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The Scouting Combine will be getting underway this week in Indy. I've posted a complete list of players, with breakdowns by school and position.
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PRO PERSONNEL
I wrote out some thoughts on possible FA targets.
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Antrel Rolle could definitely be of interest, assuming he gets cut. Thank god for wacky bonuses being due, right? Rams FS O.J. Atogwe really impressed me. I'd love to land him in a trade. That would give us a veteran FS and not any kind of project. We could then add a mid-round guy to develop.
ANSWERS
RE: someone asked about CB prospects in the draft
The Eagles are picky, but the good news is that there are plenty of guys who appear to be our kind of players. You never know who will get eliminated due to character issues, but it looks like a strong group of CBs at this point.
RE: Jon Amaya?
I haven't watched enough of him to offer a good opinion right now. He's on the to-do list.
RE: Adewale Ogunleye
I'll watch some Bears tape and post some thoughts. He might be of interest for a year, but he's definitely a band-aid more than an answer. For the money, Parker might be the better player.
RE: landing spots for Westy
I'm not real sure. Someone mentioned MIN to me. That would be interesting. STL and SF could use help. CLE could make a play for him if the price is right. JAX could work. I just wonder if they have interest in more ex-Eagles. Really, the key point is whether other NFL teams are going to trust him physically. The concussion issue will scare many teams off, right or wrong. Maybe the smart thing for Brian would be to sign with someone this summer when another RB has gotten hurt.
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Wednesday, February 24, 2010
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8 comments:
NFL.com will be broadcasting combine workouts live on their web site. Where did the off-season go?
I feel like we just finished the Super Bowl, now we'll get the Combine, soon will be the Draft. The real off-season for us fans is the time between the mini-camps and Training Camp. That month or so feels like an eternity.
Tommy, what do you think are the chances that we see Julius Peppers in midnight green?
How badly do you want him on the Eagles, if at all?
So you mentioned that if we were able to get a guy like O.J. Atogwe you would still go after a mid-round guy to develop. My question is, do you think Macho and Demps are not even worth viewing as developmental guys at safety?
To me, Demps had a solid rookie year minus the Arizona game. I know everyone remembers him getting beat by Fitzgerald and then having the boneheaded play against Warner, but up until that point, most people felt he would develop into at least a decent starting safety. Obviously this year went terribly poorly for him, but he is still very young and I don't think writing him off already makes sense.
As for Macho, I'm not sure what people expected out of a guy who was selected in the fifth round and changed positions in his rookie year, but IMO he played well. I certainly would not feel comfortable if he was the starter again next year, especially if it was a position we didn't truly address in the offseason. That being said, if he was the backup, and was slotted to take the starting role in a couple of years, I could see him being a very good safety in the future.
I guess what I am saying is, if in fact we did address safety with a legit target in FA, why would we need to still target a safety in the draft?
Would not mind making a run at Rolle. Atogwe would be nice, but this draft looks juicy...I really don't want to part with any draft picks and would actually like to see us pick up one or two. Whatever the Eagles do, I hope they do it quick so we go into the draft with a position or two shored up.
I know it does not seem like a major need, but let's say Wilson and whichever 1st round DE targets are gone, I would love to see us snag Witherspoon. I still feel like there is a void in the "vocal leader" department, and he looks very intriguing. We really have one legit stud LB in Bradley (assuming he makes it back fine from injury). Would he be a fit for us at WLB?
Last year, as I piece it together, the Eagles offered Brian Dawkins 3.5 million for two years and he took an offer for twice that much from the Denver Broncos. Well, the Eagles practice of essentially letting go of older players backfired last year in Dawkins case. Although I do not really want to fault them on that because generally letting go of the older players has been the right move and has helped keep the Eagles in the thick of things for many years.
But I want to put some of the risks in perspective. Hiring Dawkings for 1.75 million a year was clearly very low risk since he was still productive even if there was some question of the level he might play on. Adding another $1.75 million on top of that as the Broncos did was a modest risk that the Eagles weren't willing to take. But based on the cap figures these are some of the risks the Eagles did take: Brian Westbrook 11.6 million, Kevin Curtis 2.3 million, Stacey Andrews 5.8 million, Sean Andrews 3.3 million. These were all players coming off injuries where there was already strong evidence of risk. Then there were other players who perhaps underperformed their contracts Jason Peters 13 million (even though he made the pro bowl he was more than just a bit inconsistent), Reggie Brown 3 million, Joselio Hanson 4 million, Sean Jones 2.3 million and perhaps even Asante Samuel at 10 million. But even if you think Samuel and Peters played up to their pay I think it is hard to deny that there is big risk in these contracts. So while maybe there was an extra $2 million of risk per year in the Contract that Dawkins signed when you put it in perspective with the other risks that a NFL team must take - it wasn't much risk at all.
Dawk is my favorite player of all time, but the only reason Dawk backfired is because we did not have an adequate replacement in place. Dawk was becoming a bit of a liability in coverage. We saw at the end of the year that Westy was our second best running back (arguably even third best). It was sad to see his decline happen almost overnight, but I think letting him go was the right move. Hopefully we grab a Blount or Tate in the middle rounds and we are set for the next 4 years.
I would add that it is more than just money...a spot on the 53 man roster is also a precious commodity if you cannot stay healthy.
Tommy-
I know McGaha was brought up on the EMB a lot. Here's a clip from his sophomore year (I'm pretty sure). Fun catch to watch.
I've gone back and forth on him a lot but I think he could definitely be a slot guy in the NFL. I know the WR's and other offensive players were pissed at the coaching staff for running such a bland and terrible offense this year. Two or three guys threatened to transfer. As a result Rich Olson got fired and Noel Mazzone (who made a "mechanics correction" package to prepare Tim Tebow apparently) got hired. When evaluating him I don't think you can look at his senior tape. Think Brandon Gibson.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez0tTdXH4vI
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