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

The more and more I look into the draft, I don’t think the Eagles are gonna pick at 10. I don’t think any of the pass rushers they want and covet are going to be there. I think it’s gonna be too costly to move up to get one of them when you’re going to have as many holes because of the free agents that they have. I actually think it’s more likely they move from 10 into the 15 to 17 range to get some picks in the 2-6 round range. At that point, I think it opens up for the possibility of a cornerback. But I would bet if there’s an offensive lineman there (or a pass rusher they like at that point) that they really like that can play guard and tackle they’ll go in that direction. I say that because I don’t think Seumalo is coming back and if you get a tackle that could play guard, you can just play him at guard until lane retires then shift him back outside to tackle.

the 30th pick is more interesting to me. I wouldn’t be shocked if they try to move in either direction. Move up a couple picks if someone is there they like and if they have a bunch sitting at 30 they have even graded i could see a slight move back into the top of the second round.

i have a feeling there’s gonna be some corners released like bradberry was this past year that they’ll be in on. Probably not as good as bradberry though. I also wouldn’t be shocked if a big name pass rusher becomes available they are in on it with that 30th pick like they were with aj brown. 

We need to be real about Howie's draft record.  He's made some nice picks but after the AJ Brown trade, I'm hoping he surprises us all and trades one of their high picks for a young veteran on an expiring contract.  

What about a guy like AJ Terrell?  Would the Falcons part wtih him to get more 1st round ammo?  That team needs so much so giving up one of their top young players probably doesn't make any sense.  But hell, AJ Brown is a top WR in the game and the Titans moved him so you never know.

How about Jeff Okudah?  Again, I'm reaching for the stars here but I just have more faith in Howie making a huge trade splash than an actual draft pick. 

6 hours ago, Sack that QB said:

I wonder if the Eagles will look to upgrade slot WR. Whether they do or don't it obviously won't be the top of their list of priorities. And also, I wonder if they bring Pascal back. I think they might. Sirianni loves him and he'll probably be incredibly cheap. Just one of those guys they bring back yearly a la Greg Ward.

I think the chances of Pascal coming back are less than 5%.  He caught less than 15 passes this year and his biggest value came as a blocker.  There were also some very wierd crypitc tweets in the middle of the season which made it sound like he wasn't happy with his role at all.  I think the better chance is he goes back to Indy to play under Shane again.

15 hours ago, Sack that QB said:

This is true, but I honestly don't believe it would have mattered. Mahomes could have picked apart this defense with a peg leg in that game, that's how open his targets were and how little the pass rush was getting to him. They were going to score on every possession they had because the defense was that overmatched in the 2nd half.

And they also missed a FG don't forget and at the end kneeled and kicked a FG when they were at the one yard line, so one can also argue that is 7 extra points they left on the board also.

They were at the 1 yard line after a very suspicious call. 

6 hours ago, Sack that QB said:

The Eagles don't have a ton of picks this year don't forget. I doubt they use rounds 1-3 on a slot WR, they just have too many other positions to address. And taking one in like the 6th or 7th round obviously isn't going to give them someone most likely who is definitely going to beat out Quez for a job. So I'm wondering if they try to flip a 2024 pick for someone on another roster who is being underutilized. Like Elijah Moore, who really has done absolutely nothing for the Jets.

Let's not forget that the Eagles slot WR isn't going to be a volume guy.  Quez and Pascal had 48 combined catches.  The ball is going to go to Brown, Smith and Goedert.  Trading for Elijah Moore, while I love him as a prospect, would be a mistake. He's already pissed at his role in NY.  He would hate it here being the 4th target. 

I said this a few days back but I think the perfect slot guy for this year, based on cap space, draft picks and roster construction would be to sign DeAndre Carter in FA.  He's going to be 30 but for the role and volume that position is going to get he would be perfect. He had 46 catches for 538 yards and 3 TDs last year for the Chargers.  Nearly 12 yards a pop.  He would also be your PR/KR.  He averaged 12 yards per PR and 20 for KR.  

Another option, albeit a LONG SHOT could be Brittain Covey.  Can he put on 7lbs and get to 180?  He was dynamic as a WR at Utah and he did show some signs of life at PR.  His return in the SB was one of his best of the year.  I would love for the Eagles to have a player who can contribute either on offense or defense be their PR.  Using a roster spot for Covey to JUST be PR is a waste IMO.  He had 33 returns out of the 71 punts the Eagles forced this year.  One roster spot for 77 snaps....no thank you.

