Eagles 2019 Offseason

[xogfog]

Well, Long has told them to plan as if he is not coming back. They have Graham, Curry, Barnett and Sweat coming back from injury. Hopefully Long will come back.

As for LB, it's Bradham and a bunch of jags (just a guy). There really were no good ILBs in this draft. The Eagles remaining picks are not so great. Their pick in the 4th round is the last pick of the round and the 5th rounder is the 25th of the round.

There are still good safeties on the board, but I expect an early run on them when the draft resumes tomorrow at noon.

I'm hoping Wentz's backup at North Dakota (Easton Stick) goes undrafted, he would be a good developmental guy as 3rd QB.

[jimbomill]

When your 2nd round pick could be 5th on your depth chart

Or he could be second on the depth chart and first next season, you made a good move, especially if he is ranked second best in the draft at his position.

[bkeich]

Saw pictures of Miles Sanders arriving at the Eagles facility this morning. Funny to see, on a football field he looks like a somewhat smaller guy, seeing that dude in a suit he looks like a DLineman.

Can’t say I was thrilled with the pick, but the fact that he is at the Eagles Facility this morning does say something.

[xogfog]

In the 4th round, the Eagles take another Penn State player, DE Shareef Miller. Good pick for a rotational DE.

In the 5th round, which barring any other moves is their last pick in this draft, they took their third QB Clayton Thorson from Northwestern. Good value.

Edit, the Eagles actually traded with the Patriots down from the 25th pick in the 5th round to the 29th pick for Thorson and with the trade the added a 7th rounder (Pick 246).

[bkeich]

If you are going to develop a guy, someone who was a 4 year starter and had the arm strength, leadership and some athleticism is a good place to start. Good value.

[HopeSpringsEternal]

It's interesting that the pick right before Thorson was Easton Stick (by the LA Chargers). Stick is the QB from North Dakota State (where Wentz played). I read somewhere that the Eagles may have had their eye on Stick as their 3rd QB; we may never know, but they couldn't have been too concerned about losing him since they traded down a few spots to get that 7th round pick.

[xogfog]

The Eagles draft is done, they traded their 7th round pick they acquired earlier today to the Colts for DT Hassan Ridgeway.

[xogfog]

The Eagles signed a bunch of undrafted free agents:

LB T.J. Edwards, Wisconsin
OG Iosua Opeta, Weber State
DT Kevin Wilkins, Rutgers
DT Anthony Rush, UAB
OG Ryan Bates, Penn State
CB Jamalcolm Liggins, Dickinson State
WR Deandre Thompkins, Penn State
OG Nate Herbig, Stanford
LB Joey Alfieri, Stanford
RB Nico Evans, Wyoming
CB/LB/S Tyrell Gilbert, Cincinnati
LB Jerry Iweh, Fairmont State
LB Mason Moe, UC Davis
OG Keegan Render, Iowa
DB Ajene Harris, USC
DE Louis Vecchio, Vanderbilt - [ROOKIE MINICAMP TRYOUT]
OG Casey Tucker, Arizona State - [ROOKIE MINICAMP TRYOUT]
RB Ryan Fulse, Wagner - [ROOKIE MINICAMP TRYOUT]
CB Marko Myers - [ROOKIE MINICAMP TRYOUT]
WR Marshall Ellick, Stony Brook - [ROOKIE MINICAMP TRYOUT]
TE Darneail Jenkins, Rocky Mountain College - [ROOKIE MINICAMP TRYOUT]

[xogfog]

Here's my very early guess of the Eagles 2019 54 man roster:

QB (3) Wentz, Sudfeld, Thorson
RB (5) Howard, Sanders, Clement, Adams, Sproles
WR (6) Jackson, Jeffery, Agholor, Arcega-Whiteside, Hollins, Gibson
TE (3) Ertz, Goedert, Rodgers
OL (9) Peters, Seumalo, Kelce, Brooks, Johnson, Vaitai, Pryor, Mailata, Dillard
DL (10) Graham, Cox, Jackson, Barnett, Curry, Jernigan, Ridgeway, Sweat, Miller, Hester
LB (5) Bradham, Worrilow, Gerry, Grugier-Hill, Fort
S (4) Jenkins, McLoed, Sendeho, Sullivan
CB (6) Mills, Maddox, Jones, Douglas, Darby, LeBlanc
LS - Lovano
P - Johnston
K - Elliott

[Purduke]

I think it would be a mistake to go into the season with Sudfield as the hard #2, given the injury concerns on Wentz. One of the two disappointments with Howie this offseason was not getting a better QB option signed given the risk to the season. I'd sign McCown and put Thorson on DS; if someone approaches him with a 54 slot I'd move Sudfield but I don't think that will happen. Worst case Thorson (and hopefully Sudfield) get some quality tutelage for the year.

