It’s the end of July and almost August and that means the Eagles start training camp. Rookies and selected vets reported Sunday, the rest of the team reports tomorrow, contact starts on Friday.
The big story is the absence of Jeremy Maclin. It may be a while until we see him in camp as 27 other first-rounders have not yet signed deals with their teams. The uncapped 2010 season has agents overeager and this could end up in a messy situation for most teams.
CB/S Macho Harris and TE Cornelius Ingram are looking solid and have been getting rave reviews. Jack Ikegwuono was also impressive. It looks like the Eagles have drafted very well in the secondary in the last two years with Macho Harris, Jack Ikegwuono, and Quintin Demps.
Westbrook’s knee looks like it is recovery well. Westbrook was seen sprinting, looked good in lateral drills, and was working out without a brace.
Knowshon Moreno went much higher than anticipated. He went #12 to the Broncos. Eagles had to come up with Plan B. They obviously wanted to boost the offense. They’re not sold on Beanie Wells (thank goodness), it was too early to take Donald Brown or LeSean McCoy, so why not add another playmaker to the receiving corp?
Brandon Pettigrew was on the board, but I’m not sold on him as the Eagles pick: he’s more of a premier blocker than a premier receiver and the Eagles like their TEs to be receivers and I still think the Eagles want Jared Cook or Chase Coffman in round 2. The Eagles traded up from 21 to 19 to take Maclin, so they must have been sold on him. I don’t know what the Eagles had to throw in: maybe a 5th or 6th rounder? We have four 5th rounders, so they might as well spend them.
I expected Maclin to be taken between 10 and 15. I rated him much higher than Darrius Heyward-Bey, who the Raiders foolishly drafted at 7, so I love the pick. Why the hell wouldn’t the Raiders trade down? That’s why they are a terrible organization. Plus, Maclin in the return game is a huge boost to our special teams. Maclin returning kickoffs, DeSean returning punts, and Quintin Demps as our alternate, that’s tremendous!
RB Plans: Wells is still on the board, so that’s another RB that should go soon, and luckily gone before the Eagles are tempted to take him. I don’t see Donald Brown falling that far — he’ll go by mid-2nd round at the latest. LeSean McCoy is an option for the Eagles in round 2. I wouldn’t be upset with Andre Brown in round 2 (I love his upside). I don’t want Shonn Greene. I’ll gladly take Mike Goodson in round 3 and if he’s gone, I wouldn’t be upset with Javon Ringer either. We have options. RB is deep.
Let’s take a look at what we’re getting with Maclin. DeSean Jackson, Kevin Curtis, and Jeremy Maclin in 3 WR sets — they may be a bit undersized, but that’s a ridiculous amount of speed — I like it:
Tra Thomas has signed with the Jaguars. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed. What’s the Eagles picture at left tackle now? It looks grim. They need to draft a tackle in the draft instead of adding a playmaker like Brandon Pettigrew or Knowshon Moreno in the draft.
It’s going to be weird to see T.O. in a Bills uniform. He only got a 1-year, $6.5 million deal. I thought teams like the Raiders, Ravens, Titans, or Jets would pursue him, but it looks like nobody else was interested. A good move for the Bills to energize the fan base as there have been talks about moving the franchise to Toronto.
The Eagles next free agency move could be signing veteran CB Shawn Springs. Springs was just released by the Redskins. Springs has been a solid corner over the years for the Redskins. Springs is visiting the Eagles. The Eagles should be able to add the experienced (12 years) 33-year-old CB for a low-to-moderate price. Presumably, Springs would be the 4th corner on the depth chart.
The move could also help the Eagles move Sheldon Brown to safety. A secondary of Asante Samuel, Joselio Hanson, Sheldon Brown, and Quitin Mikell would work extremely well and Springs would be a nickel corner. Another option would be keeping Sheldon Brown at corner instead of moving him to safety and have Shawn Springs at the FS spot if Quintin Demps isn’t ready for the starting role.
Instead of signing Springs, the ideal move would be to go for the youngster with a lot of upside, Jabari Greer. However, Greer is drawing a lot of interest from the Bucs and Ravens. With Joselio Hanson getting a big 5-year, $21 contract, Greer should be getting something in that ball park. If the Eagles do end up with Springs, instead of shelling out more money for Greer, it may make more sense.
Also keep in mind, the dime corner would be filled with rookie/thug Jack Ikeqwuonu, who the Eagles draft/stole in the 4th round in last year’s draft, although he was considered first-round talent.
