Eagles News: Fletcher Cox has his sights set on becoming NFL Defensive Player of the Year

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Fletcher Cox: Man On A New Mission - PE.com
Fletcher Cox says there is room to improve the little things in his game – technique, particularly – and as he digs in with the Eagles’ offseason conditioning program in full swing, Cox has his sights set high for 2018. As in NFL Defensive Player of the Year high. Big plans. A three-time All-Pro and voted to the Pro Bowl team in each of the last three seasons, Cox is at the top of his profession. His numbers last season – 35 tackles, four tackles for loss, 5.5 quarterback sacks – don’t tell the story. The Eagles dominated against the run. They brought pressure against the pass. They controlled the line of scrimmage and Cox was a big reason for the success. Now he’s got that higher individual goal in mind paired with, of course, sustained team success along a defensive line that has seen changes with tackle Beau Allen and end Vinny Curry signing in Tampa and the Eagles trading for veteran defensive end Michael Bennett and signing free agent veteran tackle Haloti Ngata.

2018 NFL Draft: Simulation Draft Results, Forecasts, and Projections - BGN
Mock drafts have their place in helping determine what teams may do, but I don’t like them much. I prefer forecasting, in some way, what players will be selected, where. In my opinion, looking at a likely group of available players is more fun. So that’s what I did here. I conducted a simulation of the draft that is based on one fundamental question: Should a team select the best player available, or the best player available at a position of need? The end product is a list of likely players to be selected by every team at every pick. There are two primary data sets driving this. I compiled each team’s position needs from our SB Nation sister sites and used Arif Hasan’s composite big board (35+ boards) for prospect rankings. The simulation itself was conducted in Excel, and the results are dumped in Tableau, which you can play around with here.

The Kist & Solak Show Ep. 30: The Eagles Must Haves In The Draft - BGN Radio
Michael Kist & Benjamin Solak highlight the MUST HAVES for the Eagles in the 2018 NFL Draft. What does a loaded roster like the Eagles need to continue having success in the future? Let’s find out! Plus, Turron Davenport of the Next LVL podcast stops by to offer his two cents!

Jimmy Kempski’s full first-round 2018 NFL Mock Draft - PhillyVoice
32) Philadelphia Eagles: Connor Williams, OT, Texas. I believe the Eagles will trade out of this pick, but if they draft a player with the way the first round played out above, I think the pick would be Williams, who has outstanding athleticism, and at one time was thought of as a top 10 pick. After a down 2017 and concerns over his short arms, teams are going to be concerned about his ability to play tackle in the NFL. If Williams pans out as a tackle in the NFL, great. If not, I believe his floor is as an athletic quality starting guard or center. Either way, he’s a nice fit on the Birds’ roster.

Will Eagles finally find Jason Peters’ replacement in NFL draft? - Inquirer
In the 23 drafts during Jeffrey Lurie’s ownership, the Eagles have expended five of 21 first-round selections on offensive linemen. But they’ve taken only three in the second and two in the third. The large majority (22) have come in rounds 4-7. The Eagles didn’t draft an offensive lineman last year. In fact, they’ve only drafted three – Seumalo and Vaitai in 2016 and Johnson in 2013 – in the last five drafts. The Eagles had arguably the best line in the league last season, but the projected starting lineup will be an average age of 30.4 by the opener. Peters tips the number, but center Jason Kelce (30), guards Stefen Wisniewski (29) and Brandon Brooks (29), and even Johnson (28) aren’t spring chickens anymore.

Barnwell: Should the Giants really draft Saquon Barkley? - ESPN
Should the Giants draft Barkley at No. 2? I don’t think it’s a great idea. That opinion has nothing to do with Barkley’s considerable talent. I’m just not sure that the economics of the NFL and the running back market make it a smart decision to use the second overall pick on any rusher. Even if Barkley turns into a superstar, the Giants will be settling for a low-ceiling option if they draft him at No. 2. To understand why that’s the case, you have to look at both the recent draft history and the economics of the NFL under the current collective bargaining agreement.

Champions - The Players Tribune
From the moment Zach scored, our section went crazy. A bunch of family members of the Eagles players had started to leave their seats and run down toward the gate where the security guards were standing. They wanted to be the first on the field when the clock hit zero. So I started to walk down, but then New England got the ball back, and I felt like I was jinxing it. So I ran back up to my seat. Then they had the strip sack, and I ran back down. But then New England got the ball again, so I ran back up to my lucky spot. All in all, I probably ran up and down the steps like four times in a full sprint. I was standing at the top of the stairs when Tom threw the Hail Mary.

New York Times publishes more secretly-recorded quotes from last year’s anthem meeting - PFT
For the players, Colin Kaepernick‘s status was mentioned multiple times. “If he was on a roster right now, all this negativeness and divisiveness could be turned into a positive,” Eagles defensive lineman Chris Long said during the meeting, regarding Kaepernick. Then-49ers safety Eric Reid (who has recently had a hard time finding a job), complained about Kaepernick’s inability to land a roster spot. “I feel like he was hung out to dry,” Reid said at the meeting. “Everyone in here is talking about how much they support us. Nobody stepped up and said we support Colin’s right to do this. We all let him become Public Enemy No. 1 in this country, and he still doesn’t have a job.”

