March 8, 20232 yr 1 hour ago, nipples said: To me the question isn’t whether Blankenship and Epps are comparable to CJGJ and Epps, but it’s whether CJGJ and Blankenship are significantly better than Blankenship and Epps. I think letting Epps walk and starting Blankenship along with CJGJ would be a pretty noticeable upgrade. The question at hand is how much better does CGJ make the defense, I'd argue Hargrave is more important to the overall, and Edwards and Bradberry have at least as strong a case to get paid as CGJ too. This year has a few good mid round prospects at Safety, that maybe make a trade back at 30 worthwhile.
March 8, 20232 yr 34 minutes ago, Cochis_Calhoun said: The question at hand is how much better does CGJ make the defense, I'd argue Hargrave is more important to the overall, and Edwards and Bradberry have at least as strong a case to get paid as CGJ too. This year has a few good mid round prospects at Safety, that maybe make a trade back at 30 worthwhile. My problem is this team is terrible at drafting safeties. Blankenship as a UDFA seems good so far, hopefully he's not another player who was a fluke decent first year. They've had to rely on free agency and trade at safety. It's why I was hoping CJG would be back, expected Bradberry to leave and draft a corner in the 1st round to add to the secondary. If CJG and Bradberry both leave, you can still draft a 1st round corner to be a day 1 starter, but you have a hole at safety to fill. However, if they have to sign another free agent safety who is a downgrade from CJG but at least a decent player and better than Epps, if they add a top CB prospect who works out and the D line is strong then that can work...all depending on the Desai's scheme of course.
March 8, 20232 yr This is actually a blessing in disguise. We would have overpayed for a Safety who cant tackle.. But he has swag they say.
March 8, 20232 yr 12 hours ago, Hawkeye said: Golden Tate won a playoff game for the Eagles. Worth every bit of it. Anyone could have caught that pass. He was absolutely horrendous as an Eagle. Not to mention, he is a total d00sh.
March 8, 20232 yr I am starting to get really nervous about our secondary. I was hoping it would stay at least somewhat intact, so we could use early picks on one DB, and then someone to groom to eventually replace Lane Johnson. I love when we draft guys that we don't absolutely need for 1-2 years. Even a decent rookie can really struggle if they get thrown right in the mix.
March 8, 20232 yr 43 minutes ago, NOTW said: My problem is this team is terrible at drafting safeties. Blankenship as a UDFA seems good so far, hopefully he's not another player who was a fluke decent first year. They've had to rely on free agency and trade at safety. It's why I was hoping CJG would be back, expected Bradberry to leave and draft a corner in the 1st round to add to the secondary. If CJG and Bradberry both leave, you can still draft a 1st round corner to be a day 1 starter, but you have a hole at safety to fill. However, if they have to sign another free agent safety who is a downgrade from CJG but at least a decent player and better than Epps, if they add a top CB prospect who works out and the D line is strong then that can work...all depending on the Desai's scheme of course. They may be horrible at drafting Safeties but they're just as bad at drafting corners, when was our last hit on a proper high end NFL level corner? Lito two decades ago? Since then it's been a parade of barely adequate to sub par supplemented with expensive free agents and trades. Whereas we drafted Jordan Poyer in 2013 and he's one of the best safeties in the game....for the Bills. We suck at drafting Linebackers too.
March 8, 20232 yr I think we are rushing the gun a little bit. The eagles still have until Monday (legal tamper period-basically start of FA) to come to a deal. Hard to sign him when they still need to restructure a contract or 2 and resign Hurts
March 8, 20232 yr 50 minutes ago, philafan4o8 said: I think we are rushing the gun a little bit. The eagles still have until Monday (legal tamper period-basically start of FA) to come to a deal. Hard to sign him when they still need to restructure a contract or 2 and resign Hurts Technically they don't have to rush to sign Hurts ... he is still under contract on his rookie deal for 2023. It is just smart to do so now before the QB market really blows up (lock him in now at $45-50M/year ... likely closer to the latter ... because next year it could approach $60M/year). They were never going to tag CJGJ ... we just don't have the cap room to be able to do that (we have only $3.8M in cap space currently - the cost to tag safeties is ~$14.5M, so we'd have to clear significant cap space to tag him). Howie is probably telling most of these guys, "Look, we really want to bring you back, you are a perfect fit for what we want to do yada yada yada, but we are facing significant cap challenges and unfortunately our hands are tied as to what we can do. Please keep us updated on what kind of offers you receive and let's see if we can match that." Makes sense to not pay more than we really need to considering current cap situation.
March 8, 20232 yr I was really hoping CJGJ would be their top priority as far as resigning any of their pending FAs. He's young, he's good and he can play S and Slot CB. I'd rather him than Hargrave. Something about Hargrave gives me pause...30 years old, was obviously motivated to play well in a contract year, and we'd be paying him more for what he's done vs. what he likely will do going forward. Don't get me wrong, I'd be okay with resigning him...but I'd be moderately concerned about his production starting to dip.
