34 minutes ago, Rob331 said:

C'mon now - I didn't say that at all. Give me some credit please. 

I didn't say what you quoted me as saying. Weird. "Ward may not be any good in your eyes" was jsb235 responding to me.

In regards to Greg Ward, I agree with you, except I don't think its a long shot. I'd say its about 50/50 Ward makes the team.

1 hour ago, LeanMeanGM said:

I didn't say what you quoted me as saying. Weird. "Ward may not be any good in your eyes" was jsb235 responding to me.

In regards to Greg Ward, I agree with you, except I don't think its a long shot. I'd say its about 50/50 Ward makes the team.

Eagles fans love the underdog hard worker BS even if it means missing out on an upgrade sometimes. 

Like Jason Avant I loved that dude but, he should of been upgraded many times in the years he was here

1 minute ago, Bwestbrook36 said:

Eagles fans love the underdog hard worker BS even if it means missing out on an upgrade sometimes. 

Like Jason Avant I loved that dude but, he should of been upgraded many times in the years he was here

Yup, he’s going to be 2020s Paul Turner, Rasheed Bailey, DeAndre Carter, etc etc 

41 minutes ago, Bwestbrook36 said:

Eagles fans love the underdog hard worker BS even if it means missing out on an upgrade sometimes. 

Like Jason Avant I loved that dude but, he should of been upgraded many times in the years he was here

I guess we will see. They have plenty of guys on the roster who can take his spot. But he outplayed Agholor, Hollins, Matthews and JJAW last year, so maybe he is better than you think.

Plus, he's a slot wr on a team that primarily plays a two tight end offense. What exactly are you upgrading, a position that is needed 25 percent of the time? And, he's the only guy on the team that has played the position regularly at the NFL level.

Also, as far as missing out on an upgrade, you could make the same argument about every member of the defense outside of the DTs, Brandon Graham and Darius Slay. So in the list of things we have to fix, slot wr falls pretty far down the list for me.

 

   

On 6/8/2020 at 3:19 PM, jsb235 said:

With regard to Ward, I think he will make the team pretty easily, and I think they keep seven wrs even with Jeffery on PUP. The reason is that Jeffery, Jackson and Goodwin are all likely gone next year, so even though they are keeping 7, only five will be here after this season. If they cut Ward, what are the chances that they will find someone to replace him at a price they can afford after this season? Especially since the remaining guys are all unproven.

I couldn't find a 40 time for Riley. If he is that fast, I would say he has a chance. He certainly put up big numbers at Army, and I don't think the team is in love with anyone at the CB2 spot right now. Grayland Arnold is another UDFA to watch, and Trevor Williams is a guy they brought in to compete who has some outside corner experience.

At TE, I wouldn't be surprised to see them keep 2. Perkins is the backup to Ertz and Ellis is the backup to Goedert, and both of them can probably be stashed on the PS. With the rule change this year, I wouldn't be surprised to see them stash those two guys and go heavy at other positions. 

Good lord do they love Perkins, he is so "great" because he is a versatile "positionless player"... Just call a spade a spade. He is either a slow wide receiver, or a Tight end who cant block (and we have one of those already).  🙄.  Stash Ellis on the PS and call him up from time to time, I would be cool with that.

4 hours ago, jsb235 said:

I guess we will see. They have plenty of guys on the roster who can take his spot. But he outplayed Agholor, Hollins, Matthews and JJAW last year, so maybe he is better than you think.

Plus, he's a slot wr on a team that primarily plays a two tight end offense. What exactly are you upgrading, a position that is needed 25 percent of the time? And, he's the only guy on the team that has played the position regularly at the NFL level.

Also, as far as missing out on an upgrade, you could make the same argument about every member of the defense outside of the DTs, Brandon Graham and Darius Slay. So in the list of things we have to fix, slot wr falls pretty far down the list for me.

 

   

I was agreeing on leanmean thoughts about Ward because I've had them about certain players that's why I gave the Avant example. 

