21 minutes ago, Waiting4Someday said:

Is Kearse, Sweat? Nice.

Thats the second time afan has referred to Kearse as if he is part of our current team. I think thats worse than me repeatedly calling Sydney Brown- Sydney Jones.

16 minutes ago, Road to Victory said:

I would’ve preferred Dean at the Will and Morrow as a coverage guy off the bench. I think WIll is Dean’s natural position in the NFL. Would’ve liked them to address the Mike position and there’s still time, especially with Howie’s ability to make acquisitions. 
 

I respectfully disagree. Dean was a MLB at Georgia and should be a MLB in the NFL as well.

20 minutes ago, Outlaw said:

1. Davis was our best run stuffing DT before he got hurt. 2. Suh I would bet is one quick phone call away if needed. 3. Who on our schedule is going to "pound the ball” other than Saquon? It sure isn’t Pollard and 5’5” Deuce Vaughn. Outside of Henry and a very small handful of others, there aren’t a lot of "pounding” running teams. Speed at LB is more necessary than size against today’s offenses. 

We are comparing the consensus best defensive player in the draft who is an absolute stud against the run in the SEC versus a guy whose own pre-draft scouting report and entire career proved he sucked against the run. 

Behind Slay, Maddox, and Bradberry we now have the following as options at CB:

Kelee Ringo, UGA (roster lock)

Greedy Williams, LSU

Eli Ricks, LSU/Bama

Josh Jobe, Bama

Mekhi Gardner, LSU

Mario Goodrich, Clemson

Zech McPhearson, Texas Tech

Josiah Scott, Michigan State

 

So Slay, Bradberry, Maddox, Ringo are locks. I think we keep 6. CB 5-6 is going to be the most fun camp/preseason battle to watch. 

Id like Jobe and Ricks to be the guys who make it. But that leaves a backup nickel off the roster. 

3 minutes ago, Road to Victory said:

I worry about a Washington-type game where they ran at us all game long, not too effectively, but we couldn’t get off the field. 

If you want to talk about next year, the Giants, Washington, the entire NFC West and New England can run the ball. 

Against the run, Carter and Davis > Suh and Joseph at this point in their careers. They also have Noah Elliss who is a massive human being. I’m betting our run defense is better this year than last. 

It’s the day after one of the greatest draft weekends in Eagles history…I can’t fathom how negative some of you are being. I’m not an eternal optimist Homer by any means but hell…

Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith, Sydney Brown will all make big impacts this year. We added a very talented piece to our RB room for pennies. We’ve made some very nice additions to our CB room with Ringo, Ricks, Gardner. 

How about just trying to be happy for the moment?  We ALL know that Howie isn’t done with personnel. 

Just now, HazletonEagle said:

Id like Jobe and Ricks to be the guys who make it. But that leaves a backup nickel off the roster. 

Justin Evans, if I'm not mistaken, has a great skillset for nickel.  

Josiah Scott can hit the road.

15 minutes ago, Outlaw said:

I like Elliss FAR more than Bradley as a backup LB. I expect more competition brought in there. Bradley and Taylor are far from locks to make the 53 or even the PS. 

Nakobe Dean was one of the most instinctual LBers I’ve ever watched in college. I truly think he’s going to far outplay his draft status. Having a redshirt year for the most part was a huge benefit to him. And for the one game he did play a ton of snaps, he led the team in tackles and made some (as expected) really smart plays on the ball. 

I haven’t been this excited about the future of our defense since we had Troy and Bobby and Dawk and drafted Lito, Sheldon, and Michael Lewis. 

Howie has set up this front 7 for success for years to come. 

The other factor that makes me as excited as you are is the continuity of having Carter and Davis playing in front of him … keeping him clean.

2 minutes ago, mattwill said:

I respectfully disagree. Dean was a MLB at Georgia and should be a MLB in the NFL as well.

TJ played 95% of the defensive snaps last season - that would ideally be Nakobe’s role.

19 minutes ago, Outlaw said:

I like Elliss FAR more than Bradley as a backup LB. I expect more competition brought in there. Bradley and Taylor are far from locks to make the 53 or even the PS. 

Nakobe Dean was one of the most instinctual LBers I’ve ever watched in college. I truly think he’s going to far outplay his draft status. Having a redshirt year for the most part was a huge benefit to him. And for the one game he did play a ton of snaps, he led the team in tackles and made some (as expected) really smart plays on the ball. 

I haven’t been this excited about the future of our defense since we had Troy and Bobby and Dawk and drafted Lito, Sheldon, and Michael Lewis. 

Howie has set up this front 7 for success for years to come. 

Dean is an ILB, the best ILBs are instinctive players who shed blocks by beating blockers to the spot.

