EMB Blog: 2022 Off-Season

[The Blackfish]

59 minutes ago, DawkinsOwnage03 said:

Two alphas Davis and Dean

 Davis is alpha size, he’s the guy you want with you to scare people away. Dean is the mean MF’er that doesn’t care who likes him, and holds everyone accountable.  
 Sorta like when Trotter got in between McNabb and Owens, he told them to knock it off, as Avant and Mikell have said, they stopped quickly. 

[ManuManu]

21 minutes ago, downundermike said:

 

 

Linderbaum was an all-state center in HS. 

Jurgens played LB, TE and punter. 

[ManuManu]

10 minutes ago, downundermike said:

Jurgens draft profile, saying exactly what you are saying about Linderbaum.

 

 

 

But he doesn’t have short arms and he’s added significant bulk. Seems like he wrote that profile pre-combine. 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, ManuManu said:

Linderbaum was an all-state center in HS. 

Jurgens played LB, TE and punter. 

Yeah, we know that, was not recruited to Iowa to play center, and played a what amounts to a season less than Jurgens.

Linderbaum is not a finished product, and a draft profile above said as much.

 

It is OK, the blog know it all @austinfan is allowed to be wrong.

[CouchKing]

1 minute ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

F it.  Draft a QB today.   

Trading Minshew?

[BigEFly]

So even Howie’s biggest critics understand what a horse trader he is.  Those mock games have people used to a dozen picks.  The reality is that each team starts with seven. Losing players may add with comp picks.  But realistically coming out of a draft with seven players is kind of the norm.  Eagles are poised to do that.  Dropping four spots last year, trading our 2022 extra sixth and a 2023 seventh (we have a better 7 now)and trading Wentz, a half year of Kelce and Matt Pryor (on a one year contract), for the 2022 draft period has landed Davis, Brown, Jurgens, Dean, Gowan (Ertz trade), Kary Vincent (sixth rounder) and we still have five and seven to go.  I would rather have Vincent than any other DB likely to be there in the sixth.  Pretty good horse trading.  

But the real challenge will be getting value out of Dillard.  That said, Dillard is probably better than the tackles grabbed last night.  Look at the cowpads grabbing Smith, probably to play RT, in the first.  That has all the earmarks of a need reach. 

[ManuManu]

1 minute ago, downundermike said:

Yeah, we know that, was not recruited to Iowa to play center, and played a what amounts to a season less than Jurgens.

Linderbaum is not a finished product, and a draft profile above said as much.

 

It is OK, the blog know it all @austinfan is allowed to be wrong.

He played two games at DT and then promptly redshirted to transition to C, where he already had experience from his HS days. I don’t think comparing him and Jurgens’ experience is similar at all. 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

Just now, 4for4EaglesNest said:

Our defensive personal does not match up with Gannon’s philosophy of bend don’t break, soft zone.  Doesn’t matter how good your D line is, if the opposing QB can just pick you apart with short routes.   If we’re going to take advantage of a good defensive line, you have to have capable corners playing more press than off.  

And that's my real concern right now. Our secondary is in a real bad way. Teams are going to feast on our secondary.

[jsb235]

40 minutes ago, austinfan said:

As far as Dean, we have starters in place with White, Edwards, Reddick. Taylor, Stevens (redshirt season), Johnson on the bench.

So it's not the end of the world if he misses a month, he doesn't have to start immediately, but what great depth to have a high IQ rookie who'll quickly get up to speed.

More importantly, you can see what the Eagles are trying to do on defense. Drafting Davis and then not taking a linebacker like Dean would have made very little sense.

Last year we had Singleton and Edwards, who were great playing right behind the defensive tackles but terrible defending the edges and in coverage. Now we have Dean and White, who are completely the opposite. But their weaknesses aren't as much of a liability because Davis keeps them from being exposed, and will also open up free lanes for them to rush the passer.

Reddick is a liability in the run game as an undersized edge defender, but that liability will be minimized by the fact that Dean and White can fly to the ball. Our safeties aren't great, and were certainly expected to do much more playing behind Edwards and Singleton, but now their jobs get simpler playing behind faster linebackers who can cover.

I get the fact that there is a risk with Dean, both from injury and the fact that he lacks ideal measurables. But you can't really fault the thought process. We needed a first round talent at that spot, and hopefully we got him.

I know people wanted more secondary help, but to me, if you drafted Davis in the first, you had to change the linebackers. It just didn't make sense to me to invest a top draft pick in a player like him and then not adjust the rest of the front 7 to complement him. It would have made it far too easy for teams to simply attack us outside the numbers. 

[ManuManu]

How does Dean comp to Eric Kendricks as a prospect?

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

He played two games at DT and then promptly redshirted to transition to C, where he already had experience from his HS days. I don’t think comparing him and Jurgens’ experience is similar at all. 

He was redshirted due to the depth of the defensive line.  He took reps at center during practices before the last game of the season, he was not redshirted with the intention of moving him to center, or he would have been practicing at center all season.

32 minutes ago, downundermike said:

 

Linderbaum’s career at Iowa

Having been recruited as a defensive tackle despite his ability to play both ways, Linderbaum saw limited opportunity as a true freshman in 2018. The Hawkeyes were stacked with talent on the defensive line. While the environment offered the young offensive lineman valuable opportunity to learn, he saw action in just two games — Northern Illinois and Illinois — before taking a redshirt.