I took a few days off from Eagles free agency coverage to mourn the loss of Brian Dawkins. I’ve always thought, even in an era where it’s uncommon for any given player to play for a single team his entire career, that Brian Dawkins would retire an Eagle. It was extremely depressing when I heard the news that Dawkins had signed with another team. Although Brian Dawkins will always be an Eagle, it was a tough pill to swallow to realize that he’ll be wearing another team’s colors when it is his time to retire. What are the stages to recovery: anger, denial, regret, anger, acceptance?
I can’t believe the front office would just let him go like that: like a bad piece of meat that’s been spoiled. I have a hard time believing that the front office couldn’t come up with a two-year, $9 million contract to make Dawkins happy. The Eagles are thin at safety. They let Sean Considine go to the Jaguars to plague another team with his awfulness. The Eagles are clearly trying to get younger, but Dawkins, in my mind, should be an exception to the “Eagles youth movement.” Although I may have to admit that his skills in coverage aren’t what they were in previous years, he can still play at an extremely high level, and he is the leader of the defense, team, and locker room. I don’t see how the Eagles front office can say with a straight face that Quintin Demps will be a better option than Brian Dawkins over the next two years. Right now they only have two safeties on their roster and have several needs to address in the draft before they even add another safety.
I just don’t see the logic in the move. I can understand from a disinterested GM’s standpoint that it doesn’t hurt to make a team younger, but how can you make such a bold move when you have a player like Brian Dawkins — the greatest Eagle of all time, are already thin at safety, and risk pissing off the entire fan base. I just don’t get it.
Before we get started, I just wanted to throw out a quick plug for my fantasy football rankings: Fantasy Links .INFO. Definitely visiting that site before you start your draft.
The Eagles cut 12 players:
Kyle Arrington (CB), Bam Childress (WR), Jed Collins (FB), Jason Davis(FB), Therrian Fontenot (CB), Michael Gasperson (WR), Nick Graham (CB), Jamal Jones (WR), Mike Marquardt (DT), Shaheer McBride (WR), Jerome McDougle (DE), Ryan Moats (RB), Marcus Paschal (S), Montae Reagor (DT), Justin Roland (LB), Andy Studebaker (LB), Pago Togafau (LB), Kris Wilson (TE), Scott Young (G)
Jerome McDougle — Most of Eagles Nation was surprised/disappointed to see Jerome McDougle let go. In the past few seasons he’s been getting a lot of heat for not living up to the expectations of a 15th overall pick; however, it was not his fault for an unfulfilling career. He’s had a series of unfortunate injuries and was shot. This season, on the other hand, it looked like McDougle might be able to revive his career. McDougle registered 2.5 sacks in 4 preseason games and it seemed that he had his motor and burst off the line back. The Eagles decided to cut him though and it seems like the Giants will be eager to add him to their roster after losing Umenyiora for the season. I think this was a poor move by the Eagles. The Eagles could have placed Abiamiri, who recently received surgery on his hand, on the IR or they could have placed Bryan Smith on the practice squad. Instead, the Eagles have a plethora of undersized DEs, which leaves Juqua Parker as the only viable option opposite of Trent Cole (until Abiamiri is back). I don’t see the point of carrying both Chris Clemons and Bryan Smith — they will both have pretty much the same role on defense. It will take weeks before Abiamiri is able to return. I just don’t see the logic in this move. My only hope is that the Eagles are pretty certain that Abiamiri’s hand has healed well and that it will be only a few weeks until he can get onto the field.
Tony Hunt – Hunt landed the starting FB role. Jason Davis got cut. Hopefully, Hunt will be able to pick up things at FB pretty quick. He’s never played the position before and during an interview, he didn’t seem too pleased about transitioning to FB, but that’s what it is going to take to make the roster, so he should be pleased with that. He performed well during the preseason, but still remains the #4 RB on the depth chart. I think Hunt will do well at the position.
Kris Wilson – I expected Schobel to be cut and Wilson to be the Eagles 3rd TE, but the Eagles opted for Schobel. Not a huge deal, but something most of us expected to go the other way.
Andy Studebaker – I was surprised they let him go. I figured he would be placed on the practice squad. I was impressed with what I saw from him, but I guess the Eagles didn’t think he could be anything more than a special teamer.
