46 minutes ago, The guy in France said:

The proposal that really caught my eye was making forward handoffs illegal, anti-RPO ?

I thought that was odd as well, and only thing I could think of was RPO, and I thought who submitted that rule?

RPO is such a big part of the college game and the Pros now why would anybody submit a rule trying to make it illegal, if that was it's purpose???

1 hour ago, Estasi said:

Yeah I could talk myself into that for sure. Part of me wants to go offensive playmaker early though and add to a strength. We can have a good defense or an offense so good that it doesn’t matter. Haha

 

Realistically though, this draft would be fine. 

I think if we just maintain our level of competitiveness for this year,  we should be able to take 2 steps forward next year.  Little more cap space, and a whole bunch of picks in the first 3 rounds. 

We had a lot of free agents this year.  If we can just adequately replace those guys and add some youth,  I think that's a successful offseason given our circumstance. 

23 hours ago, Utebird said:

Oh yeah.👍

QB contracts are out of control.

Eagles really missed their chance to win it all this year, as with hurts getting paid it's going to be that much tougher to build a team around him.

Hopefully Howie can figure it out and nail the upcoming draft and the one after that.

One really good draft can change the trajectory of a team.

If anybody can do it. Avoid the the high end pot shots

31 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

I very much agree with the Eagles' historic policy of converting CBs into safeties.  With the exception of a few noteworthy first round prospects in the last few years, the best DBs in the NCAA get funneled into CB.  Faster, more athletic, better in coverage.  Sure, the run support is less consistent...but count your number of head shakes and remote throws over a season...does that usually come from safeties blowing tackles on already bad plays or 20 yard gashes from blown or torched coverages by safeties?

If it's Eric Berry, sure.  Otherwise, draft a less heralded, more explosive, coverage superior CB in the mid rounds and teach them to be a safety.  I don't like someone like Brian Branch at 30 or the Nate Allens of the world in round 2.  I'd rather get a Maddox later in the draft and see how they transition.

I've kicked around the idea in my head with Riley Moss. I think he can be a good corner so probably no need to switch.  But something tells me he would make a nice safety. 

23 hours ago, RLC said:

Howie did everything right, then Gannon said "nope"

Goodell too, nothing will change my mind that that field wasn’t gameplanned, going away I tell you

1 hour ago, The guy in France said:

Go after tax havens/mafia, that will be a start

You live where again?

the problem is the masses are paying nothing and worse being subsidized. The costs are the issue. Cut the welfare state

1 hour ago, eagle45 said:

I very much agree with the Eagles' historic policy of converting CBs into safeties.  With the exception of a few noteworthy first round prospects in the last few years, the best DBs in the NCAA get funneled into CB.  Faster, more athletic, better in coverage.  Sure, the run support is less consistent...but count your number of head shakes and remote throws over a season...does that usually come from safeties blowing tackles on already bad plays or 20 yard gashes from blown or torched coverages by safeties?

If it's Eric Berry, sure.  Otherwise, draft a less heralded, more explosive, coverage superior CB in the mid rounds and teach them to be a safety.  I don't like someone like Brian Branch at 30 or the Nate Allens of the world in round 2.  I'd rather get a Maddox later in the draft and see how they transition.

Safties are so hard to project bc its a cerebral position. Corner is simple in comparison

9 hours ago, judunno said:

They need a field stretcher for WR3. Preferably one that can play STs. Bonus points if he's a decent size and can block given our style of offense. Covey isn't a field stretcher. They get enough possession like plays from Brown, Smith, and Goedert. They need a guy that can take the top off and actually catch the bull and be respected a few times a game. Quez was almost it (minus the STs and size) he just can't stop jumping for no reason.

I think a short WR, like Covey has limitations in the slot because of Jalen’s height.  May be why we don’t see slant routes from Gainwell or Scott, both decent at catching out of the backfield. 

1 hour ago, HazletonEagle said:

I think if we just maintain our level of competitiveness for this year,  we should be able to take 2 steps forward next year.  Little more cap space, and a whole bunch of picks in the first 3 rounds. 

We had a lot of free agents this year.  If we can just adequately replace those guys and add some youth,  I think that's a successful offseason given our circumstance. 

This is a dream of mine because I truly think Marvin Harrison Jr. is a generational talent at WR but if the Eagles can pick up an extra 2024 1st by trading out of one of their 1st round picks this year then they would have 2 picks in each of the 1st 3 rounds next year (assuming they get the comp 3rd).

I would be doing everything I can to get Harrison to pair with Smith to prepare for AJ Brown being moved before his cap hit explodes in 2025.  

Smith and Harrison would be incredible. 

1 hour ago, HazletonEagle said:

I think if we just maintain our level of competitiveness for this year,  we should be able to take 2 steps forward next year.  Little more cap space, and a whole bunch of picks in the first 3 rounds. 

