Here's an interesting development. The Eagles are meeting with and checking out Kentucky DE Jeremy Jarmon. He was ruled ineligible for 2009 by the NCAA and is now going to be in the Supplemental Draft. Jarmon took a supplement this spring that was on the banned list by the NCAA. He got it at a generic nutrition store and didn't think about it being a problem. When he did tell the UK staff they had to report the issue to the NCAA. Jarmon, who apparently has never been in trouble, was ruled ineligible for the season, ending his college career. This is one of those times when you shake your head. Here's a good kid who made an innocent mistake and is getting a huge penalty.
Other programs have athletes who haven't broken a specific NCAA rule, but are troubled guys. Jared Allen once drove into an old folks home when he was drunk. Tennessee just recruited a convicted rapist. USC had a player being investigated for rape several years ago. He simply transferred. Fresno State had a basketball player once rob someone with a Samurai sword. None of these guys got in trouble with the NCAA. Jarmon popped pills he bought at the mall for 2 weeks and lost his Senior season. Crazy.
Jarmon is 6'3, 279. He is experienced and productive. He finished his career with 17.5 sacks, 29.5 TFLs, and 5 forced fumbles. He's solid athletically. It was my understanding that the Eagles wanted to bring in a LDE this year to push Abiamiri. They considered taking Robert Ayers in the 1st round, but he went off the board just before the Eagles took Jeremy Maclin. Jarmon could be a guy they will put in a bid for. I haven't watched his tape yet, but I'll do that and will post notes.
* READERS COMMENTS *
RE: Return of MJG
Max did practice some last week. That is a good sign. I'm not Max's biggest fan, but I certainly want all the players to be healthy and available. How much he was able to do...I'm not sure. Max is a really big man and he's not had a lot of time to put weight on that ankle bone and get it back to full speed. I'll check around and see if anyone can give me an update on his status.
RE: another RB
Some people still want a veteran added. That's fine. We've all got our ideas of how things should be done. If you'll carefully read my comments I said the team should hold pat for now. See what LoBo and LeSean can do. If they look really good, then sticking with them makes sense. If either guy leaves you at all concerned, then start looking around the league and making contingency plans. Each of them should be given a week of TC to show what they can do in a live-hitting environment. If the players are struggling at all, go add a veteran.
Adding an extra RB right now would only clog the situation. He'd need extra reps to try and learn the offense. We've already got one very talented player in McCoy. Let's give him those reps and see what he can do. At one point, I thought LeSean was a Top 15 kind of player.
The other thing I can't stress enough is to remember what Westy had done. His ankle was sore. He had a procedure to alleviate the problem. This wasn't a torn ligament or some tricky broken bone that physically couldn't function. I think we're all concerned by Westy having surgery, but I'm not worried about it. I was worried with Donovan coming off ACL surgery. We know those players aren't the same the next season. Cleaning up bone spurs isn't comparable to something like that.
6 comments:
I think I half agree with you. I'm trying to remember the sequence when Duce Staley had his lisfrac sprain. There were two or so years around that time that the Eagles running game was very weak. First he was out for the year then it took him a while to play himself back into form then finally we had the tree headed monster. But before that the running game was so weak as to be a major problem.
Lobo has been saying that the Eagles last year, told him to bide his time that the team really wanted him to be a big part of the offense. I figured that Lobo would be gone and Kyle Eckel or someone would take Lobo's place as the third running back on the roster. But, by not picking up one of the experienced free agents it seems as if the Eagles think that Lobo could really be a good backup running back. Do you believe that to be the case?
Overall I believe that there is a very good chance that Westbrook is back to top form. I also believe that rookie running backs can sometimes be excellent starters the first year - like Adrian Peterson, Joseph Addai and more. LeSean McCoy would seem to have a good chance to be successful in year one.
So there are some good probabilities in the Eagles favor. But that doesn't stop me from being nervous about it. If we are a week or two into training camp and the Eagles figure Westbrook is not back, LeSean isn't ready and/or Lobo just isn't - is there going to be a difference making running back still out there?
1) Do you have any feel for what round area Jarmon would fit in? The one site I peaked at figured 6-7 at best, but it is hard to know, since he isn't someone that had been studied in any detail yet. One thing to remember is that the Eagles can't spend a draft pick they don't have, or that some other team already has a contingent claim on.
2) WRT the RB situation, I agree with you, as often is the case. Remember, they may be the top two RBs in camp, but we are really looking at LoBo/Shady as the #2/#3 backs this year. Any veteran that we bring in would be in that context and for the entire year. If Westbrook is out longer than expected, that will change, and suddenly a vet may seem like a smart add. But until then, the vet is just taking up a roster spot, and probably won't play STs.
I'm concerned that by the relative harmlessness of his infraction that he will garner too high of a pick because this is the supplemental draft. In other words, because he's not the risk that most supplemental types are, there will be increased competition to acquire him.
Can't get any more market true than an email auction, but I mean to say I think his value might actually be greater than had he been eligible... might be a sneaky/risky tactic for others to emulate down the road.
I hope the Eagles will stick to their value of Jarmon and not overpay just to bring in competition for Abiamiri.
Also, I like turtles.
If I got caught doing roids I would make up a story that I randomly bought some supplement at GNC while visiting the Cherry Hill mall on Sunday afternoon with my girlfriend and didnt know it was on the list of banned substances.
If I killed my ex wife and her husband I would try to put on a glove from the crime scene knowing full well it wouldnt fit and therefore prove my innocence.
orangecrush007 -
If we're all summoned to court one day because of that last post, I'll be very disappointed.
@ izzy...
The only time in the Duce years we struggled to run was 2000 when he went down. We turned to Darnell Autry.
Duce was hurt in 2001 off and on, but we had him, Buck, and Donnie combine for almost 1700 yds.
The reason not to sign a RB is because there is no difference-maker out there. The available players could be effective, but none sticks out so much that you feel obligated to go get him now.
LoBo is still a real head-scratcher. He's got NFL talent. He looked good down the stretch as a rookie. He looked great last year at Lehigh. We never saw that in the regular season. Was he just mis-used or was the other stuff an illusion? I don't know. I don't trust LoBo right now.
@ Lynch ...
I'll be writing about Jarmon later today.
@ oc007...
UK was very public about trying to get his suspension overturned. I don't think they would have done that without his story being true.
Jarmon has already graduated with a degree in political science. He starred in a play put on by the drama dept. Does this sound like a 'roider?
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