VERSATILITY
Last week at the rookie/selected vets OTAs LB Joe Mays got some snaps at WLB. Some people got excited by this and wondered if a move to the weakside is in Mays future. Don't count on it. He got "some" reps. He didn't move there entirely. All teams want backups who are versatile. Right now Omar Gaither is the top backup at LB. He's started at MLB and WLB. To my knowledge, he's never played SLB in a game. He's smart enough to handle that spot in an emergency in a game.
Mays is likely stuck behind Stewart Bradley for the foreseeable future. His best chance to get on the field is to learn all the LB spots so he can become the top backup. Ike Reese was a terrific #4 LB during his career as an Eagle. He hated not starting, but embraced the job he did have. Mays could be a similar player. Joe seems to understand his situation. Hopefully this year we'll get to see him play well on STs.
Stacy Andrews will participate in some parts of this full team OTA. Great news. He's reportedly going to do some individual stuff, but won't line up in the team drills. I've been skeptical about whether Stacy will be ready for TC or opening day. This is a good sign, although there is still a long way to go. Andrews is penciled in at RG. Nick Cole will handle that spot in the team drills. Shawn Andrews will be the RT.
I like the versatile nature of the linemen that are here now. Jason Peters is clearly the LT. Jamaal Jackson is clearly the C. The other spots feature guys who can move around. Todd can play RT, LT, or G. Stacy has played LG and RT and is slated for RG for us. Shawn has played RG and RT. He feels like he can play LT if given the opportunity. Nick Cole can play G or C.
QUICK HITTERS
* FB Brannan Southerland was a player I hoped the Eagles would target late in the draft. He went unpicked. The Eagles aggressively signed Marcus Mailei and Southerland went to the Jets. Southerland just got cut yesterday. Brannan is very athletic and talented. He must have lingering injury issues. Mailei has a very uphill battle to make the team, but he seems like an ideal Practice Squad candidate right now.
* The Eagles added Eugene Bright to the roster a while ago. I haven't talked much about him because I didn't have much to say. Bright played DE at Purdue. Solid player with some athletic ability, but nothing special. The Eagles are playing him at TE. I was bothered by this initially because it seemed like them throwing away a roster spot on a real longshot. I'm not so sure that's the case anymore.
Bright has apparently looked pretty good at mini-camp and the OTAs. Ingram got hurt last week and that left Bright as the only TE available. He took a ton of snaps and the experience was very valuable. He didn't make mental mistakes and the extra reps let him work on his technique. I watched an interview with him on PE.com and I came away pretty impressed. Bright understands his situation and will do everything he can to try and take the #3 spot away from Matt Schobel. I'll be pulling hard for Bright to do just that.
* I know a lot of people will be focusing on Jeremy Maclin, but the real guys to watch closely are LeSean McCoy and Cornelius Ingram. They each should be key players this season. We need them. Maclin is a bonus. We're fine at WR and RS without him. McCoy and Ingram are going to be key backups and a real part of the offense. They've done well in everything so far, but we need that to continue. Complacency is a big problem for some young players. This isn't like college where you can get sloppy and still get by because of raw talent.
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Tuesday, June 2, 2009
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5 comments:
Of the 2 guard positions, Stacy mostly played and started at RG for the Bengals.
I just can't get over the size. Todd, who certainly looks a tad taller than Stacy, but is just straight up and down to Stacy's 'Blutoesque' inverted triangle physique. Also, in McGlynn's 1 - 1 footage, there was video of him training with Jamaal, who just dwarfed him.
Is the less versatile MJG's possible PUP status effected by his light duties at the OTA?
I agree that McCoy and Ingram are important factors in this years offense. Westy needs a backup who can take some reps, or maybe even step in in if his knee is bad. Plus, the Eagles need a tight end who can, well, catch and block. I don't think they've been settled at tight end since Chad Lewis.
Earlier in the year, you (and ndirish) seemed absolutely certain that Stacey Andrews wouldn't be ready for the start of the season (implying that was the word from an inside source).
Has Andrews surprised everyone with the speed of his recovery or was your source overly pessimistic (or cautious)?
Also, what are your thoughts on where the Andrews brothers are best positioned - Stacey at RG and Shawn at RT or vice versa?
@ TSOP...Stacy started more at LG than RG in Cincy. He had 3 starts at RG in 2006. He had 6 starts at LG in 2007. He had 26 starts at RT.
RE: Stacy
My skepticism on his recovery is strictly based on my intuition. Any time an agent says bombastic statements like "he'll be 100% recovered by Training Camp" that raises red flags to me. Agents tend to lie. And they usually do that for a reason.
nd made some comments on the EMB and poorly worded them. He nor I have heard any inside reports on Stacy.
Ideally, I'd put Stacy at RT and Shawn at RG. Stacy has ideal OT size. Shawn is a dominant OG. Each guy can play the other spot. We'll see how well..
There is logic to the way the Eagles are doing things. Shawn has indicated he'd like to play OT. Moving him outside could make him happier. Stacy is coming off a nasty injury. Playing inside will put less stress on his knee and should ease the pressure on him for the upcoming season.
I do apologise for that. I have rechecked the information that I checked earlier this year do discover, well either there is a conspiracy and they have changed the info on gamebook, or I seriously brainfarted; as seems to be the case. Interestingly my first search into the positions he played came after a comment by your good self in this blog I believe. I wanted to know if you had checked out tape of him at LG, to which you responded that you didn't have tape going back that far, to which I thought you were implying it was in his dim and distant past. I checked gamebook (badly it seems) and could only find reference to him at RG and ROT for the Bengals, so I checked no further, believing to it was in his dim distant past and that I had been at error for asking. Now, well now I'm just confused.
I have always been of the opinion that Stacy would play Guard here, I'm not sure that being listed an inch above his actual height helps. To me, 6'7" seems so much taller than 6'6" (the height he measured before and on his pro day). I never understand the exaggerations whether it is giving an inch to Stacy, or the new extra inch with Omar Gaither last year , or even the 2" they constantly gave to Rod Hood during his tenure.
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