1 hour ago, greendestiny27 said:

I had a major problem with the pick. Reggie Wayne was the obvious selection right there I thought. So was Witten in 2003. Imagine this team with Wayne & Witten. Could very well be the difference in us winning a Super Bowl(s) during those years. But no, the Eagles always have to think they are the smartest in the room, going for reaches and outside the box picks, still happens to this day no less. 

Witten was my favorite TE in that draft.

He went mid 3rd Rd after Dallas Clark, benni joppru LJ Smith and Teyo Johnson.

I didn't like Wayne that much, thought he was too slow and hated Miami so... I was a big Steve Smith guy as I'd watched him dominate at Utah, he also went in the 3rd round.

I like Chris chambers as well who went in the 2nd Rd.

I think about those drafts often, if Reid had taken one of Wayne, Chad Johnson, Steve Smith, Chris chambers then taken Witten instead of LJ then I have no doubt Reid wins a super bowl with the eagles or at least goes to more than 1.☹️

9 minutes ago, Aerolithe_Lion said:

We’ll see. Their 2 headed rushing attack has a broken lead member and a missing 2nd guy. They don’t have a third atm who can reliably fill in. They lost their #1 TE, and are again relying on oft injured Tyron Smith to anchor the blindside. Will Dak be able to get the ball to Cooks without leading the league in interceptions again?

The D will be better, but this was the umpteenth year in a row they collapsed down the stretch. GB, JAx, Was were all ugly and sloppy losses late in the year where they clearly had a huge talent lead over their opponents.

And now they fired the OC who got them to the best offense while Dak was healthy the last 2 years and gave that responsibility to Mike McCarthy, who said he’ll run more next year which doesn’t make a lot of sense based on their moves this offseason.

If their lead back is broken then what is ours? Strong RB & TE draft too, they usually do a pretty good job in the draft and they aligned their weaknesses with the strength of the draft. Smart. To me a healthy Cowboys team is going to be tough to beat. Dak is 8-3 against us, not good. Hopefully Desai can do better than Gannon but his unit looks like it will be less talented that what Gannon had. 

I completely agree with the Eagles' positional emphasis.  You can't pay pro-bowlers everywhere.  If you don't have Brian Dawkins, Ed Reed, Paolomalu, Earl Thomas, etc...the margin between the safeties going to the pro-bowl today and the safeties who do their job isn't worth millions or first round picks.  The same can be said of off-ball LB...the biggest difference is that the Eagles have done a generally good job off the scrap heap at safety and a very poor job of it at LB.

BUT...if we are going to limit investment to flawed safeties, I would prefer to emphasize coverage as their best trait.  I think our current safety situation is going to be very bad in coverage.

1 hour ago, Saltpeter said:

Precisely, which is why you have to shrink your early round pool down to guys who have the prerequisite measurables.

It's why Barnett was a disaster pick from the start. Small (real weight, not the inflated combine one), slow, barely requisite arm length. Grit, work ethic, etc. were off the charts, but betting on those over known characteristics of big time DEs? Bad move.

He had a ton of college production as well that went into the formula and some good tape and was pretty polished. But yeah agree with your take.

Not sure anyone could predict that he'd make a bone headed play once a game.

Still one of my favorite sound bites is Siriani angrily lamenting, " It's always him" and everyone at home who heard is saying the exact same thing.

He gets us...

3 hours ago, Original Sin said:

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

 

 

 

look also at Freeland vs Jake Witt.  Witt was a college basketball player,  then a college TE, then a college OT.   

Freeland and Witt are closer to each other than they are to Lane.   

both 6'7+,  both 302,  both better than 5.00 40.   Freeland RAS 9.90, Witt RAS 9.80.

Witt is more of a project.  Northern Michigan Division II vs BYU.

Witt should be cheaper.  More likely to be a udfa.

https://ras.football/ras-compare/?&p1=23020&p2=23813&pos=OT

 

34 minutes ago, greendestiny27 said:

So they do want to put Edmunds out in coverage rather than where he plays best, in the box against the run or closer to the line almost like LB? 

Maybe they don’t agree about what he does best 

Don’t think the Eagles plan to move Maddox to safety. They value nickel corner more than they do safety. Maddox is really good at nickel, why mess it up?