March 8, 20232 yr 27 minutes ago, time2rock said: Technically they don't have to rush to sign Hurts ... he is still under contract on his rookie deal for 2023. It is just smart to do so now before the QB market really blows up (lock him in now at $45-50M/year ... likely closer to the latter ... because next year it could approach $60M/year). They were never going to tag CJGJ ... we just don't have the cap room to be able to do that (we have only $3.8M in cap space currently - the cost to tag safeties is ~$14.5M, so we'd have to clear significant cap space to tag him). Howie is probably telling most of these guys, "Look, we really want to bring you back, you are a perfect fit for what we want to do yada yada yada, but we are facing significant cap challenges and unfortunately our hands are tied as to what we can do. Please keep us updated on what kind of offers you receive and let's see if we can match that." Makes sense to not pay more than we really need to considering current cap situation. I think we agree on a lot. Never said they must sign Hurts now but it make sense to do it now not only because of the Qb market but because his cap numbers in future years are important if they want to sign anyone long term they need to know what those numbers are going to look like.
March 8, 20232 yr 1 hour ago, time2rock said: Technically they don't have to rush to sign Hurts ... he is still under contract on his rookie deal for 2023. It is just smart to do so now before the QB market really blows up (lock him in now at $45-50M/year ... likely closer to the latter ... because next year it could approach $60M/year). They were never going to tag CJGJ ... we just don't have the cap room to be able to do that (we have only $3.8M in cap space currently - the cost to tag safeties is ~$14.5M, so we'd have to clear significant cap space to tag him). Howie is probably telling most of these guys, "Look, we really want to bring you back, you are a perfect fit for what we want to do yada yada yada, but we are facing significant cap challenges and unfortunately our hands are tied as to what we can do. Please keep us updated on what kind of offers you receive and let's see if we can match that." Makes sense to not pay more than we really need to considering current cap situation. Isn't that because of Howie
March 8, 20232 yr Some of you should be careful what you wish for with all of the "CJGJ isn't worth top safety money" when our starting secondary is Slay, a rookie CB2 or McPherson, and a S tandem of Epps and Blankenship.
March 8, 20232 yr Blankenship played way above expectations last season but enough to be comfortable with letting CJGJ walk? I don't know about that
March 8, 20232 yr 1 hour ago, EaglesAddict said: I was really hoping CJGJ would be their top priority as far as resigning any of their pending FAs. He's young, he's good and he can play S and Slot CB. I'd rather him than Hargrave. Something about Hargrave gives me pause...30 years old, was obviously motivated to play well in a contract year, and we'd be paying him more for what he's done vs. what he likely will do going forward. Don't get me wrong, I'd be okay with resigning him...but I'd be moderately concerned about his production starting to dip. Hargrave has been our most consistent DT for arguably all his time here but definitely the last two seasons, he has 18.5 sacks over that span which makes him one of the most disruptive interior linemen in the league, he's worth keeping around for a couple of years.
March 8, 20232 yr 7 hours ago, nipples said: I could be way off, but I think Bradberry is going to get way less than people are anticipating. I think Hargrave is going to ultimately be the highest paid of the eagles free agents. Someone that thinks they're a CB away is going to pay that man. He's the best CB on the market by far. Him and Hargrave are arguably in the top 5 of FAs since the franchise tags. I think the Eagles would go after Hargrave before Bradberry just based on the way they value the positions.
March 8, 20232 yr 45 minutes ago, Cochis_Calhoun said: Hargrave has been our most consistent DT for arguably all his time here but definitely the last two seasons, he has 18.5 sacks over that span which makes him one of the most disruptive interior linemen in the league, he's worth keeping around for a couple of years. Agreed... I'd go Hargrave before secondary. We saw how the secondary gets exposed in this new era when there is no pass rush.
March 8, 20232 yr 48 minutes ago, Walkdawalk said: Blankenship played way above expectations last season but enough to be comfortable with letting CJGJ walk? I don't know about that Blank played amazing. Yes he took a few bad angles, but he tackles better than CJGJ.