 

5 hours ago, blindside said:

Exactly. How much better could our defense have possibly been, talent wise? Not much. And we still got worked by a top offense. Not saying defense isn’t important, but you can have all the right pieces and still get worked by elite offfenses. I would hate to handicap this offense in anyway in hopes of being a more talented defense than the best we’ve ever had. 

I would argue against this being the best defense we ever had.  1991 says hello.  That defense was still significantly better than this defense.  Sorry.

Every starter on offense besides AJ Brown was drafted by the Eagles. This year we need to flip and bring in a veteran RB like Hunt and a veteran who can play slot WR like Landry.

For the draft I’d like to see us go after Joey Porter Jr and one of the DE’s.

Neither Gannon, nor Schwartz liked playing rookies. It's one of the things that hurt our cap.

Playing rookies requires patience and living with mistakes as they figure it out. But at least we got to see Kyzir White play this year!

7 hours ago, blindside said:

Relying on rookies to start is not a recipe for success. But at the same time, you kinda gotta trust your draft picks to develop after year one and SHOULD be able to start highly drafted second year players to step up. Davis, for example, didn’t show much as a rookie, but throwing more money at that position this offseason isn’t a good use of resources. 

Chiefs won playing 5 rookies in the SB. 

10 hours ago, Thrive said:

But why?

I'm not sure what his reason is, but for me, it's because this defense is desperately looking for true leadership. I can't promise you it will come from Dean, but I can promise you it didn't come from any of last year's starters. We had a lot of good players, but nobody assumed the leader role. Nobody embodied the defense. We give up a score and our players walk off smiling and laughing. 

 

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

The more and more I look into the draft, I don’t think the Eagles are gonna pick at 10. I don’t think any of the pass rushers they want and covet are going to be there. I think it’s gonna be too costly to move up to get one of them when you’re going to have as many holes because of the free agents that they have. I actually think it’s more likely they move from 10 into the 15 to 17 range to get some picks in the 2-6 round range. At that point, I think it opens up for the possibility of a cornerback. But I would bet if there’s an offensive lineman there (or a pass rusher they like at that point) that they really like that can play guard and tackle they’ll go in that direction. I say that because I don’t think Seumalo is coming back and if you get a tackle that could play guard, you can just play him at guard until lane retires then shift him back outside to tackle.

the 30th pick is more interesting to me. I wouldn’t be shocked if they try to move in either direction. Move up a couple picks if someone is there they like and if they have a bunch sitting at 30 they have even graded i could see a slight move back into the top of the second round.

i have a feeling there’s gonna be some corners released like bradberry was this past year that they’ll be in on. Probably not as good as bradberry though. I also wouldn’t be shocked if a big name pass rusher becomes available they are in on it with that 30th pick like they were with aj brown. 

Keep trying to tell people 

we dont/wont have the cap to do another AJ deal. 30 is a valuable pick we need. Would only swap for a first in 24 plus some picks

1 hour ago, bpac55 said:

We need to be real about Howie's draft record.  He's made some nice picks but after the AJ Brown trade, I'm hoping he surprises us all and trades one of their high picks for a young veteran on an expiring contract.  

What about a guy like AJ Terrell?  Would the Falcons part wtih him to get more 1st round ammo?  That team needs so much so giving up one of their top young players probably doesn't make any sense.  But hell, AJ Brown is a top WR in the game and the Titans moved him so you never know.

How about Jeff Okudah?  Again, I'm reaching for the stars here but I just have more faith in Howie making a huge trade splash than an actual draft pick. 

We need to be real about the cap man

8 hours ago, schuy7 said:

Let's see if Jalen handles it better than Carson did. 🤣

Is Hooker older than hurts?

Ideally, the Panthers can fail in the same time frame that Brian Johnson gets his HC job.  Johnson to HC is an inevitability and we could slide into an older, more long term Reich as OC.

2 hours ago, bpac55 said:

Does Zech McPhearson have any transferable skills to move to S?  Going in to year 3 and he's played all of 278 defensive snaps.  Has done anything to convince people he might be a decent slot corner?  I'm done with Josiah Scott.