Personally I love Ward and hope he gets every opportunity to start and see if he can't get even better with another year on the starting team. 

22 hours ago, Rob331 said:

I think you're right - that's why I called them longshots. Goodwin and Watkins are both equipped to be slot receivers. I think Ward wins the battle but he'll have to keep his performance at a level higher than his competition. 

And perhaps Goodwin and Watkins can... But Goodwin can't seem to stay healthy and we really don't know what we have in Watkins, though I'd like the team to find out. 

On 6/8/2020 at 12:49 PM, Rob331 said:

Longshot #3 - The CB2 is on the roster but isn't Maddox, Douglas, or Jones. We have a 6') corner who runs in the 4'4's, is a sure tackler, very smart, and who had 20+ break ups in college. Think Jalen Mills with speed. Who? undrafted free agent Elijah Riley from Army. He's gong to surprise and not only make the roster but start.

I am extremely bored right now (thanks coronavirus), so I watched the 2019 Army-Morgan State game where Riley played against Manasseh Bailey. My thoughts after watching that game is that both guys have a lot of promise.

Bailey put up some big numbers, six catches for 121 yards and two TDs, and also drew a PI penalty where the defender just grabbed him to keep from getting beat deep. His TDs were both on deep balls, one of which was a 70 yarder that he just cruised by the defender.

Riley had an interception but gave up at least four completions, three of which were to Bailey. On the plus side none of them were on the deep balls that went for touchdowns. On the minus side two of them were on third down that resulted in first downs.

Riley did show off some deep speed in keeping up with Bailey on one of his go routes.

I think Bailey has a legit chance to make the team. He ran a 4.39 40, which seems legit when you watch high highlights. Granted, he is playing against bad competition, but I watched his game against a good FAMU team (which I believe was ranked in the top 25 when they played them) and he had six catches for 90 yards, while also drawing three PI penalties.

It was also somewhat strange in that the team didn't throw his way very much. He had nine targets in the Army game, and made six catches and drew one PI call. He had one target I would call a drop, but it was a timing route and it looked like he expected the ball a lot sooner.

Riley seems to me to be a perfect safety. He is a fantastic tackler, and he almost single-handedly beat Michigan. He made one tackle on a screen pass on the goal line that was jaw dropping. He has good size and does have deep speed. He also played a lot of press coverage, so maybe he will be a corner.

Both guys face an uphill battle for roster spots, but I think they are locks to at least make the practice squads. It would also not surprise me to see both guys make the roster to play special teams initially (Bailey had two blocked punts last year) and push for playing time as the season progresses, especially if the guys in front of them struggle. 

 

On 6/8/2020 at 10:49 AM, Rob331 said:

Longshot #3 - The CB2 is on the roster but isn't Maddox, Douglas, or Jones. We have a 6') corner who runs in the 4'4's, is a sure tackler, very smart, and who had 20+ break ups in college. Think Jalen Mills with speed. Who? undrafted free agent Elijah Riley from Army. He's gong to surprise and not only make the roster but start. 

The one that it seems all Eagles fans are overlooking is:

Trevor Williams

26 years old, 27 career starts in the NFL. Very solid player hit by the injury bug. 

i will start with this , i hope the nfl allows the teams to expand the 53 to 60 players.due to the virus

1- ward deserve shot to start at the slot , all he did was produce with no 1 , 2 or #3 wr on the field with him in do or die games.

2- the team has been good finding udfa gems

3 unless they can find a young te that plays special teams you might be right about only 2 te's

On 6/8/2020 at 1:49 PM, Rob331 said:

Here are some roster predictions that I haven't heard or read any speculation about.