We had a lot of free agents this year.  If we can just adequately replace those guys and add some youth,  I think that's a successful offseason given our circumstance. 

That's the right attitude but it's no fun.  I want to see something on paper that makes me think the team is improved.

12 minutes ago, pgcd3 said:

That's the right attitude but it's no fun.  I want to see something on paper that makes me think the team is improved.

Games on won on the field. 

1 hour ago, eagle45 said:

I think/hope this is what Howie was trying to accomplish with his barrage of signing really crappy players in volume this FA period.  We don't NEED to dilute our premium picks this year to increase the later picks so we can pick up the spare parts in the draft.  They'll have a very high volume of picks next year for that.  

The Robert Quinn trade stings a little more than we expected due to that lack of mid round capital.  Every mid-season trade after Ajayi has just been lighting a 3rd or 4th round pick on fire.

Imagine if any of those damaged goods signings are healthy this year and perform to expectations, especially Penny.  A healthy and reliable Penny would be an improvement of Sanders.  If that knee is healthy finally then the Eagles have a home run hitter in the RB rotation.

I actually think Edmunds potentially fits the Eagles Ss better.  This is where I like Nick’s overall approach to plays and players of designing plays to their strengths.  The strength of the D and what seems to be the approach is pass rush with the front four/five, one or two off ball LBs (with a focus based on the Morrow signing on speed),  secondary focus on CBs and the Ss mainly downhill keeping things in front of them but playing downhill to the play.  I respect what Tommy said about Edmunds but that suggests he is a high safety mainly and that would be a misuse.  I suspect he plays more like a strong side S (not a box safety but charging to the box when appropriate. None of us knows the D the Eagles will play this year with the complete overhaul of the defensive coaching staff.

As to fourth round picks, Howie hasn’t exactly lit a fire with those recently.

7 minutes ago, BigEFly said:

Imagine if any of those damaged goods signings are healthy this year and perform to expectations, especially Penny.  A healthy and reliable Penny would be an improvement of Sanders.  If that knee is healthy finally then the Eagles have a home run hitter in the RB rotation.

I actually think Edmunds potentially fits the Eagles Ss better.  This is where I like Nick’s overall approach to plays and players of designing plays to their strengths.  The strength of the D and what seems to be the approach is pass rush with the front four/five, one or two off ball LBs (with a focus based on the Morrow signing on speed),  secondary focus on CBs and the Ss mainly downhill keeping things in front of them but playing downhill to the play.  I respect what Tommy said about Edmunds but that suggests he is a high safety mainly and that would be a misuse.  I suspect he plays more like a strong side S (not a box safety but charging to the box when appropriate. None of us knows the D the Eagles will play this year with the complete overhaul of the defensive coaching staff.

As to fourth round picks, Howie hasn’t exactly lit a fire with those recently.

One thing that's intereseting about some of the signings and this goes hand in hand with some things I've been posting about lately is the investments used for DB.

Howie is terrible at drafting DB and the Eagles really don't invest high draft picks in the position.  Roster has been loaded with guys drafted in the 4th round and below.  They've traded 3rd, 5th and 6th round picks for CB on the team.

The 3 DB they brought in have all been high draft picks.  None of them have lived up to their draft position to date but IMO, it looks like Howie is trying to bring in that upper to elite talent that he hopes can be tapped in to as Eagles.  

Edmunds-1st

Evans- 2nd

Williams- 2nd

1 hour ago, HazletonEagle said:

I've kicked around the idea in my head with Riley Moss. I think he can be a good corner so probably no need to switch.  But something tells me he would make a nice safety. 

Not convinced he has the burst quickness or instincts for S.  He’s a two stepper changing direction.  

22 minutes ago, RLC said:

Games on won on the field. 

Enlightening. But we're not playing on the field for 5 months so it'd be nice to have a new shiny object to talk about. 

52 minutes ago, BigEFly said:

I think a short WR, like Covey has limitations in the slot because of Jalen’s height.  May be why we don’t see slant routes from Gainwell or Scott, both decent at catching out of the backfield. 

Convey is not the answer as #3 WR.  Lack of speed.  Allen has been on the PS for a whole season.  He has speed and played well in the pre-season.  Not sure if he is the answer on RS.  He got featured on team website after the season.  Maybe they are setting him up for the coming season.  By all means get other WRs with speed and RS via draft (late rounds) or UDFAs.  Just not a case to spend capital on it.

Brown is the one getting the slant routes and did well there.  Our WRs and TEs cover the intermediate routes well.  No enough passes to go around with them.  Speaking of which, the 12 personnel featuring both TEs with receiving AND block prowess would create a lot of problems for the defense.  Teams usually favor receiving over blocking.  The coaches need to insist on developing blocking to go along with the receiving and design plays for them.

He is a project , but Breeland gives you so much to work with . He needs to go to a team who can RS him for a year or so

 

 

 

If Nakobe Dean wasn't named Nakobe Dean would anyone be so eager to hand him the MLB job as a 3rd rd pick who didn't show much last season?

