7 minutes ago, DEagle7 said:

Lots of legitimate criticism to Watson, but I got no issues with him  picking a team based on wanting to be as close to home as possible, which is clearly what he's doing. If he just wanted to win, or to go to a big market for ad deals there's many better fits than Car/Atl/NO.  

Not to mention with Brady back that he'd be playing for 2nd place at best in that division. 

6 minutes ago, Alphagrand said:

It makes me nervous they have obvious interest in Burks already.  I don't mind him at all, but he's not among my top choices.  

Do you think, if the Eagles miss on Davis and Wyatt, that Winfrey or even Leal could be there at #51?

Winfrey definitely not. Leal possibly. Travis Jones very possibly.

6 minutes ago, LeanMeanGM said:

Absolutely not

Agreed. As badly as I want a white doode WR...not that doode.

3 minutes ago, RememberTheKoy said:

 

He took a meeting with Cleveland who are neither a warm climate nor a dome. 

And also by far the best roster of the teams in the mix. Made sense to hear them out.

7 minutes ago, downundermike said:

 

Add to the list another reason I want Watson, so I can go talk ish to that guy.

Who is he, and what are "HIS" sources? 

It is interesting to see people coping with the reality of Watson not wanting to come here as "he just doesn't care about winning" when this team wouldn't be in a position to contend with him especially after giving up the assets to get him.  Also interesting since the reply to this has always been "Well having a QB like that makes you a contender" so if that's the case the Falcons or the Panthers or Saints or whoever lands him will then be a contender with him and he does care about winning. So much broken logic. 

 

 

 

37 minutes ago, John_C said:

The question becomes.... why do these players turn down the Eagles "In a matter of 5 minutes time"

Because they spend 4 minutes laughing. 

34 minutes ago, Peppersmacks said:

You really are incapable of discussing something honestly without shifting your supposed point.  You were complaining about the structure of Kelce's contract.  Now you are pretending that the reason we missed on someone is because we literally couldn't afford it like your auction scenario, which is a presumption based on nothing.  So the reports were that we were in and very close on Marcus Williams.  So he got $14 million a year.  Let's say we matched that but had to beat Baltimore's offer.  Are you really suggesting that we literally couldn't have figured out a way to be able to afford $14.5 million instead of $14 million?

Your own scenario just illustrates your elementary school approach to middle school economics.  Jimmy in your scenario literally could not offer $10 - he could not afford it.  But that's not how the cap works in the NFL.  I trust even you would admit that additional money can always be found under the cap.  So when a team is bidding on a free agent, their ceiling is only their self-imposed limit on what they believe a player is worth.  The reason the Eagles didn't offer $14.5 million to Williams wasn't they couldn't afford it.  They didn't do it because that exceeded what they thought he was worth and stuck to their limit.  

Yes, it was clearly oversimplified.    But, I haven't changed a single thing about my stance about the structure.  Howie's MO over the last 4 years is to lock in players that are past their prime to money that will hit long after they are no longer worth a fraction of that amount.  

 

The structure with Kelce is that they pushed extra money to the future that could be better dealt with by not borrowing from the future to have a 34 year old center.  I know who Kelce is/was.  Teams don't 'find' money on the salary cap.  They borrow from the future.   That's not found money, they always have to pay it.  And yes, future money is less costly than current money, in terms of the percentages, but just as the salary cap goes up every year, so does the cost of players.  And if our cap limit is lower than other teams, we can't offer as much money, because we've already squandered some of this year's money, and next year's money on the past.   When the team is in a down turn (as it was this past year and will be in this current year by all signs, meaning no legitimate chance to compete for a Super Bowl), does it really matter if you finish with 6 wins or 9 wins?  Or would it be better to clear some of those tough contracts that you shouldn't have given out structured the way they were (Cox, Brooks, Graham, etc.) and take your lumps in the present and give yourself more flexibility in the future when you might actually have the chance to make a move that allows you to legitimately compete for a Super Bowl?    I prefer taking the bad medicine now, and having the payoff come down the road of having the extra money to make sure that I can outbid a team for a player I really covet... or have the extra cap space to make a deal for a player at the trade deadline that might be enough to push me over the top.   All these moves, including the Kelce structure, are about the present, not about the future.  These aren't moves with the long view in mind, but the here and now.   Bringing Kelce back is great, but I'd have preferred that that deal not include dead money in the future, but be a net neutral on the overall cap.  Because for all the genius I hear that Howie is... he's painted the team into a pretty tight corner in terms of flexibility (Dead last) and in terms of future dead money (Dead last for 2023), AND we aren't even close to the top in terms of current money available, nor are we close to the top in terms of overall talent.  So, he's spending future money like crazy, tying up flexibility and still not building a strong roster.  What exactly is he doing well?