March 8, 20232 yr 5 hours ago, Cochis_Calhoun said: They may be horrible at drafting Safeties but they're just as bad at drafting corners, when was our last hit on a proper high end NFL level corner? Lito two decades ago? Since then it's been a parade of barely adequate to sub par supplemented with expensive free agents and trades. Whereas we drafted Jordan Poyer in 2013 and he's one of the best safeties in the game....for the Bills. We suck at drafting Linebackers too. This is all true, I've been wanting them to prioritize (and succeed in) drafting secondary for 20 years I don't follow college prospects well enough but it seems this year there are 2 or 3 prospects at corner that could be a target with their first pick in the round, but what safeties are 1st round prospects? Given their drafting history, we know they are more successful drafting both lines. They also draft better when in the top 12. After that, they struggle. Their picks in later rounds aren't going to be good apart from linemen. So my thought is: with that #10 (give or take a couple spots if Howie moves around) take one of the top CB prospects to have a greater chance to break that cycle of bad drafting in the secondary. The other picks can be linemen, RB, depth at other positions to see if they work out. I don't trust them trying to make a 3rd or 4th round pick at corner or safety work out as a day 1 starter. It's funny, NFL.com has a mock where we take DB Christian Gonzalez at #10, then DB Brian Branch at #30. But even if they did something like that - and lost CJG and Bradberry - you have a team coming off a Super Bowl loss rebuilding their secondary with 2 rookies as day 1 starters? I don't see that happening, Howie will sign a 1 year stop gap at safety like he usually does.
March 8, 20232 yr 5 hours ago, Cochis_Calhoun said: They may be horrible at drafting Safeties but they're just as bad at drafting corners, when was our last hit on a proper high end NFL level corner? Lito two decades ago? Since then it's been a parade of barely adequate to sub par supplemented with expensive free agents and trades. Whereas we drafted Jordan Poyer in 2013 and he's one of the best safeties in the game....for the Bills. We suck at drafting Linebackers too. That's the last time that they drafted a CB in the 1st round. They have drafted CBs in the 2nd round twice since Lito and Brown and one of them was coming off of an Achilles injury. (Jones and Rowe). Point is they don't even seem to try to draft talented CBs in the first 2 rounds. I think the philosophy has been for some time OL, DL WR in those rounds QB if you don't have one and every now and then a RB in the 2nd.
March 9, 20232 yr Another issue that I keep seeing mentioned: Moving Maddox to safety. Hell, in the past I've mentioned it and I do think he played arguably some of his best there, but the guy just cannot stay healthy. Not sure I'd want him as the last line of defense when we can reasonably expect him to be out for a bit. Not saying he's great, but someone like John Johnson should be okay and relatively cheap. JJ, Blank, Epps (depending), and a rookie is at least doable. Wallace isn't worth the time, IMO. JJ - Blank - Slay - Gonzalez (hopefully) - Maddox (slot) is a capable secondary. The linebackers are likely going to be rough, though.
March 9, 20232 yr 15 hours ago, Cochis_Calhoun said: Hargrave has been our most consistent DT for arguably all his time here but definitely the last two seasons, he has 18.5 sacks over that span which makes him one of the most disruptive interior linemen in the league, he's worth keeping around for a couple of years. I agree he's been very good. But if I'm debating between paying him or CJGJ big money, (and Hargrave might actually cost more), I'd go CJGJ. While I would agree that having a disruptive DT is more valuable than a Safety/Slot CB, age is definitely a big factor for me. CJGJ would be in his prime during his contract whereas Hargrave is starting to enter the years when production starts declining for DTs...especially pass rushing DTs. At the end of the day, I'm not going to be mad if we do resign Hargrave and let CJGJ walk. It's just not what I would do if I had the choice. Both will probably walk in FA anyway.
March 9, 20232 yr 19 hours ago, Cochis_Calhoun said: They may be horrible at drafting Safeties but they're just as bad at drafting corners, when was our last hit on a proper high end NFL level corner? Lito two decades ago? Since then it's been a parade of barely adequate to sub par supplemented with expensive free agents and trades. Whereas we drafted Jordan Poyer in 2013 and he's one of the best safeties in the game....for the Bills. We suck at drafting Linebackers too. Considering how low of the priority LB was during draft, in the olden years, I can't argue with you. But we need to see what DeSai contributes. He prioritizes the LBs and Secondary, and often plays nickel. There are some good CBs in this draft. We might as well draft 2. One early to replace Bradbury and one developmental for depth. I would not mind drafting a Safety as well, but considering how many holes we have, I do not see that happening until 4th round or later.
March 9, 20232 yr 1 hour ago, EaglesAddict said: I agree he's been very good. But if I'm debating between paying him or CJGJ big money, (and Hargrave might actually cost more), I'd go CJGJ. While I would agree that having a disruptive DT is more valuable than a Safety/Slot CB, age is definitely a big factor for me. CJGJ would be in his prime during his contract whereas Hargrave is starting to enter the years when production starts declining for DTs...especially pass rushing DTs. At the end of the day, I'm not going to be mad if we do resign Hargrave and let CJGJ walk. It's just not what I would do if I had the choice. Both will probably walk in FA anyway. We have too many holes to keep any one player. But if there was 1 player that i would keep above all others, it would be Hargrave. He is more important than CJGJ.
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