During practices for the Outback Bowl that concluded Iowa’s 2018 season, Linderbaum took reps at center. Impressing the coaches with his insane athleticism and innate understanding of leverage gained during his high school wrestling career, Linderbaum earned the starting role for the 2019 season.

 

[Saltpeter]

11 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

But he doesn’t have short arms and he’s added significant bulk. Seems like he wrote that profile pre-combine. 

Yeah wtf he has 33+ inch arms

[ManuManu]

2 minutes ago, downundermike said:

He was redshirted due to the depth of the defensive line.  He took reps at center during practices before the last game of the season, he was not redshirted with the intention of moving him to center, or he would have been practicing at center all season.

 

According to Brugler he was redshirted and Ferentz requested he move to center. 

Regardless, it was at most a one-year hiatus from the position. Jurgens never played center before going to Nebraska. He was something like a 240 pound TE.

[RLC]

Recent players who fell in the draft for medical include Jay Ajayi, DK Metcalf, Trey Smith, Dalvin Cook, Jeffrey Simmonds, AJ Brown.

A lot of these are SEC players. SEC Players have publicly said that the NFL is a little easier because there are significantly less practices. Alabama practices are brutal.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

According to Brugler he was redshirted and Ferentz requested he move to center. 

Regardless, it was at most a one-year hiatus from the position. Jurgens never played center before going to Nebraska. He was something like a 240 pound TE.

Regardless, he was not recruited to play center, and to say he is a finished product is absurd.  To say he can't add bulk is absurd.

[BigEFly]

23 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

Long term needs, IMO (looking beyond 2022):

1. QB

2. Speed at WR.  You all make fun of me, but it's something that will be lacking and will be exposed eventually until they are forced to re-invest in it.

3. RT.

4. Entire secondary.

5. Edge rusher.

2.  Brown and Smith both are high 4.4 guys but Quez has speed.  But Smith has elite agility.  Brown has elite agility for a 225 lb WR. And both have great hands. Your love for speed is overrated.  Sub 4.5 speed is fast.  Agility (body control) and hands matter.  

3.  Lane is 31 and signed for three more years. With Driscoll as swing T, backup G, now that is appears RG is addressed. But yes, need to keep restocking the OL.

4.  Slay is signed for two more seasons but is getting older.  Lots of bodies but the biggest need.

5.  Next year with the secondary. Also will need more rotation DTs. 

[CouchKing]

I would take Carson Strong in the 5th if he's still there.

Maybe trade Minshew to Seattle.

 

[pgcd3]

44 minutes ago, Wentz_Era said:

I'm off the ledge a bit.  I still think Brown was a misallocation of resources given the current state of the team.  He a fantastic addition, but unless there is a meteoric rise this year from Hurts that firepower is wasted.  I love the Jurgens pick and I'm hoping Dean is healthy.

Brown makes the Eagles a more attractive destination.  They leveraged the Hurts relationship to pull someone in and now they look better

[ManuManu]

 

[BigEFly]

28 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

How does Dean comp to Eric Kendricks as a prospect?

Bigger brain. 

[CouchKing]

1 minute ago, pgcd3 said:

Brown makes the Eagles a more attractive destination.  They leveraged the Hurts relationship to pull someone in and now they look better

With AJ Brown, Eagles addressed a hole on the team and previous draft failures in Reagor and JJAW.

Does this make them look better? Maybe.

To who? Honey Badger? A CB?

A QB? (Tom Brady...)

[D-Shiznit]

Our O-Line, stud WRs and TE, running game is a pot of gold for a QB who can maximize it. We'll be very enticing for a veteran QB if one becomes available. Question is who could it be?

Pass on Kyler Murray/Lamar Jackson/Daniel Jones/Baker Mayfield.

Tom Brady? - He's a FA next year. I know he'll be 45, but damn. I don't know.

[ToastJenkins]

50 minutes ago, Wentz_Era said:

I'm off the ledge a bit.  I still think Brown was a misallocation of resources given the current state of the team.  He a fantastic addition, but unless there is a meteoric rise this year from Hurts that firepower is wasted.  I love the Jurgens pick and I'm hoping Dean is healthy.

Hurts will have no excuses

[The Blackfish]

31 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

How does Dean comp to Eric Kendricks as a prospect?

 He’s a more explosive, maybe not as fast Lavonte David, with a higher football IQ. It’s crazy how fast he gets to the ball. 
 He switched up roles with Walker vs Michigan because of their RB, his tape that game is scary. 

[GoEagles5921]

1 hour ago, Texas Eagle said:

Where in what I said did disappointment come off? I get you’re new here and apparently love the sound of your own voice but you have some work to do before you can start policing the sentiment of the blog.

Dude I’ve been on the board for 10+ years.  I rarely posted but trust me I understand the constant negativity.  The negativity surrounding the draft is even more annoying because when the team doesn’t do what they want, it automatically equals a bad draft.  Besides wanting secondary help, this has been an incredible draft so far.

WR- check

DL- check

LB- check

All the needs can’t be addressed in one offseason, but Howie has done a pretty damn good job for the most part.  The team isn’t  contender this year anyway so continuing to build the trenches is very smart.  Oh and getting a 24 year old WR just entering his prime is pretty good too.