5 minutes ago, pgcd3 said:

If Nakobe Dean wasn't named Nakobe Dean would anyone be so eager to hand him the MLB job as a 3rd rd pick who didn't show much last season?

 

2 hours ago, Estasi said:

You think Gibbs will still be there? I feel like his speed numbers alone will have someone take him fairly early. 

Personally, I have my doubts he makes it to #30 and don’t think there is any chance he makes it to the 60’s.

But I was going off of that particular mock draft by Chad Reuter from the below link:

https://www.nfl.com/_amp/four-round-2023-nfl-mock-draft-1-0-qbs-go-1-2-3-after-colts-trade-up
 

It’s basically the perfect first round trade, so I just went with how he had it played out but switched our picks to my preferred players.

Personally I don’t think there is any chance Johnston makes it to 30 or Gibbs makes it to 62, and I would be pretty surprised if Banks makes it to 23 and isn’t a top 3 CB off the board.

But going by how he mocked it… damn that would be amazing. 3 guys in the first two rounds I think could be multi-time pro bowl type players.

8 minutes ago, pgcd3 said:

If Nakobe Dean wasn't named Nakobe Dean would anyone be so eager to hand him the MLB job as a 3rd rd pick who didn't show much last season?

Nakobe Dean was good every time he took the field last year, so yes.

He should have been starting in the playoffs, but Gannon gonna Gannon.

29 minutes ago, BigEFly said:

 

I actually think Edmunds potentially fits the Eagles Ss better.  This is where I like Nick’s overall approach to plays and players of designing plays to their strengths.  The strength of the D and what seems to be the approach is pass rush with the front four/five, one or two off ball LBs (with a focus based on the Morrow signing on speed),  secondary focus on CBs and the Ss mainly downhill keeping things in front of them but playing downhill to the play.  I respect what Tommy said about Edmunds but that suggests he is a high safety mainly and that would be a misuse.  I suspect he plays more like a strong side S (not a box safety but charging to the box when appropriate. None of us knows the D the Eagles will play this year with the complete overhaul of the defensive coaching staff.

 

The present issue at safety is that Edmunds/Evans/Blankenship are all box safeties who will be targeted in coverage.  If 2 of those 3 are in the defensive backfield, it's going to be bombs away over the top.  If we are investing unending first round picks in the DL, I'd prefer not to require even one safety that is a glorified linebacker in coverage who needs to live in the box, but 2 such safeties will be a real liability.

I wonder if they have plans for Maddox as the deep safety, although that will leave them in need of a different solution for several games per season.

Call me a contrarian, but I’m starting to think 40 times are the most UNDERrated combine measurement.

It’s just so predictive at so many positions. If a player kills it on his 40, you basically know they have the physical talent to make it.

More so, the hundredths of a second mean a lot. There actually is a BIG difference between a 4.38 and 4.43. Those 5 hundredths of a second end up being responsible for a lot of points.

It’s basically ubiquitous across positions. 

2 minutes ago, TEW said:

Call me a contrarian, but I’m starting to think 40 times are the most UNDERrated combine measurement.

It’s just so predictive at so many positions. If a player kills it on his 40, you basically know they have the physical talent to make it.

More so, the hundredths of a second mean a lot. There actually is a BIG difference between a 4.38 and 4.43. Those 5 hundredths of a second end up being responsible for a lot of points.

It’s basically ubiquitous across positions. 

What positions are the 40 predictive for?

1 minute ago, TEW said:

Call me a contrarian, but I’m starting to think 40 times are the most UNDERrated combine measurement.

It’s just so predictive at so many positions. If a player kills it on his 40, you basically know they have the physical talent to make it.

More so, the hundredths of a second mean a lot. There actually is a BIG difference between a 4.38 and 4.43. Those 5 hundredths of a second end up being responsible for a lot of points.

It’s basically ubiquitous across positions. 

The only reason I'd say it's not underrated is because they still run it and because it's one of the first things that goes next to a player's name in the draft process.  It is taken into account.  It's only underrated by arm chair scouts who scoff at it.

I think it may be overrated as an eye popping result in some of the bigger, lumbering, long striders who don't look fast on tape and who have otherwise unspectacular agility numbers. (Ex, some of those 6'4" WRs labeled as possession guys on film who stride their way to a low 4.4 (or better) despite slogging through the rest of workouts).  

But it's a simple numbers game.  When a DB runs a 4.6, unless they tripped out of their stance, you know they are going to have problems running with a WR in coverage.  When a DL runs a 4.49, you know they are going to have the ability to be something special off the snap.  When a RB runs a 4.55, they might be a pro-bowler one day, but they probably won't run away from tacklers.  When a WR runs a 4.2, if he can catch and track a football (big if), he'll be a playmaker.  Doesn't mean someone will bust or succeed, but it does set a ceiling.