Joe Mays – Joe Mays made the active roster and he was very deserving of the roster spot. The guy was a total tackling machine this preseason. The guy had 30 tackles in 4 preseason games including 13 tackles (9 solo) in the preseason finale against the Jets. The Eagles hit the nail on the head with this draft pick. The guy gets to the ball fast and makes great tackles. The one aspect of his game that will have to improve is shredding blockers.
Quintin Demps — Another phenomenal draft pick by the Eagles. I get excited every time I’m about to see Demps return a kickoff. The guy can go from 1st gear to 5th gear in a heartbeat. He runs over kickers. He’s great. He had a kickoff return for a touchdown against the Patriots and had several excellent kickoff returns against the Jets. In the game against the Jets, Demps had 4 kickoff returns for 137 yards (34.3 yard average and his longest return was 51 yards).
A great return game in the NFL ensures that the offense will have a shorter field to work with to score points against the opposing team. Watching the Eagles’ offense last year, it became apparent that their explosive offense of years past was now incapable of scoring a touchdown, even while in the red-zone. Settling for field goals (3pts) rather than scoring touchdowns (6pts), usually leads to loses in today’s NFL. This is exactly what all Eagle fans saw last year- loses. To make matters worse, our special teams weren’t all that special. In fact, they were dismal. The opening day game last year versus the Green Bay Fudge-Packers was a perfect example of this mediocrity shown by the Eagles Special Teams. Rather than start the season with a great win at Green Bay, the Eagles Special Teams embarrassed themselves and their fans as they blew the game in the closing moments of the game by fumbling a kick return that would have most likely ended the game in their favor. From that moment on, the Eagles return game was at best shaky, making Philly fans nationwide squirm in their seats every time a member of the Eagles Special Teams squad was waiving for a fair catch.
This year the Eagles Special Teams coordinator, Rory Segrest, doesn’t anticipate having the problems of last year due to the two new faces he has chosen to run kicks back for the Birds this year. Although, the elusive and speedy DeSean Jackson was the obvious choice at punt returner, the position of kick returner was open to many players including Quintin Demps, JR Reed, Correll Buckhalter, Jamal Jones, and Lorenzo Booker. Out of this group of able returnmen, RB Lorenzo Booker in his second year out of Florida State seems to be emerging as the as the clear leader of the pack. Not only is he doing well on special teams, but on offense as well as the back-up to RB Brian Westbrook. In Monday’s practice, Booker broke a 60-yd touchdown run on a reverse play followed by some great returns on special teams drills. Similar to other great returnmen (i.e. Deion Sanders, Dante Hall, Devin Hester) both DeSean Jackson and Lorenzo Booker not only have speed, but great vision. Both players seem to be able to see space and creases very well, sometimes before these gaps to run in even occur. These intangible skills that both Jackson and Booker possess will give the Eagles a chance to put up six points every time they touch the ball without the offense even stepping onto the field. This indeed would be a welcome gift to the Eagles and their fans.
– For the last time, McNabb is fine [Bleeding Green Nation] – What’s up with the media’s love affair with McNabb’s injuries. This is TENDINITIS for Christ’s sake. Since when is tendinitis a major news story on ESPN? This is absolutely ridiculous. If this were any other QB, this wouldn’t even be a story. What’s next, “McNabb stubs toe, gets paper cut on throwing finger” as ESPN.com’s next story? Well, McNabb spoke out and you can read what he had to say at BGN.
– Picture of McNabb at the OTAs [Iggles Blog] — In the quote from the BGN article, McNabb talks about how the media criticizes his weight. This may be a bad picture, but he is looking a little chubbier than last year.
– Video: DeSean Jackson Interview [Inside the Iggles] — I’m on the DeSean bandwagon. The video shows some highlights from minicamp: the dude looks good — Action Jackson! Apparently, he’s Philly’s new A.I. [The 700 Level]
– So… what really happened this spring? [Dave Spadaro] — Spads goes over the major stories coming out of the OTAs. We’re really beating a dead horse with the Lito Sheppard situation. He also analyzes the state of the WRs and looks at the DL.
Spads poses the question, “Can J.R. Reed challenge Considine in camp?” It should be the other way around. Considine is a joke. He has to earn the spot from Reed, not the other way around.
Curtis had a good camp, Brown is catching balls with more consistency, and DeSean Jackson has the mental part down.
The defensive line looks sick — I agree. The Eagles have stockpiled talent on the line. They should be able to let them loose this year. I’ll be paying close attention to Abiamiri this camp. If he steps up, with the outside rushers the Eagles have, and Trent Cole, they can be dangerous.