Need at least one and probably 2 interior OL. Brooks is out a bit so if Kelce gets nicked, Semi goes to OC and we have Pryor and who as our starting OG. Need to sign a Wis\Warmack type guy or two. One of the issues I had with drafting Dillard is that he seems to be strictly a LT; Mailata does too -- his hips are so high I can't imagine him inside. I think I would have sat still or traded down and gone with Ford for that reason -- they always had Johnson in their LT-pocket next year if VaiTai or Mailata didn't show they could start. Think the Eagles move VaiTai before camp and add 1 or 2 interior guys.

I fear that picking JJ really means they aren't sure about Hollins anymore; and not dressing Gibson at all last season (after he was their best WR in scrimmages) suggests there is a lightbulb issue there. Would not surprise me if he is gone after camp.

I also think it will be either Jernigan or Ridgeway, but not both; also 10 DL seems too heavy to me. Think maybe Ridgeway was something Howie was looking at b4 signing Jernigan, then when he had a seven figured it was a good insurance policy to ensure they had at least a good 3 man rotation going there. But both are one year deals and if you think Hester may be that guy next year than he needs to be at least with a 4th DT rotation this year, IMO.

Don't know about Sullivan; don't think they carry 5 RBs so I think Adams may be gone (or DS if possible). Also, I'm thinking maybe Sproles might be counter-productive. Those 3rd down opportunities really need to go to Miller and Clement. But I thought the same way last year and Sproles really contributed, so....

[allentown]

I'd be surprised if Sproles is back to start the season and don't think he should be. I think the ideal for him is to join the final half of the season. It seems clear he can't go a full season at his age. I think Peters is the starting LT on opening day, but also think it less than 50-50 he plays half the snaps. Hopefully he is healthy long enough to get Dillard trained up enough to fill in for him later in season. Kelce also seems a fairly severe injury risk. The OL depth must be built with these concerns in mind, in addition to the Brooks concerns.

I'm very happy to have Dillard. We needed almost immediate OL help and he is that. Those expecting the Eagles to trade up to near top 10 for a defensive lineman were being a little unrealistic. Howie has patched the DL for this season. I'd look for a taxi squad TE and let JJ be effectively the 3rd TE. Rodgers has done little to impress. I suspect a couple of non-drafted signees make the team -- I'm including the guys we signed throughout the off-season who didn't make xogfog's roster in writing this. Who goes from his list, besides Sproles and Rodgers? I think Gibson, perhaps Vaitai or Worrilow or Hester. I don't see Ridgeway as remotely a sure thing -- he was a preferable alternative flyer to a 7th round flyer. This will all sort out in training camp, where there also will certainly be injury losses.

[phillychuck]

I think it would be a mistake to go into the season with Sudfield as a hard #2, also, since they don't have a QB by that name.

Sudfeld. Not Sudfield.

Since he's been with the team the rumors have been consistent that thee Eagles have been very high on him--not certain to be true, but sort of likely. They will probably use pre-season to see if they think he can be relied upon; if not, someone else will be brought in.

[Purduke]

Actually I don't have a problem with either Sudfeld or Sudfield. Or Studfeld. I think he's looked ok as an inexperienced backup when called upon to perform for limited, selective periods. I just don't think he can be your absolute #2 behind a recently injury-prone QB for a team that has (I believe) legitimate expectations to go a couple rounds into the playoffs.

And pre-season isn't going to answer that question for me any more than knowing Gibson looked great last preseason when Jeffries couldn't go.

If they want to say that McCown or whomever is the #3, fine. I just want to know that, if needed, there is somebody on board who knows the offense and its key performers and has demonstrated an ability to move the team when it needs to be moved, without having to try to find Jeff Garcia's phone number in some old rolodex somewhere.

[xogfog]

Oh how spoiled we have been with Nick Foles as our backup. Sudfeld is the backup, live with it. The Eagles had a luxury with Foles that few, if any, other teams had. Now they have what almost all teams have as a backup.

[zambonir]

Yeah Foles had an unusual amount of experience (and success) but his pedigree isn't that much higher then Sudfeld's, draft position aside. AJ Feeley was a 5th-rounder. Garcia was originally undrafted. I'm sure they could always trade for Chase Daniel in a pinch.

[gmwannabe]

if they would have to go to Chase Daniel, in a pinch, we can always look forward to Sunday shopping with our wives (!!!) or watching Indiana Jones movies. Season would be finished at that point. Eagles made their bed.
gm

[xogfog]

The Tim Jernigan contract details are out, and his cap hit for 2018 will be just $1.625 million. Apparently, his time as a free agent brought no interest elsewhere. His play was good when he finally came back last year. He is 26 years old, if he is healthy, he could have a really good season., Despite whiffing in the draft on any DTs, I'm okay with the Cox/Jackson/Jernigan/TBD rotation at DT for 2019.

[xogfog]

Eagles sign LB Zach Brown to a one year, 3 million contract, per reports.

[bkeich]

Howie us a genius. Not only did he fill our biggest need, but he did it once again with a quality player at a low price. This guy perfectly fits our scheme, he is ultra fast and we have the DTs to keep lineman off him.

Get Wentz signed to a long term contract

[xogfog]

Not that they don't think Wentz is their franchise QB, but I think they want to see him get through a season healthy before they sign him. If he has a great season, he'll get at least what Wilson got