‘Run angry’ - B/R
His dad gunned down in a Denny’s. His brother charged with attempted murder. What makes Derrius Guice, LSU’s next superstar running back, even more enticing to NFL scouts than Leonard Fournette? He knows what he’s running from. And he’s never going to stop.

The Ringer’s 2018 NFL Mock Draft, Version 5.0 - The Ringer
32. Philadelphia Eagles: RB Derrius Guice, LSU. The Eagles got the most out of their running back committee in 2017, but it may be hard to pass up a yards creator like Guice if he’s sitting there at no. 32. Guice has drawn comparisons to Marshawn Lynch because of his tackle-breaking prowess, but he’s versatile enough to be a factor in the passing attack, too. Adding Guice to a backfield group that already features Jay Ajayi and Corey Clement just doesn’t seem fair.

2018 Eagles-only 7-round mock draft - NBC Sports Philadelphia
Guice can go anywhere from the teens to pick No. 32. If he falls to the Eagles, it’s an easy selection. He’s just too talented to pass up. There’s concern about his lack of catches at LSU, but that’s more a product of the Tigers’ offense. Guice is a three-down back that will be a lead back in this league for a long time. Guice, Jay Ajayi and Corey Clement would make up one of the best backfields in football.

Bo Wulf’s seven-round Eagles-only mock draft - The Athletic
Second round (No. 40): Orlando Brown, OT, Oklahoma. By draft groupthink, this is a reach. But there’s an easy justification for the Brown selection if you’re Roseman and Joe Douglas. If not for a historically bad combine performance, Brown would likely have been a top-20 pick. For the long-term success of the franchise, there is nothing more important than keeping Carson Wentz healthy and upright. So even with Lane Johnson and Halapoulivaati Vaitai alongside an aging and ageless Jason Peters, tackle is the most premium of positions. At 6-foot-8, 345, Brown is a mountain of a man who started for three seasons at Oklahoma and kept Baker Mayfield clean. The Eagles can afford to wait while he reshapes his body and earns his graduate degree from Jason Peters University.

Futures: Nick Chubb & Sony Michel - Football Outsiders
Michel is a bit of a different beast. He’s similar to Chubb in that he is not afraid to physically finish runs. Michel isn’t as explosive through contact as Chubb, but he’s a bit shiftier and has an easier time making defenders miss. Michel is the prototypical slashing back who can thrive in zone schemes. Even though his game is predicated on jukes and spins, he’s not a dancer like other elusive running backs. Michel makes a cut and goes; he only goes horizontal as a means to stay vertical. Michel’s traits make him an excellent inside zone runner. He gets skinny through the gap, runs over the strong safety playing the alley, jukes the free safety as he finds daylight, and aggressively finishes the run to maximize his potential yardage on the play. Michel was never asked to be “the guy” for Georgia (though he did carry the load when Chubb went down in 2015), but he has definitely shown the traits and skills to be heavy contributor for an NFL offense.

Former Atlanta Falcons QB Michael Vick gets offensive coordinator gig in new pro football league - The Falcoholic
Former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick was one of the NFL’s most electrifying players during his heyday. The football IQ and uncanny athleticism were always there. Could he have spent a little more time watching film and studying the playbook? Absolutely, even Vick himself admits that now. But eleven years after he played his last snap in red and black, I still remember his tenure fondly. The Falcons are a radically different team now, but those were some fun years. Vick hasn’t been on an NFL roster since 2015. And now that he’s endured two NFL seasons as nothing more than a fan, he’s eager to take the next step. That’s why he will be the first offensive coordinator for Atlanta’s Alliance of Football team.

Poll: Who do you not want the Cowboys to take with the 19th pick? - Blogging The Boys
[BLG Note: Posting for posterity. Cowboys fans say they want Courtland Sutton the least. Now remember that for when they pick him and claim him a genius pick.]

The 2018 NFL Mock Draft Database - SB Nation
More often than not, mock drafts are wrong. In 2017, Joe Marino of NDT Scouting had the most accurate mock draft of the year, according to Huddle Report, and he earned that title with a grand total of nine correct predictions of player-team pairings. Nine. Mock drafting is essentially a game of darts played blindfolded. However, surveying a sampling of them, we can usually throw enough darts at the board that a few more hit the bullseye. Last year, our sampling of 104 mock drafts had just two picks not affected by trades — Evan Engram to the New York Giants and Ryan Ramczyk to the New Orleans Saints — that weren’t predicted in any mock drafts. Here we’ll be tracking the direction experts are predicting each team will go with their first-round selections in the 2018 NFL Draft.

Get your Sixers playoff shirts! - BreakingT

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