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Eagles News: Philadelphia has improved their offensive line

Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 5/9/16.

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Lawlor: This Draft All About The Pass Game - PE.com
Pederson has talked all offseason about wanting to build up the offensive line. There is no point in adding a franchise quarterback if you aren't going to protect him. Some teams have failed to do this and it ruined the quarterback. Wentz isn't likely to play this year, but the Eagles have added key pieces to help the line in the short and long term. Whether it is Sam Bradford this year or Wentz in the future, the Eagles want to make sure the quarterback is protected so he can focus on getting the ball to his receivers. The Eagles added an interior lineman in Isaac Seumalo and an offensive tackle in Halapoulivaati Vaitai. Both are versatile players who can move around. Seumalo could start at center or either guard spot. Vaitai played both left and right tackle in college. Welbourn began his Eagles career at right tackle before moving to left guard and becoming a Pro Bowl-level performer. The Eagles can try Seumalo and Vaitai out in different roles to see where they fit the best and then give them some time to develop.

Don't be surprised if the Eagles start Carson Wentz sooner than expected - PhillyVoice
The Eagles have stated several times that they would like to take it slowly with their rookie quarterback. However, could the Eagles be purposely setting expectations low externally while internally hoping that Wentz is ready to play in 2016? By allowing Wentz to exceed reasonable public expectations, the Eagles could play Wentz as a rookie, and if he experiences growing pains, he would theoretically not incur the same level of criticism as an over-hyped player since he wasn't supposed to be starting so soon in the first place.

Countess, snubbed at combine, gets chance with Eagles - Inquirer
The team watched film of the 5-foot-10, 184-pound Michigan transfer and considered him "a favorite player of ours," according to football executive Howie Roseman. On the third day of the draft, the Eagles picked Countess in the sixth round. "They try to invite everybody they think is going to get drafted," Countess said of the combine. "Not getting invited, I took it very personal, but you can only control what you can control, and I had to keep reminding myself of that throughout the process. . . . while I did take it very personal and I was upset about it, I didn't let that stop me. I continued to work as if I was going, and I had a pretty solid showing in my pro day, and ultimately got drafted."

5 Things to know about possible Eagles hire Joe Douglas - NJ.com
Unless there is a drastic change in the team's structure, Douglas will answer to Howie Roseman, who will still have final say on all personnel decisions. Four men who share the same responsibilities with other NFL teams as Douglas shared the same basic sentiments about him. "Good guy'' was the first thing three of the four said. The fourth said he just knew him causally.  All four also described him as "good scout'' and a "hard worker.'' Pretty good traits and nice things to hear from your peers.

When will rookie QBs start their first NFL games? - NFL.com
Every NFL team says they want to sit their rookie quarterback for a year. The Jaguars swore that Chad Henne would start an entire season over Blake Bortles; Henne was benched midway through Week 3. We believe what the Eagles are selling more than usual because of the steep upgrade in the level of play Wentz is facing after playing at North Dakota State. More importantly, the Eagles are spending $25 million on quarterbacks not named Wentz this year. Philadelphia insists it wants Sam Bradford to be its starter, while Bradford wants to be elsewhere. The rest of the NFL insists on yawning.

Terron Armstead, Cordy Glenn both rank among NFL’s 5 best young OTs - PFF
Another player who is still working on ironing out the inconsistencies in his game, Johnson is excellent when his game is at its best, but there is still too much bad in it. He had to play games at left tackle last season as well as right, and those did not go well, but even in his regular spot there were poor performances. After surrendering just one sack in 2014, he was beaten for six last season, but he has three straight seasons of good run-blocking grades, and had nine games of excellent pass-protection out of 16. At 25 he still has time to develop, and could be higher up this list if he could figure out how to limit the bad days at the office.

Grading Doug Pederson’s Week 8 Play Calling against the Lions - PhillyInfluencer
Reid made it very simple for his pupil. Kansas City roared out to a 24-3 halftime lead against the helpless Lions and the game was basically over. Pederson didn’t have to do much. He did call a nice, balanced drive to start the second half, but it was the only one which really mattered. It drained 6:07 off the clock, still resulted into a touchdown and gave the Chiefs a seemingly insurmountable 31-3 deficit for Detroit to overcome.

Adrian Peterson: A Flood and the Fight for a Ring - The MMQB
My take: Bradford saw what Carson Palmer did when he wanted out of Cincinnati, and forced the Bengals to trade him to Oakland by simply not showing up. Bradford has made so much money in his first six years as a pro that he can afford to do that—sit it out and force Howie Roseman to give him away, either this summer or when a quarterback gets hurt somewhere, or at the trading deadline in October.

NFC East Roundup: Elliott A Lock For Rookie Of the Year? - Birds 24/7
Now that the draft is over, let’s check in with the rest of the NFC East to see how their new pieces fit, and what the teams’ moves mean for their rosters going forward.

Comebackers: Phillies 6, Marlins 5 - The Good Phight
Hey! The Phillies are ... good?

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