Eagles Would Be Wise to Target London Fletcher

Unlikely that he has enough speed to play OLB for us, especially SAM, where our need is. The way we play our OLBs now requires a lot of range, and Kuechly is an ILB for a reason.

I’ve been pronouncing his name Koochly untill I heard someone say his name last night.

has to be scary. He WILL slow down at some point.

that said, if we sign him AND bring in a guy like Kuechley, then I will be more than pleased. I will be ecstatic.

I’d rather they aggressively target Hawthorne before looking to sign London Fletcher or draft Kuechly. If they fall short at least one of those other two guys are still an option as a fall back.

I like the idea of signing him from a value standpoint, but ideally you’d want a long term solution to the LB problem, and at 37 Fletcher may only be a stop gap as they develop a guy like Kuechly, so if they do sign Fletcher I sure hope they draft a promising young guy, too.

any up grades there?

do we want to be in the same position in 2 years?

While Fletcher would be a nice “get”, I think the Eagles need to depart from last year’s formula and build the team through the draft or with much younger free agents. At 37 years old, Fletcher is still much better than many LBs in the league but nobody knows how long that will be true. Unless the Eagles are one LB away from winning the Super Bowl (which they may be) then you gotta look at youth..

Just curious you see Chaney starting ahead of Rolle?

I don’t see what’s wrong with Casey Matthews….

I lived just outside DC until leaving for college this year. Every monday morning during football season, Fletcher calls in to DC101 to talk about the game the day before. As much as I hate the Redskins, I’d listen every time he was on because he’s a very intelligent, well spoken guy and whenever the DJ would ask real football questions he’d give candid, insightful answers.

I think he’d be a great teacher to our young LBs. With a couple years learning behind Fletcher, who’s to say if Chaney, Matthews, or whoever we draft can’t become a capable starting MLB down the road? I think Fletcher is also the best reasonable option on the field too. I really can’t see Lofton, Tulloch, and Jackson not being resigned, and Hawthorne doesn’t have good tackling technique or the split-second decision making that are so vital to being a MLB behind a wide 9 (thanks Saukrates). If we get a year or two of 2011 London Fletcher, that’s a huge boost to our defense.

Kirk Morrison. He’s vocal, well regarded, younger than Fletcher, and likely to be cheaper (and fresher) after sitting on Buffalo’s bench last year. If the eagles take a guy like Burfict early, he can play behind Morrison until he gets his feet wet, and maybe take over as the starter in Week 9 or so.

Lofton, Tulloch, Hawthorne would be the big 3 for my MLB and then go after guys like Erin Henderson and Dan Connor to provide some relief at OLB..

As far as Fletcher, I just don’t see us going after a guy who’s closer to 40, he may seem like an ageless wonder but he’s going to slow down soon and I don’t want that happening after we throw everything into him.. Now if we grabbed him and added Luke in the draft then I’m very happy but if we add him and that is it then I’m pissed.

Also we all act like Casey Matthews was some kinda huge bust, while his level of play was well below my expectations you just can’t have a guy jump from a 3-4 to a 4-3, college to pro’s and not have any rookie OTA’s or even have a playbook and expect him to be some kinda stud immediately, I do think that Matthews is a guy we can build around at LB, granted I think he’s more suited for WILL LB and would do well to learn behind somebody (lower end FA like Jarrett Johnson or Leroy Hill)… I do think we have a few pieces in house to fix this mess however it’s pretty obvious we need a true MLB and some outside help.

and that too at a reasonable price, then why is it such a bad idea to still get LK in the 1st? I understand that many here think it’s pointless to get LK if we have Fletcher starting, but the thing is, the Fletcher role would have invaluable learning experience for LK and what if something happens to Fletcher, injury wise or a steep drop off in talent, wouldn’t it be a hell of an assurance to have LK backing him up and then become the player we expect him to be for years to come for this team? In other words, LK gets the vet experience behind Fletcher and then EARNS the starter position and hold down the MIKE for this team hopefully for years to come.

Has Fletcher given any indication that he wants to leave? I seem to remember hearing that he likes DC and wants to stay.

because he did not show aging last year….therefore….he will not show aging this year.
Equals
Last year the S&P 500 was up just over 1%…..therefore….it will go up just over 1% this year

London Fletcher is a BEAST of a linebacker at 37 years. He plays lights out in the redskins system because he has played long enough to know that system through and through.

What does he become if he comes over to the eagles?

A 37 year old rookie.

Let’s not lose sight of what works elsewhere may not work for us. We need guys who translate well into a wide 9 defense. Tulloch is there because that’s the system he plays in.

Draft choices because they will be learning the NFL through our defense.

Fletcher? As good as the man is, no thanks. He’s 37 and to ask him to learn our system will take him to 38… to excel at our system will take him until he’s 40.

Timeless guy? Perhaps. But if you think the crowd got wild when we moved Castillo over to DC, and signed 28 year old Watkins for RG, wait until you hear us yell when we sign up Fletcher for a multi year contract.

Some temptations we really have to avoid. This is one of them. Do NOT sign Fletcher…