Eagles 2020-2021 Season

zambonir 2021-01-06 19:23:27 UTC #381

Yeah but that means he was part of the Reagor and Hurts picks. At least we know both the guys who ran the 2019 evaluations are gone. The issues seems to be one of process, and overall philosophy. I don't think the issue is necessarily Howie's own personal scouting acumen.

phillychuck 2021-01-06 19:42:56 UTC #382

With no changes during the draft, our O-line next season should include:

LT-Mailata, Dillard
LG-Seumalo
C-Kelce
RG-Brooks, Herbig (swing)
RT-Johnson, Driscoll (swing)

which is a strong gameday 8. Pryor, Prince W., and some other lesser known players are still around. Given good health, we should have a solid O-line. Running back is solid, and Goedert is a strong TE. We could use a #1 WR in the draft (Chase?) and who knows what is happening at QB...if they can clean up the QB issue, the offense should be fine next season. I'm assuming Ertz is gone, unfortunately.

bkeich 2021-01-06 21:13:12 UTC #383

Actually, I don’t think of the Reagorr and Hurts picks as bad. There was a better option than Reagor, but it wasn’t as ridiculously bad as JJAW, who simply is not an NFL player and was clearly not able to play from his first game. (Different round pick I realize)

Obviously Jefferson is better than Reagor, but it isn’t crazy like Marcus Smith was. Hurts wasn’t a bad pick at all, just surprising.

If we do that well in 2021 I would be happy.

allentown 2021-01-07 17:09:53 UTC #384

Mornhinweg and Scangarello are gone. So much for Lurie forcing Pederson to fire some of his offensive coaches last off-season. Press Taylor's future with team at some risk, but his ties to Wentz might pull him through.

Another column already provides the excuse for not looking outside for a defensive coordinator somehow it is only possible to do a real interview in person and none of the applicants for positions on other teams have traveled to interview?

For a team which has declined so much from its Super Bowl winning level, and has done so much promoting from within, continuing to promote from within seems as dumb as keeping Roseman or keeping game-day play-calling duties in Pederson's hands. Have the Eagles learned nothing from their slide into irrelevance?

zambonir 2021-01-07 18:28:15 UTC #385

Seems like they are just repeating all their past mistakes, whether from the late Reid era or the Kelly era. Too loyal on the one hand, too reactive on the other. Though I guess in this case if it means replacing two one-year consultants with someone who actually takes away Doug's OC responsibilities (and demotes Taylor back to QB coach only) at last that's actually change.

And yeah - it's certainly the responsible choice to not interview guys in person, and it's no fun staring at a screen for 10 hours a day for two weeks. But it can be done.

That said (and as the article says) it's probably not realistic to expect them to shake up the defensive philosophy (or the roster). Even with its obvious limitations in terms of players, it's been a good defense and continuity is probably desirable. If you're just gonna hire a guy to run the same basic system - and they are - it may as well be from within.

zambonir 2021-01-07 22:55:07 UTC #386

McShay has Eagles taking Parsons as BPA. No chance Sewell .

It would certainly be different if they actually did it but still think trading down a little seems like Howie's style, especially with so many WRs and CBs in the mix.

schillingfan 2021-01-08 03:28:29 UTC #387

Who is he? Paid article.

zambonir 2021-01-08 03:30:55 UTC #388

Penn State player. Several posts up thread dreaming about him.

LegoDoom 2021-01-09 04:57:37 UTC #389

Justin Fields goes #15? A mock that has the Panthers, Broncos, and 9ers passing on Fields seems suspect to me.

zambonir 2021-01-09 05:25:26 UTC #390

I guess it's possible his stock dropped this year though it's certainly risen in the past two weeks. Given this is all for entertainment predicting a surprise drop is probably as good a hook as anything.

This isn't paywalled, Inquirer writer outlines all the usual reasons why Eagles won't take an LB.

LegoDoom 2021-01-09 13:01:03 UTC #391

I was actually going to say that the Eagles should take Fields if he's there (I also like Lance quite a bit), but think I'd rather try to work out a trade for Deshaun Watson if they're going with a new QB. Obviously that depends on if the Eagles could trade Wentz.

bkeich 2021-01-09 13:24:32 UTC #392

The idea of picking Sewell has really been resonating with me. I honestly think that more than half of the root cause of this season is in the OL. (At least more than half of the offensive woes)

An OL of Sewell, Kelce (maybe), Brooks, Isaac S, Maliata, Dillard, Johnson and Herbig is honestly maybe the beat in the league, certainly close. We would probably need Maliata to get experience at OG because frankly he has to play or he will leave after the year.

