamation project. Same at WR, DeSean and Jeffery were "start or bust" types, but they brought in Fulgham, not a veteran WR to add depth. Curry was the only veteran depth on the DL and he was in the top 6 rotation.

 

1 minute ago, Bacarty2 said:

I have no problem headed into the season with what we have and maybe a FA/3rd/4th rounder.  I think the JP thing was screwed up every which way(shouldnt of been resigned, shouldnt of moved over, shouldnt of gotten his starting job back). 

I'm ok with going WR

I'm ok with trading back and going WR.

I'm ok with trading back and getting the LB from Penn state who's dropping like a rock

I'm NOT OK WITH OL OR TE at 6

You have more confidence in the offensive line than me.  I'm not OK going into the season with what we have.  Too much hope involved with both ability and health.  I'd love Sewell at 6.  

6 minutes ago, bpac55 said:

Wrong man wrong.  If you couldn't see that Alshon was never going to be Alshon again then you don't bring him back.  You bring in younger replacements to grow with Carson.  You don't trade for DJack.  The domino effect of running it back and bringing veterans is 100% why we are here.

In 2018, Carson was 26 years old.  Injury aside, he was coming back from a near MVP season.  You had the perfect chance to build a young core around him and it didn't happen.  They surrounded him with aging, declining, expensive players. 

They didn't have that opportunity, they restructured contracts b/c if they let players walk, the dead money would have precluded adding new FAs. Basically the only contracts they added were patches due to injuries, Wallace goes down/DeSean, Jerrigan goes down/Malik/Hargrave. Darby can't stay on the field/Slay. Howie kicked the can down the road until he ran out of road.

If they were cold blooded, they would have fired Doug and Schwartz after 2018, brought in a better HC with a better staff, let Alshon walk, etc. and eat the dead money in 2019, go 7-9 for a couple seasons and reload. But how many franchises have done those sort of moves coming off a SB? I think Lurie couldn't do that to the guys who fulfilled his dream, just not in his character.

15 minutes ago, Original Sin said:

No combine or private workouts , you'll see what these teams scouting departments are made of.

You'll have pro days , but those are scripted and run by the agents. 

It will be interesting looking back in a couple years. Some teams will nail it , many won't. 

The bigger problem will be the lack of film on players who sit out (do you really want to trust their sophomore season film? Many get exposed as juniors after opposing teams have film on them), and programs with truncated seasons. Deep research on intangibles will be even more important in this draft.

Why I'd trade down as much as possible, this is going to be a "throwing darts blindfolded" type of draft.

The combine really doesn't matter anymore, with today's technology you can probably get a better read on players' athleticism by tracking their movements off game film than a workout in shorts. However, the measurements do matter, as do the interviews.

One of my favorite players and top DT is  Levi Onwuzurike . Late rd 1 pick.

13 minutes ago, austinfan said:

Teams that think they're playoff bound tend to reserve more roster spots for veterans, ST and backup types. Coaches don't generally want to have to plug in a late round pick/UDFA rookie if there are injuries.

Look at the 2017 team, bottom of the roster:  Maragos (30), Sproles (34), Means (27), McDougle (26), Barner (28), Graham (32), Watkins (26).

On the margin, if you're rebuilding, you reserve spots for young players, if you're competing, you reserve more spots for veteran backups.

Also depends how good your coaches are at player development, outside of Brown as an emergency pickup, the OL backups were Pryor, Driscoll, Herbig, Opeta, Toth, Pierschbacher - there are always veteran scrubs like Brown you can pick up, but Eagles stuck with the kids, probably b/c they trusted Stoutland.

Look at the DBs, the same thing, except they weren't coached up very well. Seymour was the only older addition, and he was a reclamation project. Same at WR, DeSean and Jeffery were "start or bust" types, but they brought in Fulgham, not a veteran WR to add depth. Curry was the only veteran depth on the DL and he was in the top 6 rotation.

 

Noah Togiai might never be worth a crap, but Howie lost him, a player he wanted to keep, because of bad process. 

11 minutes ago, austinfan said:

They didn't have that opportunity, they restructured contracts b/c if they let players walk, the dead money would have precluded adding new FAs. Basically the only contracts they added were patches due to injuries, Wallace goes down/DeSean, Jerrigan goes down/Malik/Hargrave. Darby can't stay on the field/Slay. Howie kicked the can down the road until he ran out of road.

If they were cold blooded, they would have fired Doug and Schwartz after 2018, brought in a better HC with a better staff, let Alshon walk, etc. and eat the dead money in 2019, go 7-9 for a couple seasons and reload. But how many franchises have done those sort of moves coming off a SB? I think Lurie couldn't do that to the guys who fulfilled his dream, just not in his character.

Mike Wallace goes down so you trade for a player who gets injured even more! Brilliant!  

Jernigan goes down so you replace him with almost $80 million in salary??? in what world does that make sense? 

Darby goes to Washington and plays almost 100% of the defensive snaps....coincidence that he leaves the Eagles and suddenly is healthy?  

 

Your constant excuses for this team are unreal man.  Are you Jeff Lurie?  You almost sound like him at his PC.  

9 minutes ago, bpac55 said:

Mike Wallace goes down so you trade for a player who gets injured even more! Brilliant!  

Jernigan goes down so you replace him with almost $80 million in salary??? in what world does that make sense? 

Darby goes to Washington and plays almost 100% of the defensive snaps....coincidence that he leaves the Eagles and suddenly is healthy?  

 

Your constant excuses for this team are unreal man.  Are you Jeff Lurie?  You almost sound like him at his PC.  

Smh knew who u were talking to