Jason Davis looks like a lock to be the starting FB.
The Eagles’ nickel package has me excited: Asante and Lito on the outside. Sheldon playing the slot. Gaither and Bradley in the middle. Dawkins and Q roaming in the back. I like it.
The Lito story leads me to the next story…
– An article Lito Sheppard should read… [Bleeding Green Nation] — The consensus amongst a few GMs is that Lito is nothing more than 3rd CB. I.e., Lito should stop bitching about his contract, stay healthy, hit harder, make more plays, and then we can talk.
So I promised an Eagles link up and there you have it. These days in Eagles news are slow. We’ll really get into full gear when the Eagles kick off training camp in late July at Lehigh University. Until then, we can keep hoping that the Phillies continue to put up 20 on the scoreboard.
What’s new since last time? The Flyers got killed by the Penguins in Game 5. Hell of a season none the less: from NHL’s worst to Eastern Conference runner-up. Now, my attention has turned to the Eagles and it’s about that time for another Eagles link roundup.
Eagles Kolb grows into quarterback’s role [Philadelphia Inquirer] — Kolb is improving as a signal caller as he has improved a lot since last year, especially with his mechanics, which Quintin Demps noted. Demps played against Kolb when they were rivals in Conference USA.
A Pause From Camp, With Some Observations [Dave Spadaro] — Lorenzo Booker looks great, DeSean Jackson’s hands are outstanding, Demps is a very smart player and has all the tools to be a very good safety.
A Closer Look: Bryan Smith [Bleeding Green Nation] – I thought the Eagles reached for Smith, but it looks like several teams were on to him. I think the Eagles will find that diamond in the rough small-school DE in either Bryan Smith or Studebaker. It’s interesting to note that the Eagles plan to keep Smith at DE despite his small size (241 lbs.) and plan to convert Studebaker to OLB.
In my prior draft article, I shared my thoughts on the Eagles’ first two draft picks. In this article, I’ll take a look at the Eagles’ selections in rounds 3-7.
When then third round made it’s way, I was rather confident the Eagles would select Brian Dawkins’ future replacement. Many quality safety prospects were still available. In fact, only two safeties were drafted in the first two rounds: the Giants drafted Kenny Phillips and the Vikings drafted Tyrell Johnson. Personally, I was pulling for the Eagles to draft Tom Zbikowski — his style of play and work ethic would surely win Eagles fans over. I also expected that the Eagles could make a move for either DaJuan Morgan or Thomas DeCoud. The Eagles passed on those three players to select Bryan Smith, an undersized DE from McNeese State that would be used as a pass-rush specialist in the NFL. I was slightly disappointed with the pick, but I think the Eagles are onto something with the pick. Shortly after this pick, Morgan, Zbikowski, and DeCoud were all taken later in third round, which had be panicking that the Eagles would be without a quality safety from this year’s draft.
I don’t know exactly how Bryan Smith fits into the Eagles plans for this team, so I’m curious to see how he performs in camp. I thought the Eagles reached for him. He was projected to be drafted in the later rounds, so the Eagles must really love this guy to take him in the third round. From what I’ve read about him, he has tremendous explosiveness, speed, natural athletic ability, and the ability to change directions quickly. His downsides are that he is undersized and doesn’t play well against the run. My first thought was that Smith’s role would be primarily as Chris Gocong’s reserve. He could also be brought onto the field purely for pass-rushing situations. I was puzzled that the Eagles would draft Smith when they already went out in free agency and got pass-rush specialist Chris Clemons for that role. This pick made more sense when I read that the Eagles may experiment with a 3-4 defense. The Eagles’ base defense will still be a 4-3, but with the plethora of pass rushers on the roster, the Eagles could run a 3-4 in certain situations and cause nightmares for opposing offensive coordinators around the league. Here is a great interview with Bryan Smith if you want to learn more about him.
The fourth round has come and the Eagles have a chance to pick up a lot of pieces with the four picks they have this round. The Eagles came out in the fourth round and selected Pittsburgh OL Michael McGlynn. McGlynn played primarily at RT for Pittsburgh, but projects as an OG in the NFL since he lacks the athleticism to play as a tackle in the NFL. He is very technically sound, has the ability to play any position on the offensive line, and his long-snapping abilities make him an intriguing prospect. I thought that the Eagles would have used their first-round pick on an offensive linemen, but the top linemen were off the board, which prompted the Eagles to trade the pick. Since the Eagles haven’t selected a lineman yet, this pick shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Andy has a knack for finding solid linemen in fourth round (Herremans and Jean-Giles). Hopefully, McGlynn will be every bit as good as those fourth-round picks.