A lot of great MLBs weren't that big, nor even that fast, great vision and anticipation and a quick first step and form tackling is what set them apart.

5 minutes ago, HazletonEagle said:

Id like Jobe and Ricks to be the guys who make it. But that leaves a backup nickel off the roster. 

I’m pulling for Ricks and Jobe for sure. Goodrich can stay on the PS as a potential nickel which is where I think he’s best suited. 

4 minutes ago, mattwill said:

The other factor that makes me as excited as you are is the continuity of having Carter and Davis playing in front of him … keeping him clean.

Exactly. I don’t think we can quantify the benefit of him playing with his best friend Nolan and two other close friends in front of him. 

College football really does lack parity though.  Alabama and Georgia just have an absolute lock on the best players in the country.  Lesser talents just don’t go anywhere else.

Its funny how it worked out that we got all these Georgia players, but it’s also a pretty simple result of just going BPA for the last 2 years.

1 minute ago, Waiting4Someday said:

TJ played 95% of the defensive snaps last season - that would ideally be Nakobe’s role.

Dean is a brilliant football player. He will make the entire defense better. His comp for me, is Mike Singletary

4 minutes ago, bpac55 said:

Justin Evans, if I'm not mistaken, has a great skillset for nickel.  

Josiah Scott can hit the road.

I also believe Scott is gone.

1 minute ago, mattwill said:

I also believe Scott is gone.

Yeah I can’t see him making the cut. 

3 minutes ago, Outlaw said:

Against the run, Carter and Davis > Suh and Joseph at this point in their careers. They also have Noah Elliss who is a massive human being. I’m betting our run defense is better this year than last. 

It’s the day after one of the greatest draft weekends in Eagles history…I can’t fathom how negative some of you are being. I’m not an eternal optimist Homer by any means but hell…

Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith, Sydney Brown will all make big impacts this year. We added a very talented piece to our RB room for pennies. We’ve made some very nice additions to our CB room with Ringo, Ricks, Gardner. 

How about just trying to be happy for the moment?  We ALL know that Howie isn’t done with personnel. 

Read my first post. I’m thrilled about the draft and off-season. Howie did an unbelievable job but every team has a weakness. We have two starting Lb’s who are tiny, one is the size of a safety and the other is 5’11 229 playing in the middle. Jeez. 

4 minutes ago, Road to Victory said:

Read my first post. I’m thrilled about the draft and off-season. Howie did an unbelievable job but every team has a weakness. We have two starting Lb’s who are tiny, one is the size of a safety and the other is 5’11 229 playing in the middle. Jeez. 

With 3 DTs 2 gapping in front of you, the focus is getting to the sideline and pass coverage - Nakobe shouldn’t be shedding blocks, he should be mopping up. 

I think of Jonathan Vilma when I think of Dean.  Dean is a touch smaller and a lot faster, but that’s also part of the typical evolution of the position since 2005.  Compared to the prototype for their day, both were fast, instinctive, and small.
 

Both were the emotional leaders and field generals of arguably the 2 most talented defenses in ncaa history, surrounded by more hyped players.  But they were sort of the most critical glue holding it all together.
 

I just hope all the Georgia players turn out to be better pros than all the Miami busts from that defense. 

1 minute ago, Road to Victory said:

Read my first post. I’m thrilled about the draft and off-season. Howie did an unbelievable job but every team has a weakness. We have two starting Lb’s who are tiny, one is the size of a safety and the other is 5’11 229 playing in the middle. Jeez. 

Is that a problem?   Singletary was 5'11" 230.  Sam Mills was 5'9" 232 lbs.  Zach Thomas was 5'11" 229 lbs.

 

If he can play, he can play.  He will have the benefit of having a 'freakbeast' (Am I allowed to use that term?) at NT in front of him like he had at UGA in Jordan Davis.  He'll have another huge DT in front of him in Jalen Carter.  And we'll have another DT/DE in front of him.  If they can do their job (which is to keep him clean), he'll be able to flow to the football just fine.  

Check out play 2. 0:18

Ringo causes the fumble. Now go back to the beginning of the play, and note where Ringo starts. He blitzes and is at about the 48 or 49 yard line near the QB when the ball is thrown, and is in the backfield near the QB. He gets all the way down field to make that stop inside the 20.

 

 

24 minutes ago, bpac55 said:

I'm cautiously optimistic about the CB/S situation.  The Eagles now have elite talent in Kelee Ringo, Eli Ricks, Greedy Williams, Josh Jobe and Mekhi Garner.  Are they all going to be elite in the NFL? Of course not, but they have elite talent and all 5 played at the top SEC schools, who are the top schools in the NCAA.  My gut tells me that Sydney Brown is the best from this class when all is said and done.