 

He made a nice trade to get rid of the Wentz contract.  But, that's the same contract he gave out, and the player that he traded all those picks to acquire.  So, that's just a matter of him cleaning up one of his messes.  Kudos.

Of course, now we are back to having no answer at QB.  That's the same problem we were in back in 2016.  Will lightning strike twice?  Doubtful.  Back then we had young studs on defense that could be built around.  Now we have... uh... who exactly on defense to build around?  Seems no one in that 25-27 year range who will be in their prime when this team gets it figured out in 2023 or so.  And 2023 just happens to be where the team already leads the league in dead money.   And I know... we have money we can roll over.   Seems that so will every other team, and they have more than we do.

Howie needed to make some really hard choices after Doug was fired and start to bite the bullet.  He barely bit it.  He nibbled it.  Last year was an opportunity to really clear some space and get out from under some albatross contracts.  He chose not to and instead pushed money forward.  Now he's doing it again with Kelce.   Great to have Kelce back.   Would be better without the dead cap hit at the end.  Howie needs to stop borrowing from the future for a while and just ride the hand he dealt himself.  And then when the hand improves, he'd have more cash then to do something more significant.

2 minutes ago, Outlaw said:

 

Washed. 

3 minutes ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

Did you see Doug announce that Press Taylor was coming back...only to be trumped a few days later?  Because that wasn't a rumor...It happened.  

That was Groh. But the report was he wanted to promote Press to OC before getting fired. And then immediately hired Press to OC the second he got a chance in Jax.

2 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

Washed. 

Oh, agreed. He did have a decent year for Pitt last year though. But no, no interest in bringing him here. Just slow news days, so posting what I see.

53 minutes ago, Connecticut Eagle said:

I think we can all agree that Howie really messed up while trying to keep the window open for another championship.  He made bad decisions with 3rd contracts and extensions.  We are still feeling the impact.

That said, I think Howie is a decent team builder.

And, like he learned a few things during the time he was replaced by Chip, I think he has learned from the dark years of the draft ('17 - '20).

Can he screw this up....sure.  But I don't expect him to.

What I like about Howie is he self-reviews, he admitted he needed to work on personal skills after the Chip debacle, he admitted he tried too hard to keep the window open after the SB.

Every GM makes a load of mistakes, as I advised younger people who worked for/with me, don't worry about making mistakes, worry about repeating mistakes.

1 minute ago, austinfan said:

What I like about Howie is he self-reviews, he admitted he needed to work on personal skills after the Chip debacle, he admitted he tried too hard to keep the window open after the SB.

Every GM makes a load of mistakes, as I advised younger people who worked for/with me, don't worry about making mistakes, worry about repeating mistakes.

 

 

4 minutes ago, Iggles_Phan said:

Yes, it was clearly oversimplified.    But, I haven't changed a single thing about my stance about the structure.  Howie's MO over the last 4 years is to lock in players that are past their prime to money that will hit long after they are no longer worth a fraction of that amount.  

 

The structure with Kelce is that they pushed extra money to the future that could be better dealt with by not borrowing from the future to have a 34 year old center.  I know who Kelce is/was.  Teams don't 'find' money on the salary cap.  They borrow from the future.   That's not found money, they always have to pay it.  And yes, future money is less costly than current money, in terms of the percentages, but just as the salary cap goes up every year, so does the cost of players.  And if our cap limit is lower than other teams, we can't offer as much money, because we've already squandered some of this year's money, and next year's money on the past.   When the team is in a down turn (as it was this past year and will be in this current year by all signs, meaning no legitimate chance to compete for a Super Bowl), does it really matter if you finish with 6 wins or 9 wins?  Or would it be better to clear some of those tough contracts that you shouldn't have given out structured the way they were (Cox, Brooks, Graham, etc.) and take your lumps in the present and give yourself more flexibility in the future when you might actually have the chance to make a move that allows you to legitimately compete for a Super Bowl?    I prefer taking the bad medicine now, and having the payoff come down the road of having the extra money to make sure that I can outbid a team for a player I really covet... or have the extra cap space to make a deal for a player at the trade deadline that might be enough to push me over the top.   All these moves, including the Kelce structure, are about the present, not about the future.  These aren't moves with the long view in mind, but the here and now.   Bringing Kelce back is great, but I'd have preferred that that deal not include dead money in the future, but be a net neutral on the overall cap.  Because for all the genius I hear that Howie is... he's painted the team into a pretty tight corner in terms of flexibility (Dead last) and in terms of future dead money (Dead last for 2023), AND we aren't even close to the top in terms of current money available, nor are we close to the top in terms of overall talent.  So, he's spending future money like crazy, tying up flexibility and still not building a strong roster.  What exactly is he doing well?