But I think people are underselling their willingness to draft CB in round 1. Yes, they haven’t done it in two decades. But reports are they were ready to take Surtain and Horn a couple years ago and then last year after the draft multiple reports said if the AJ Brown trade didn’t go down they planned to take Trent McDuffie.

I still think they prefer DL. But I also don’t think they’re going to lock themselves into it just because. At least I’d hope not. 

9 minutes ago, Random Reglar said:

look also at Freeland vs Jake Witt.  Witt was a college basketball player,  then a college TE, then a college OT.   

Freeland and Witt are closer to each other than they are to Lane.   

both 6'7+,  both 302,  both better than 5.00 40.   Freeland RAS 9.90, Witt RAS 9.80.

Witt is more of a project.  Northern Michigan Division II vs BYU.

Witt should be cheaper.  More likely to be a udfa.

https://ras.football/ras-compare/?&p1=23020&p2=23813&pos=OT

 

Witt has played very little at OT , and he is a twig , needs to bulk up

Carrington Valentine is another CB to add to this deep position , he is under the radar , but he will play on Sundays 

3 hours ago, judunno said:

Quez doesn't make plays... mostly because he's a pop tart.

I don't know if people want to get rid of Quez or not.  His 40 time is excellent and his 3 cone and shuttle are bad.  Sometimes he drops passes in important moments.

17 minutes ago, Estasi said:

Maybe they don’t agree about what he does best 

That's exactly what I'm afraid of since they're the only ones who feel that way 

6 minutes ago, Original Sin said:

Witt has played very little at OT , and he is a twig , needs to bulk up

Im all in on Witt. He has a few years to develop before Lane retires. Its a perfect project for us.

5 minutes ago, Random Reglar said:

I don't know if people want to get rid of Quez or not.  His 40 time is excellent and his 3 cone and shuttle are bad.  Sometimes he drops passes in important moments.

WR3 gets limited targets but we need a guy that can make the most of them. I'm down on Quez. He doesn't make contested catches or routine catches in limited opportunities. Wouldn't be so bad if he offered something on STs but he doesn't.

6 minutes ago, Original Sin said:

Witt has played very little at OT , and he is a twig , needs to bulk up

He's like Freeland a lot.  Even more of a project.  But the Eagles like keeping the cupboard full, even if they just resigned an All Pro at RT.

Played very little at OT.  True. Twig.  True. Needs to bulk up.  True.  All True.

Also,  the Eagles don't need an OT.  True.  Maybe for 2025 or 2026?

So,  if the Eagles want to keep the starters and the backup at the OL positions filled with high quality,   I'd think Witt is a good choice.    I don't think the Eagles would really ever want Kelce and Johnson to leave.  I wouldn't want to push them out the door. 

Freeland is closer to pro ready.  In favor of Witt is that he was 2nd team all Gliac.  So, didn't suck. 
 

Witt is versatile freakbeast and cheap.  Could be blocking TE situationally in 2023.  Freeland could play OT sooner / better.   

34 minutes ago, greendestiny27 said:

If their lead back is broken then what is ours? Strong RB & TE draft too, they usually do a pretty good job in the draft and they aligned their weaknesses with the strength of the draft. Smart. To me a healthy Cowboys team is going to be tough to beat. Dak is 8-3 against us, not good. Hopefully Desai can do better than Gannon but his unit looks like it will be less talented that what Gannon had. 

Is Gainwell broken?

3 hours ago, ManuManu said:

What positions are the 40 predictive for?

QB

3 minutes ago, Random Reglar said:

He's like Freeland a lot.  Even more of a project.  But the Eagles like keeping the cupboard full, even if they just resigned an All Pro at RT.

Played very little at OT.  True. Twig.  True. Needs to bulk up.  True.  All True.

Also,  the Eagles don't need an OT.  True.  Maybe for 2025 or 2026?

So,  if the Eagles want to keep the starters and the backup at the OL positions filled with high quality,   I'd think Witt is a good choice.    I don't think the Eagles would really ever want Kelce and Johnson to leave.  I wouldn't want to push them out the door. 

Freeland is closer to pro ready.  In favor of Witt is that he was 2nd team all Gliac.  So, didn't suck. 
 

Witt is versatile freakbeast and cheap.  Could be blocking TE situationally in 2023.  Freeland could play OT sooner / better.   