How incredible would it be if Greedy Williams had a light switch go on and he develops in to CB1 here and Eli Ricks shows he can be CB2.  Ringo is moved to safety along side Sydney Brown and Josh Jobe is your CB3.  I know it's far-fetched but the Eagles haven't had this much talent in the DB room for some time.

These guys aren't Michael Jaquet, Tay Gowan, Jameson Houston, Craig James and so on.  

On the other hand, the LB room is the JAGGIEST of JAGS with hopes of Dean being the lone standout.  They will need to address LB.

Another thing I find interesting about this collection of CB's being added is their sizes.   All bigger CB's.   

No more a collection of smurf Nickel CB's on parade like under Gannon.

It sort of feels like maybe a conscious shift of direction under Desai when it comes to the body types he might want in the secondary?

 

 

2 minutes ago, Iggles_Phan said:

Is that a problem?   Singletary was 5'11" 230.  Sam Mills was 5'9" 232 lbs.  Zach Thomas was 5'11" 229 lbs.

 

If he can play, he can play.  He will have the benefit of having a 'freakbeast' (Am I allowed to use that term?) at NT in front of him like he had at UGA in Jordan Davis.  He'll have another huge DT in front of him in Jalen Carter.  And we'll have another DT/DE in front of him.  If they can do their job (which is to keep him clean), he'll be able to flow to the football just fine.  

I think it’s fine now.  I used to get all riled up watching Mark Simoneau and Matt McCoy get dragged 6 yards downfield. 
 

But you know what?  That’s the prototype for LBs these days.  Back then, most teams had a 230-240lb rb that ran the ball repetitively.  And LBs had to take on full backs on every running play…that’s now a defunct part of the game.

Now, most players that touch the football run a 4.4 and go down on first contact.

It’s a different league and smaller LBs that flow to the ball faster are more appropriate now.

Id argue there are very few rbs in the nfl, if any, that Dean would get truly flattened by due to a size mismatch…and very few off ball lbs in the nfl, if any, that can take a block from an OL head on and still make a play.  So I see the size as being fine.

6 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

I think of Jonathan Vilma when I think of Dean.  Dean is a touch smaller and a lot faster, but that’s also part of the typical evolution of the position since 2005.  Compared to the prototype for their day, both were fast, instinctive, and small.
 

Both were the emotional leaders and field generals of arguably the 2 most talented defenses in ncaa history, surrounded by more hyped players.  But they were sort of the most critical glue holding it all together.
 

I just hope all the Georgia players turn out to be better pros than all the Miami busts from that defense. 

Fred Warner is 230, Roquan Smith is 236, Matt Milano is 223.   Those were your 2022 All Pros at LB.  It's a different game today.

5 minutes ago, HazletonEagle said:

Check out play 2. 0:18

Ringo causes the fumble. Now go back to the beginning of the play, and note where Ringo starts. He blitzes and is at about the 48 or 49 yard line near the QB when the ball is thrown, and is in the backfield near the QB. He gets all the way down field to make that stop inside the 20.

 

 

Great effort on that play... and highlights why it is dangerous for players to run across the field like that after making a catch.

 

Ringo was beat on plays 3 and 4 for a TD (Bad throw by Stroud is why the 3rd play wasn't a TD).  Beat on the crosser right off the snap on the 5th play.  (Just a drop). Good coverage on the 6th play, good work with the underneath technique knowing he had help over the top.   Very physical... too physical, really for the NFL now.  He'll need to clean that up.

Lots of good players left in free agency too, although the LB and S pool are underwhelming 

1 minute ago, pgcd3 said:

Fred Warner is 230, Roquan Smith is 236, Matt Milano is 223.   Those were your 2022 All Pros at LB.  It's a different game today.

I think a big part of it is the elimination of the FB.  If that position didn’t die, LBs would have a 240lb missile coming at them before they could make a tackle in run support.  That brings value in a 6’3 250lb MIKE.

Thats gone.  RBs are lighter too…and much faster.

3 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

I think it’s fine now.  I used to get all riled up watching Mark Simoneau and Matt McCoy get dragged 6 yards downfield. 
 

But you know what?  That’s the prototype for LBs these days.  Back then, most teams had a 230-240lb rb that ran the ball repetitively.  And LBs had to take on full backs on every running play…that’s now a defunct part of the game.

Now, most players that touch the football run a 4.4 and go down on first contact.

It’s a different league and smaller LBs that flow to the ball faster are more appropriate now.

Id argue there are very few rbs in the nfl, if any, that Dean would get truly flattened by due to a size mismatch…and very few off ball lbs in the nfl, if any, that can take a block from an OL head on and still make a play.  So I see the size as being fine.

Outside of Derek Henry, I'd be hard pressed to think of one.  Then again, I'd be hard pressed to name a LB in the NFL that wouldn't have a hard time one on one with Henry in the hole.