 

He made a nice trade to get rid of the Wentz contract.  But, that's the same contract he gave out, and the player that he traded all those picks to acquire.  So, that's just a matter of him cleaning up one of his messes.  Kudos.

Of course, now we are back to having no answer at QB.  That's the same problem we were in back in 2016.  Will lightning strike twice?  Doubtful.  Back then we had young studs on defense that could be built around.  Now we have... uh... who exactly on defense to build around?  Seems no one in that 25-27 year range who will be in their prime when this team gets it figured out in 2023 or so.  And 2023 just happens to be where the team already leads the league in dead money.   And I know... we have money we can roll over.   Seems that so will every other team, and they have more than we do.

Howie needed to make some really hard choices after Doug was fired and start to bite the bullet.  He barely bit it.  He nibbled it.  Last year was an opportunity to really clear some space and get out from under some albatross contracts.  He chose not to and instead pushed money forward.  Now he's doing it again with Kelce.   Great to have Kelce back.   Would be better without the dead cap hit at the end.  Howie needs to stop borrowing from the future for a while and just ride the hand he dealt himself.  And then when the hand improves, he'd have more cash then to do something more significant.

Kelce is a special case on many levels, Stoutland loves him, he's the leader of the team, he's an pro bowl caliber player. There are situations when you should overpay, I was wrong at the time with Dawkins, b/c he was one of those situations.

The Wentz deal was a good value at the time - while he was probably never going to play at his 2017 level again, 2018-19 he was a top ten or so QB, and those guys are hard to find and get more money on the open market. No one expected Wentz to implode.

The cap is rising over the next decade at a rapid rate, the Eagles will not be constrained by the cap from doing anything they need to do in 2023 or 2024 - and frankly, there are rarely more than a couple FAs worth signing - look at all the bad contracts teams give out every season and regret two years later. Howie has already locked up his best young players on high value contracts (Mailata, Goedert, Sweat). That's the best way to use cap room.

Watson met with teams with bottom 5-10 rosters (Falcons, Panthers). He didn't choose teams that could win immediately with him (Eagles, Browns, Vikings pre Cousins extension). 

A lot of players will chooe comfort over winning and that's their choice.

46 minutes ago, John_C said:

The question becomes.... why do these players turn down the Eagles "In a matter of 5 minutes time"

Because Philly is a s-hole of a city?

I have to think the Browns have no choice but to move Baker at this point. I wonder what they get for him. A 2nd this year and a conditional 2023? Indy could make some sense. 

13 minutes ago, Outlaw said:

 

What do we thing @Outlaw, fit for the Eagles ??

1 hour ago, austinfan said:

I'd have to see the details.

I agree with Howie that the timing is wrong, you should be hiring AFTER the draft - taking your top personnel people before the draft is wrong on a number of levels.

Of course jobs come available at the end of the season and before the draft.  I mean that's when the GM in NY got fired.  

1 minute ago, downundermike said:

What do we thing @Outlaw, fit for the Eagles ??

Nah, I don't see him as a big upgrade at this point in his career.

Watson has rejected the two most talented teams trying to acquire him. Not sure what else needs to be said other than that. The Browns are legit SB contenders with Watson and he turned them down.

I'm not even a Howie fan, but people want to blame everything on him because it aligns with their agenda.

Apparently Haason Reddick never got the memo that the Eagles are the worst FO ever and free agents just don't sign in Philly.

I now know why Eagles announced Howie signing today: didn't want the Merrill Reese signing tale up too much column space in Philly media.

52 minutes ago, John_C said:

The question becomes.... why do these players turn down the Eagles "In a matter of 5 minutes time"

Riddick didn't. Watson wants some control over the roster. Do you see Howie ever giving that up? Honestly I wouldn't either.

1 minute ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

Have you been to New Orleans, Houston, Cleveland, Buffalo? 

 

Because you have the GM and HC playing RPS and Nerf Basketball with players?  

Should really switch up to a fisher price. Go big or go home