If Witt truly is a UDFA then matriculating him in Stoutland University makes a lot of sense.  A second contract for him if he pans out should be very affordable.  That is probably true if he is taken in the 7th Round as well.  Mailata redux.

The problem with the 'the back broken' deal is that the offenses are not equal.

The Eagles have 7 or 8 pro bowl / all-pro level starters on offense so a decent back can do well in the offense  (like a Gainwell)

Dallas has Lamb and Martin.

2 hours ago, bpac55 said:

I was a big Dean fan in college but didn't like his prospects for the NFL that much due to his size and lack of any true explosive athletic traits.  With that being said, the one game he was pressed to go in to on defense, he played 15 snaps and had 6 total tackles with 1 TFL.  It's a very very small sample size but it goes hand in hand with the kind of player he was at UGA.  Dean is an incredible smart, instinctive football player and a tremendous leader with a nose for finding the ball.  I don't have visions of him being the next London Fletcher or Sam Mills but given his pedigree I'm more than willing to give him a chance this year.  Excited to see what he can do when given the keys to the defense and all of the reps in practice.  He's going to get guys lined up, he's going to force accountability and he's going to be around the ball. 

He didn't run at the combine or pro day.

We really don't know.   Back a year ago,  there was debate about which 1st round ILB was better, Dean or Lloyd. What people said was that Dean was the faster one.   But we don't know because there was no combine or pro day.
 

45 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

I completely agree with the Eagles' positional emphasis.  You can't pay pro-bowlers everywhere.  If you don't have Brian Dawkins, Ed Reed, Paolomalu, Earl Thomas, etc...the margin between the safeties going to the pro-bowl today and the safeties who do their job isn't worth millions or first round picks.  The same can be said of off-ball LB...the biggest difference is that the Eagles have done a generally good job off the scrap heap at safety and a very poor job of it at LB.

BUT...if we are going to limit investment to flawed safeties, I would prefer to emphasize coverage as their best trait.  I think our current safety situation is going to be very bad in coverage.

The philosophy is generally sound. If you can’t get a blue chip player, I don’t think it’s dumb to not want to pay a guy in Thornhill’s tier 7 million when you can get someone in the same general ballpark for 5-6 million less who isn’t all that much worse. 
 

That said, when you play elite teams with elite QBs in the biggest games, that’s when you see your weaknesses get exposed. We saw it in the SB with Epps and Edwards, they got abused.

Its funny, I think DL is definitely the most important part of a defense, but I actually think depending on the team not being more diverse in your defense can backfire. Elite QBs usually get the ball out super quickly and unless you have a horrendous OL like the bengals did for the last couple years, the elite offenses can usually find ways to negate a strong pass rush. The Eagles in their last two SBs barely even touched Brady and Mahomes.

But got absolutely torched on the back end.

24 minutes ago, greendestiny27 said:

That's exactly what I'm afraid of since they're the only ones who feel that way 

The Steelers played him deep a lot. They felt that way too. 

Top 2 RB production in Dallas:

• 2022  2346 yards and 24 TDs
• 2021  2345 yards and 14 TDs
• 2020  1945 and 13  (6-10 record)
• 2019  2339 and 17
• 2018  2188 and 10
• 2017 1844 and 10  (Zeke suspended 6 games)  6-4 with Zeke and 3-3 without Zeke
• 2016  2248 and 18

Dak is a trailer. He's a complimentary QB to the running game.  No elite running game = losing record.

1 hour ago, Random Reglar said:

look also at Freeland vs Jake Witt.  Witt was a college basketball player,  then a college TE, then a college OT.   

Freeland and Witt are closer to each other than they are to Lane.   

both 6'7+,  both 302,  both better than 5.00 40.   Freeland RAS 9.90, Witt RAS 9.80.

Witt is more of a project.  Northern Michigan Division II vs BYU.

Witt should be cheaper.  More likely to be a udfa.

https://ras.football/ras-compare/?&p1=23020&p2=23813&pos=OT

 

Freeland gives you some versatility as well as he played both RT and LT at BYU so shouldn't have a Dillard issue with him.

Freeland also captain of his highschool basketball team and was in track team, javelin and shot put.

He's a pretty athletic kid.

34 minutes ago, mattwill said:

Is Gainwell broken?

Penny is. 

 

24 minutes ago, Estasi said:

The Steelers played him deep a lot. They felt that way too. 

Not really