This freaking blows. I really want to see him do well. Given that he missed time with a foot injury, you wonder if he was rushed back?

The LB position has to be addressed. I'd love to get Jeremiah Trotter Jr. if he declares. 

42 minutes ago, PhillyPhreak24 said:

This freaking blows. I really want to see him do well. Given that he missed time with a foot injury, you wonder if he was rushed back?

The LB position has to be addressed. I'd love to get Jeremiah Trotter Jr. if he declares. 

I don't think it's about being rushed back, but when you let an injury heal on it's own, it may not stand up to the normal abuse an athlete puts on it. Lane Johnson tried to forgo major surgery on his ankle a few years ago, opting to let it heal on its own through rest, then had to have a minor procedure before the season (which they hoped would get him through the season) only to have that season cut short so he could get the surgery to correct it once and for all. 

If this is indeed the same foot as before, Dean needs to get the surgery so he doesn't miss more time with the same injury next season. I agree it sucks. I was looking forward to him getting plenty of experience this year. It usually takes LBs a couple seasons of playing to get competent in coverage in the NFL. This just sets it all back for now. On top of that, we'll have to listen to the Philly media and critics call him a bust / wasted pick while he's out and unable to show any growth. 

1 hour ago, PhillyPhreak24 said:

This freaking blows. 

I think it's a good thing, dude isn't very good at MLB.

39 minutes ago, EagleVA said:

I think it's a good thing, dude isn't very good at MLB.

PFF has Dean ranked 66th out of 89 LBs.  He is allowing a high 102.4 passer rating when targeted.  Decent vs the run but getting destroyed trying to defend vs the pass

1 hour ago, weko said:

PFF has Dean ranked 66th out of 89 LBs.  He is allowing a high 102.4 passer rating when targeted.  Decent vs the run but getting destroyed trying to defend vs the pass

Maybe he’s just not big enough to be that guy in the league who can stay healthy and play physical. He looks like a kid going up against some of these 6’5” TEs in the league. He dropped in the draft, because his body couldn’t hold up. Now this season he can’t stay healthy either. Hate to say it, but if feels like Sidney Jones all over again. A guy who was overhyped by the fans, dropped in the draft due to injury, and never really came close to living up to the hype when he actually plays. 

7 hours ago, Diehardfan said:

Hicks was hurt all the time as well

For us yes, but every team since he’s played every game.

8 hours ago, EazyEaglez said:

Maybe he’s just not big enough to be that guy in the league who can stay healthy and play physical. He looks like a kid going up against some of these 6’5” TEs in the league. He dropped in the draft, because his body couldn’t hold up. Now this season he can’t stay healthy either. Hate to say it, but if feels like Sidney Jones all over again. A guy who was overhyped by the fans, dropped in the draft due to injury, and never really came close to living up to the hype when he actually plays. 

He was a good college player but that doesn't mean his skill set translates to today's NFL.  He fell in the draft as he is small, not athletic, not very fast or quick.  He has 2 years left on his contract after this one.  Howie always keeps high picks thru their initial deals so I see him as a core special teamer the next 2 years, then he's gone to bounce around the league for a year or two doing the same.  Hopefully he is saving that nice 3rd round paycheck and signing bonus money not to mention his generous playoff shares.  Good kid, smart, has character, loves to play.  Just doesn't have the physical attributes needed to play in the modern passing league that the NFL has become.  He would have had a nice career 20-30 years ago in the run first NFL

I think he was a good, sensical pick at the time, but it's not working out.  Back to the drawing board at LB.  

6 minutes ago, weko said:

He was a good college player but that doesn't mean his skill set translates to today's NFL.  He fell in the draft as he is small, not athletic, not very fast or quick.  He has 2 years left on his contract after this one.  Howie always keeps high picks thru their initial deals so I see him as a core special teamer the next 2 years, then he's gone to bounce around the league for a year or two doing the same.  Hopefully he is saving that nice 3rd round paycheck and signing bonus money not to mention his generous playoff shares.  Good kid, smart, has character, loves to play.  Just doesn't have the physical attributes needed to play in the modern passing league that the NFL has become.  He would have had a nice career 20-30 years ago in the run first NFL

He's very small for a run first LB who doesn't cover well.  I think the coverage would improve with instincts, but he has never been able to stay on the field to get any experience.

I still think he has Omar Gaither type upside.  Not that athletic, not that physical, but makes the right reads behind a staunch DL.  For the next/last 2 years of his rookie deal, he makes sense as a ST player and LB3.  I think the draft should see a comp pick (no higher) at the position and another veteran FA.

1 minute ago, eagle45 said:

He's very small for a run first LB who doesn't cover well.  I think the coverage would improve with instincts, but he has never been able to stay on the field to get any experience.