That said, I think I could be a RB behind that line, and I am 54 and really slow, even for my age.

allentown 2021-01-09 14:51:52 UTC #393

I'd be amazed if he fell to us, but would love to add him to the team. We desperately need to add to offense. I think we may get our pick of the WR and that also would be great. Our approach has been beyond stupid. Invest, what was it, 5? draft picks in Wentz and give him a humongous contract and he's left with a horrendous receiving corps, really three years in a row. If we don't bolster the defense with draft picks, it may stink, but that is less of a problem than continuing to destroy our QBs. The defense can pick after the top 3 picks are used to bolster the offense and try to preserve the body and sanity of our QBs.

LegoDoom 2021-01-09 15:54:40 UTC #394

I have never understood this logic. The Eagles signed Alshon and invested a 1st and 2nd round pick at WRs. Not to mention Ertz and Goedert. I'm not sure if any of those WRs will wind up helping Wentz, but the team did use assets to help him.

While I think Sewell or Chase would be the best picks in the 1st, I still think the defense is a much bigger need. Specifically DB and LB.

That said, if Sewell isn't there and a top QB is, I am all for trading down into the low teens to a team that needs a QB.

allentown 2021-01-09 16:30:52 UTC #395

The Eagles expended resources, but did so unwisely. It doesn't matter how many top picks Roseman wasted or how many expensive, aged, injury-prone former star receivers he signed as FAs, the Eagles have not had a competent WR corps since the SB season. They tried mightily to fill the void with TE, which is why up until this season they could be so effective in the red zone, but they were unable to stretch the field and defenses were able to play uncomfortably close to the line of scrimmage. I don't know what the deal with Ertz was this past season. How does a star TE fall off the cliff that instantly?

The Eagles can't possibly fix both the O and D this year. They have too many cap problems. I choose to focus on the O because, Wentz or Hurts, they are unlikely to resuscitate/develop without a better supporting cast. Even in the games when the O-line did well, the receivers failed too often to achieve separation and when they did, too often they failed to catch those throws which were catchable. I think we badly need another primo offensive lineman to develop/play from day 1. I'm not sure how well Brooks comes back from the Achilles. Not sure if this is the year Kelce decides to retire -- certainly if the draft emphasis goes to D, that is another urge toward retirement. Not sure Dillard is strong enough to be good as our LT (I'd develop him as our next center. He has the quickness for it.) Really, not even sure how well Lane Johnson comes back from injury. It's fine to say that if Johnson and Brooks come back as their former selves and Kelce comes back and continues to play like a younger guy than he is, that we will be very strong on the right side of line. How realistic is that.

On O we know that Pederson will dictate the approach and steer the personnel. On D, we have a new coordinator and linebacker coach. Not the worst thing in world for them to take a season to see what we've got and try to develop some 4th round and later draft picks.

However you slice it, the Eagles are going to be no better than a .500 team in 2021. Bad drafts and borrowing against future year cap space have come home to roost.

phillychuck 2021-01-09 17:00:38 UTC #396

The Eagles' passing scheme relies too much on receivers beating their man; the best NFL offenses now "scheme" their receivers open by running lots of bunch sets and quasi-legal picks, or by deceiving defensive players with play action, motion, and semi-roll-outs and getting blown or late coverages.

As long as Pederson is designing the scheme this is not going to change. Watch the offenses in the playoffs and note the differences in the routes, motion, and sets they run from what the Eagles are doing.

allentown 2021-01-09 20:55:23 UTC #397

The Eagles certainly run their share of quasi-legal picks and stack receivers at 3 levels to ease the QB reads. I agree they don't do motion well, in part because our QBs don't do especially well on fake handoffs, compared to guys who actually put the ball in the runner's gut and pull it back.

As I've watched the Phillies receivers the last few seasons, I'd say that in addition to speed that, when he plays, DJax still has near elite ability to track and adjust to the deep ball. Reagor comes up quite short in that department. With smaller sample size, Hightower and Quez also don't impress. We need a guy who can both beat defenses deep and adjust well to the ball, and actually catch it, to be able to stretch the field and reduce the coverage of the short and intermediate passes -- and also open up the running game.

bkeich 2021-01-09 22:03:29 UTC #398

DJax is one of the best deep WR in league history, it has always been what he excelled at. Reagor, who knows, but he didn’t seem to really make that many deep plays this year (a few). If Hightower or Watkins could catch deep balls they would have been first rounders, the have elite speed just are not good receivers (or at least they don’t track throws well and turn average throws into long gains).

DJax is too high of a standard to hold these guys to in this area, it would be nice if they could just catch the ones when they are open. Sadly, I don’t think this is really something you can coach, it is just an innate talent DJax (and few others) have.

LegoDoom 2021-01-09 23:41:29 UTC #399

I don't think Reagor was ever thought to be a deep threat. He's more of a Percy Harvin type of player who is good in many situations, but definitely behind the LOS.

DJax also wasn't a well received draft pick, FWIW.

allentown 2021-01-10 00:43:10 UTC #400

All of that is why it's important that the Eagles add a true deep threat.