Longshot #1 - Greg Ward isn't on the opening day roster. There are 3 ways this could happen. First, and no one wants this to happen, is a pre-season injury. Second, another team as a rash of receiver injuries and the Eagles benefit from their deep receiver corps and make a trade for him. Third, and most likely to me is this... The Eagles will likely keep 6 receivers. Jeffrey is headed for PUP. Jackson, Reagor, and JJAW (after all he's a 2nd round pick) have spots pretty well sewn up. That leave Hightower, Ward, Goodwin, and Watkins battling for the final 3 spots and give Hightower an edge because he's the only receiver besides JJAW with any height. Granted War has an edge because of his history and familiarity with thte offense but if he has a sup-par camp while Goodwin and Watkins have good ones it could happen. 

Longshot # 2 - the Eagles only keep 2 tight ends. This one is a matter of the roster numbers game. Most if not all teams break their 50 positional players down as 26 on defense and 24 on offense OR 25 on each. If the Eagles keep 6 receivers the 25/25 split looks likely. Why? Because they have 10 linemen who need to make the roster. There's the 5 starters plus Pryor who played well last year, Herbig the strongest man at the 2019 combine and a swing inside guy, the Big Aussie, and the two rookies - Driscoll and the Prince. Figure on 3 QB's, 6 WR's, 4 RB's, and 10 linemen that leaves only 2 slots for tight ends. 

Longshot #3 - The CB2 is on the roster but isn't Maddox, Douglas, or Jones. We have a 6') corner who runs in the 4'4's, is a sure tackler, very smart, and who had 20+ break ups in college. Think Jalen Mills with speed. Who? undrafted free agent Elijah Riley from Army. He's gong to surprise and not only make the roster but start. 

Longshot #4 - Based on #3 the Eagles will have 3 undrafted rookies make this years 53. Riley is the 1st. RB Michael Warren is the 2nd. With each day that Freeman or Shady isn't signed Warren's ability to make the team looks more likely. He's a fairly big guy at 220 and had a productive career at one of the Eagles seemingly favorite college programs - Cincinnati. Who is the 3rd  - well that's what makes this one a real longshot - it's DT Raekwan Willimas from Michigan State. But we're loaded at DT rights. Well yeah, but let's look at the overall defensive line. Figure on 10 players. Is it 6 DE and 4 DT or 5 and 5? At DE we'll have Graham, Barnett, Avery, Miller, and Sweat. Hall starts the seasonon PUP as a result of his last play knee injury in the playoffs last year. So who's the 6th DE? Is it Toohill or Ostman. Neither one is a roster lock and gives a stellar pre-season by Williams a plausible chance to see the 5 and 5 breakdown with the DT's being Cox, Hargrave, Jackson (who can also play outside) Ridgeway and Williams. 

Hope this was a but of fun to read - it sure was fun to dream up. 

I see why you think that way. My take on your take is:

1. Ward is your starting slot WR on opening day

2. Eagles keep 3 TE's

3. Very possible

4. Raekwan Willimas doesn't make the team- numbers crunch casualty

16 minutes ago, Talonblood said:

4. Raekwan Willimas doesn't make the team- numbers crunch casualty

The one thing that Williams has going for him is that he is a perfect fit for what the Eagles want in a DT, namely a one-gap player who can penetrate and pressure the QB.

I think it comes down to him or Rush, whose advantage is that he is just a massive human being, so maybe they want a run stuffer as the fifth DT.

One thing I would note is that in his highlight film, he absolutely destroys the center for Western Michigan, who is also one of our UDFAs, and a guy who is rated somewhat highly by scouts.

8 hours ago, jsb235 said:

I think it comes down to him or Rush, whose advantage is that he is just a massive human being, so maybe they want a run stuffer as the fifth DT.

Given the top 3 DTs on the roster do you think they'll go with 4 or 5 DTs this year?

7 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Given the top 3 DTs on the roster do you think they'll go with 4 or 5 DTs this year?

I would say 5. Jackson and Ridgeway were both injured last year and Cox is getting older. They probably need some depth there. Also, if the plan is to release Jackson after the season, I think you keep five so you have four guys around next year.

It's also why I think they will go heavy at WR, as they may not have Jeffery, Jackson or Goodwin around next season.