I still think he has Omar Gaither type upside.  Not that athletic, not that physical, but makes the right reads behind a staunch DL.  For the next/last 2 years of his rookie deal, he makes sense as a ST player and LB3.  I think the draft should see a comp pick (no higher) at the position and another veteran FA.

Yes he is small and doesn't cover well.  I don't know how that is worth a 3rd round pick but Howie also wasted a 3 on the fast LB who never showed anything in college and busted here.  Howie got caught up in the romantic Georgia story.  Same might be said for trading next year's 3 for Ringo, another Georgia product who the staff won't put on the field even though 6 DBs were out.  5 undrafted FAs DBs played for us but this kid sits in his redshirt rookie season.  That is 3 really questionable 3rd round picks.  I love Steen, also a 3rd round pick, as a LT but we have Mailata there so hopefully he can play RT but Lane may be around another 2-3 years.  He wasn't all that good at RG last game.  Maybe he can learn to play there but right now he is a good OT with no where to play

It was a big mistake allowing TJ Edwards to go to the Bears (I know he was a fan of the team, but he should have have been a priority signing for the Eagles).

9 hours ago, EazyEaglez said:

Maybe he’s just not big enough to be that guy in the league who can stay healthy and play physical. He looks like a kid going up against some of these 6’5” TEs in the league. He dropped in the draft, because his body couldn’t hold up. Now this season he can’t stay healthy either. Hate to say it, but if feels like Sidney Jones all over again. A guy who was overhyped by the fans, dropped in the draft due to injury, and never really came close to living up to the hype when he actually plays. 

The top LBs in the league are his size so that's not it. 

2 hours ago, judunno said:

The top LBs in the league are his size so that's not it. 

These are the average heights and weights of all average players Dean comes in shorter in height than the average linebacker as well as ten pounds lighter. He is at a disadvantage due to his size. On top of that look at the significant difference between his measurable size compared to average TEs in the NFL. It’s like a guard being boxed out by a power forward.  

https://webpages.uidaho.edu/~renaes/251/HON/Student PPTs/Avg NFL ht wt.pdf

11 minutes ago, EazyEaglez said:

These are the average heights and weights of all average players Dean comes in shorter in height than the average linebacker as well as ten pounds lighter. He is at a disadvantage due to his size. On top of that look at the significant difference between his measurable size compared to average TEs in the NFL. It’s like a guard being boxed out by a power forward.  

https://webpages.uidaho.edu/~renaes/251/HON/Student PPTs/Avg NFL ht wt.pdf

That doesn't change the fact that the highest rated LBs are his size. LBs aren't these massive Trotter types anymore for the most part unless they're freaky athletic.

58 minutes ago, time2rock said:

Yeah that’s kind of bad. 

11 minutes ago, judunno said:

That doesn't change the fact that the highest rated LBs are his size. LBs aren't these massive Trotter types anymore for the most part unless they're freaky athletic.

Just pointing out for this player it seems like a liability. Not everyone smaller linebacker is made to be Sam Mills. This guy struggles in coverage and he struggles to stay healthy. It’s hard to claim his size isn’t a factor in both. 

3 hours ago, Philthy Jawn said:

It was a big mistake allowing TJ Edwards to go to the Bears (I know he was a fan of the team, but he should have have been a priority signing for the Eagles).

If nothing else they should have tried to keep White. Dean was just anointed the starter. He really didn’t have to earn it. 

4 hours ago, weko said:

He was a good college player but that doesn't mean his skill set translates to today's NFL.  He fell in the draft as he is small, not athletic, not very fast or quick.  He has 2 years left on his contract after this one.  Howie always keeps high picks thru their initial deals so I see him as a core special teamer the next 2 years, then he's gone to bounce around the league for a year or two doing the same.  Hopefully he is saving that nice 3rd round paycheck and signing bonus money not to mention his generous playoff shares.  Good kid, smart, has character, loves to play.  Just doesn't have the physical attributes needed to play in the modern passing league that the NFL has become.  He would have had a nice career 20-30 years ago in the run first NFL

When he was drafted it just seemed like everyone assumed it would work out. I don’t watch a lot of college football, but I see a lot of NFL and this felt all too similar to the Jones situation. Even last yea when he mostly played special teams I didn’t even see him stick out as much as Ellis did. Maybe in another year things change, but right now he seems more like a liability on defense rather than an asset. 