The Eagles also made a trade with the Miami Dolphins for Lorenzo Booker. Booker was a player that the Eagles had their eyes on in the draft last year, but Miami beat them to the punch in the 3rd round and selected him, which led to the Eagles selecting Tony Hunt later that round. The Eagles love Booker’s ability to catch the ball out of the backfield. I became extremely impressed with him during his days at Florida State. He has tremendous quickness, does a tremendous job at making defenders miss, and is a superb East-West runner. Last season, Booker had 125 rushing yards on 28 attempts and 237 receiving yards on 28 receptions. Booker’s draft profile looks quite similar to Brian Westbrook’s, so it’s no coincidence that the Eagles wanted him last year and did what it took to get him this year. Great pick up.
Later in the fourth round, the Eagles finally took a safety that they badly needed to get their hands on: Quintin Demps. When I read about Demps, I became extremely impressed and intrigued. He has great speed and is a ball hawk with ability to cover a lot of ground with his long range. His weakness is his ability against the run. Demps will need to add bulk and improve against the run if he wants to make it in the league. His upside is that his skills in coverage are exceptional. You also have to love his attitude with this quote: “I am a playmaker. If the Eagles wanted a playmaker, they got one as a steal in this draft. I am not a Pro Bowl player, I’m a Super Bowl player. I am ready to go. I am fired up.” Hopefully, the Eagles didn’t miss with this one. Last year, I was extremely excited about the prospect C.J. Gaddis and he didn’t make it very long before he was cut by the Eagles. He was even getting great reviews during training camp. The difference between Demps and Gaddis is that Gaddis was a great natural athlete with a lack of football skills and the Eagles thought that he could make it at as a safety. With Demps, the Eagles got a player with a qualified resume at safety, but he’ll just have to improve against the run.
At this point in the draft, I would already conclude that the Eagles had a successful draft. They got an extremely talented defensive lineman, an explosive kick returner and speedy receiver, a pass-rush specialist, a versatile offensive lineman, a tremendous coverage safety, and an elusive running back. I started to think that the Eagles could use their late fourth-round pick to fill a void at FB with the departure of Thomas Tapeh. I was hoping the Eagles would draft Owen Schmitt, the FB from West Virginia with a bad-ass mohawk who took it to the house against Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. However, with their final pick in the fourth round, the Eagles took Jack Ikegwuonu. Ikegwuonu has all the things you look for in a starting CB, but injuries and character issues caused him to fall down the draft chart. If he was able to stay healthy during college, he could have been drafted in the second or third round. His best quality is his physical play and his ability to jam receivers at the line of scrimmage. I think this was a solid value pick for the Eagles. The Eagles got a guy with starter potential, but with a few injury and character concerns.
The Eagles then had four picks left in the last four rounds. They picked up a guard (Michael Gibson), two linebackers (Joe Mays and Andy Studebacker), and another tackle (King Dunlap).
Final Thoughts: Excellent draft by the Eagles. When I first saw that the Eagles traded their 19th pick, I, like everyone else, was pissed. However, I was quite happy at the conclusion of the second round, especially since the Eagles were able to get DeSean Jackson, a player who the Eagles could have easily used their 19th pick on, and now they have two first-round picks next year. The only thing I would have changed about the Eagles draft would be taking DaJuan Morgan or Tom Zbikowsk in the third round and hope that Bryan Smith would still be there in the fourth round. I’m excited to learn more about these prospects during the mini-camps and training camp.
Knowshon Moreno went much higher than anticipated. He went #12 to the Broncos. Eagles had to come up with Plan B. They obviously wanted to boost the offense. They’re not sold on Beanie Wells (thank goodness), it was too early to take Donald Brown or LeSean McCoy, so why not add another playmaker to the receiving corp?
The Eagles next free agency move could be signing veteran CB 
I took a few days off from Eagles free agency coverage to mourn the loss of Brian Dawkins. I’ve always thought, even in an era where it’s uncommon for any given player to play for a single team his entire career, that Brian Dawkins would retire an Eagle. It was extremely depressing when I heard the news that Dawkins had signed with another team. Although Brian Dawkins will always be an Eagle, it was a tough pill to swallow to realize that he’ll be wearing another team’s colors when it is his time to retire. What are the stages to recovery: anger, denial, regret, anger, acceptance?
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