@downundermike what are the implications if Maddox is traded?  I think he's terribly overrated by a lot and his new contract isn't exactly a bargain.  

Unfortunately mike isn’t able to answer you

DC is really tricky.  We have perfect personnel for the scheme Gannon ran, which is a bit asymmetric and non traditional…neither a typical 3-4 nor 4-3.  
 

You need a DC that is going to roll with that.  Right there, that wipes away most of the candidates and favors internal guys.  However, with the way the season ended, it just feels like Lowie is going to want some outside energy for the defense.

We need a veteran defensive coach with the dynamics of our team right now.  We cant be continually losing our coaches and we need someone who isn't learning on the job.  We need to pay a DC who has been around the block and knows how to be a DC.  

At least we can feel good about the offense

The biggest question this offseason remains Jalen Hurts, not the coordinators or FAs.  He proved everyone wrong last year and showed that he's a great QB, a franchise QB.  

1.  Can he keep it up?  Lots of one time big seasons from QB's who faded ***cough, Wentz, cough***.  This is where the intangibles actually do come in...I think everyone would bet on him at this point.

2.  Most importantly, the formula the Eagles used to steamroll their way to the SB this year was to have a great QB on a rookie contract, which enabled the Eagles to have a much more talented roster than all other teams with great QBs.  Can Hurts be so great that we compete for SB's simply because he carries a less talented roster and is greater than other great QBs?  (Mahomes).  Or can Hurts accept a bit of a home town discount for the sake of winning SB's so our roster can consistently have the edge over other teams with great QBs?

3.  Playing style.  I may have been wrong about Hurts initially, but I do take credit for being one of the first, maybe the first, to identify him as a pocket QB.  He can really read the field and deal from the pocket.  Picks apart the blitz, accurate, great decisions.  The unusual thing is that every game seems to have a different emphasis.  Even though he CAN do this, it doesn't happen on a weekly basis.  We all know that we've said "Oh, we get good passing Hurts today" or "We get running back Hurts today."  Every QB has bad passing games, but the weekly emphasis needs to be pocket dealing Hurts.  Critical downs and games, we can incorporate the designed runs.  We can be a run heavy team with the RBs when the matchups favor it.  But pocket passing Hurts should be the norm, not an every other week emphasis.  It's what he's best at.  

I would not be upset at all with this…

4 minutes ago, RLC said:

At least we can feel good about the offense

OL needs to stay healthy or be more equipped to deal with personnel shuffling if they don't.  That's my biggest concern for next year.  I don't like our odds of having 5 of 5 starting OL intact for the playoffs next year.

Just now, eagle45 said:

OL needs to stay healthy or be more equipped to deal with personnel shuffling if they don't.  That's my biggest concern for next year.  I don't like our odds of having 5 of 5 starting OL intact for the playoffs next year.

The lack of injuries this year is an anomaly for sure. 

Brian Johnson was appointed with the future move to OC being in mind. His career experience ticks a lot of the right boxes and he seems to have a good O mind; a lot to like; his perception around the league is the cherry on the top.  DC will be a more open field; just depends if they still want to be Zimmer based or not

Just now, UK Eagle said:

Brian Johnson was appointed with the future move to OC being in mind. His career experience ticks a lot of the right boxes and he seems to have a good O mind; a lot to like; his perception around the league is the cherry on the top.  DC will be a more open field; just depends if they still want to be Zimmer based or not

They need to start playing chess now and figure out who the OC will be when Johnson leaves.  He's got a 2 year runway as OC, maybe only 1.

4 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

They need to start playing chess now and figure out who the OC will be when Johnson leaves.  He's got a 2 year runway as OC, maybe only 1.

Agree.  It looks like Tanney is high rated internally, but it will be interesting to see what happens with Patullo as he could be a fit too.  I can also see him going to the Colts or Cards though.  The Eagles did have Cooter or Hamilton consulting, so they would be possibilities too

1 hour ago, Iggles_Phan said:

I would argue against this being the best defense we ever had.  1991 says hello.  That defense was still significantly better than this defense.  Sorry.

Yeah, I don't get it. The Eagles' D last year were paper tigers. It compiled impressive stats while playing an unusually weak schedule that included a murderers' row of QBs like Wentz, Murray, Rush, Pickett (rookie), Mills, Heinicke, Ryan (geriatric version), Love, Jones, Webb, and Dalton.