3 hours ago, weko said:

Yes he is small and doesn't cover well.  I don't know how that is worth a 3rd round pick but Howie also wasted a 3 on the fast LB who never showed anything in college and busted here.  Howie got caught up in the romantic Georgia story.  Same might be said for trading next year's 3 for Ringo, another Georgia product who the staff won't put on the field even though 6 DBs were out.  5 undrafted FAs DBs played for us but this kid sits in his redshirt rookie season.  That is 3 really questionable 3rd round picks.  I love Steen, also a 3rd round pick, as a LT but we have Mailata there so hopefully he can play RT but Lane may be around another 2-3 years.  He wasn't all that good at RG last game.  Maybe he can learn to play there but right now he is a good OT with no where to play

This was always my concern. Falling too much in love with Georgia guys. I never got the Dean love. Looked like a guy who was a great college player, but who didn't have the size, strength, speed, athleticism to make it on the next level. No shame in that. Lots of guys have great college careers that don't translate to the NFL. I remember being so dissapointed when they drafted him because I just couldn't see what he did in college translate.

 

Worried about Ringo too. At least he has the athleticism and is young. Hopefully they can coach him up. 

52 minutes ago, shlo said:

This was always my concern. Falling too much in love with Georgia guys. I never got the Dean love. Looked like a guy who was a great college player, but who didn't have the size, strength, speed, athleticism to make it on the next level. No shame in that. Lots of guys have great college careers that don't translate to the NFL. I remember being so dissapointed when they drafted him because I just couldn't see what he did in college translate.

 

Worried about Ringo too. At least he has the athleticism and is young. Hopefully they can coach him up. 

Ringo IMO isn’t someone the Eagles should be banking on as the future to begin with. They really need to address their secondary with 1st and 2nd round picks. Enough of the Ringo, Jobe, and Ricks type of boom or bust project players. The Eagles have way too many of these guys on the roster. They need to go out and draft some elite level corner talent capable of starting week one. Funny thing about their list of boom or bust players in the secondary is I didn’t even name all of the ones they have on the roster right now. Enough is enough. Go get some real replacements for the 30plus and injury prone guys they have right now.

1 hour ago, EazyEaglez said:

Just pointing out for this player it seems like a liability. Not everyone smaller linebacker is made to be Sam Mills. This guy struggles in coverage and he struggles to stay healthy. It’s hard to claim his size isn’t a factor in both. 

He hurt his feet. That's not physicality related... probably bad shoe related. LB coverage woes are scheme related IMO. They're getting unfavorable matchups.

2 hours ago, EazyEaglez said:

Ringo IMO isn’t someone the Eagles should be banking on as the future to begin with. They really need to address their secondary with 1st and 2nd round picks. Enough of the Ringo, Jobe, and Ricks type of boom or bust project players. The Eagles have way too many of these guys on the roster. They need to go out and draft some elite level corner talent capable of starting week one. Funny thing about their list of boom or bust players in the secondary is I didn’t even name all of the ones they have on the roster right now. Enough is enough. Go get some real replacements for the 30plus and injury prone guys they have right now.

yes...we all laughed at Andy when he drafted Lito and Sheldon back to back...but Sheldon, at least, worked out for us...just ask Reggie Bush

 

the D-Line is pretty much set for a couple years with Jalen C and Jordan D. So it actually makes sense to draft CB high in 2024...but my guess is that they will look for Lane's replacement in the first round

 

Dean is hurt. Injuries happen. He doesn't have a history that suggests he's prone to injury --- none in college and played every game last season for us. The other myth I keep reading about here is that he's "not athletic." Somebody once posted his high school 40 time in the blog and now everybody thinks he's slow. Virtually every scout before the draft praised his athleticism or marked it as a strength. It's crazy how the narrative gets warped and people run with it. 

People  are now piling on Dean because he struggled a bit in coverage. You know who else struggled a bit in coverage (besides most of the DBs on this team)? Virtually every LB drafted in the NFL while they learned at this level. People are acting like he's the only LB in his first few starts to struggle in coverage. It's normal and should be expected. It's reasonable to expect him to improve over time. TJ Edwards didn't have his career year until his 4th season in the NFL. Kyzir White's best season was his 4th year with the Chargers. This is Morrow's 6th season and I think this is his best PFF grade (so far) as well. 

It sucks that Dean will continue to miss time this season because we really needed him to take advantage of every opportunity to grow and get better. He was neck and neck with TJ Edwards through most of camp last year and helped push Edwards into a career season. He entered this season with the "green dot" on defense and then hurt his foot. They rested him for a month. I know Morrow stepped in and played very well in his place and that's great, but isn't it kind of strange that the Eagles were rotating the guy with the green dot when Dean returned? Sorry to get all "conspiracy theory" here, but I think the Eagles weren't all that confident in Dean's foot and had him on a pitch count hoping for the best. Then the Lisfranc sprain reappeared. Rest isn't going to cut it. Surgery is the best option moving forward. 

8 hours ago, brkmsn said:

People  are now piling on Dean because he struggled a bit in coverage.

A bit?