Eagles News: Miles Sanders’ value boosted by Jalen Hurts

Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links ...

Trust Miles Sanders in your fantasy football playoffs - Fake Teams
Now, Hurts earned the right to start for the Birds for the remainder of the season, and his rushing prowess and passing efficiency—although his 55.6 completion percentage vs. the Saints wasn’t good, he averaged 12.2 adjusted yards per attempt in his senior season at Oklahoma and threw 32 scores versus just eight interceptions—will make him a borderline QB1. Not too bad for a waiver wire pickup, huh? But we are not here to talk about Hurts. We are here to discuss how, in the wake of Hurts’ ascent to a starting role, running back Miles Sanders is back as a plug-and-play option for the remainder of the season/playoffs. It’s clear that Miles Sanders will be the biggest beneficiary of the designation of Hurts as the signal-caller. It was on display on Sunday and it will continue to be the case for the rest of the campaign.

Zach Ertz is the least talked about reason for the Eagles’ offensive woes - BGN
A lot of people have said a lot of things about the 2020 Philadelphia Eagles offense. Not much of it has been complimentary. Carson Wentz ha been horrible. Doug Pederson’s play calling and roster management have been befuddling. The wide receivers are inexperienced and/or injured and cannot consistently get open. The offensive line is a rotating MASH unit. The offensive coaches brought in during the off-season are adding nothing of consequence. Jalen Hurts is delivering a spark, but his long-term viability as the team’s starting quarterback is still very much up in the air. But there is one big question concerning the Eagles offense that has barely been mentioned this year. What the heck is going on with Zach Ertz?

From the Bleachers #45: Hurts Brings a New Vibe - BGN Radio
Shamus Clancy has renewed interest and faith in the Eagles after he witnessed yet another success story for a backup against the Saints!

If Hurts keeps winning, how can the Eagles go back to Wentz as starter? - PhillyVoice
Rooting for the Eagles in the final three weeks of the season means rooting for Hurts to succeed, and for Wentz to be removed from office. Rooting for a higher draft pick means rooting against Hurts, and ensuring Wentz is back as the starter – including the ridiculously poor season he carries on his back. Rooting for Hurts to fail means Wentz would get another shot, but if he doesn’t change, both QBs are cooked. I need to know who is playing for what moving forward, because my fandom deserves better than this. So does yours. Is Jalen Hurts playing for the starting role in 2021? What happens if you can’t move Wentz but Hurts wins out? If this team magically wins the NFC East, how in the world can they go back to Wentz? Here’s another one: Hurts has an arm – as so many of us who watched college football know – and he should never be relegated to some Tim Tebow-type role. How can they justify keeping his talents wrapped up if Wentz comes back and struggles?

2021 NFL draft nuggets, needs, picks and what you need to know for all 32 teams: Will the Patriots take a quarterback? - ESPN+
Projected first-round pick: No. 10. It’s less about addressing a certain position and more about getting it right for the Eagles in this draft. They are projected to be $65 million over the cap in 2021, second only to the Saints. Veteran contracts will be shed this offseason, and general manager Howie Roseman needs to up his batting average in order to prevent a major talent drop-off. The favorable draft position will help. The Eagles have a 72.4% chance of selecting in the top 10 and a 17.2% chance of landing a top-five pick, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index.

Mailbag: Will the Patriots Finally Spend Money in Free Agency? - MMQB
From 12 more qtrs for doug (@gloomysmitty): What will the Eagles get for Hurts in a trade in the offseason? ... I’m assuming this is a joke, 12? They have Jalen Hurts at $883K for next year. He’s shown promise in a regular-season setting. Baseline, that’d be great value in Hurts providing depth/insurance at the position. And maybe he can be more than that. The one caveat here would be the If someone blows you away with an offer scenario. I don’t think that’s happening. Hurts looked good on Sunday. Still, I’d be stunned if teams were lining up to make him their starter in 2021, ahead of what’ll be available in the draft in April, and making him a starter is the only thing that would justify the kind of return Philly would require to move him. I’d actually be more confident saying that Hurts will be an Eagle in 2021 than I would saying the same for Carson Wentz, because of that contractual dynamic.

How Jalen Hurts wants to be a ‘coffee bean’ for the Philadelphia Eagles - PennLive
“The thing with me, I always try to never get too high, never get too low out there,” Hurts said on a Zoom call Wednesday. “Try to do my job to my best abilities. Doing that, impacting people, bringing people up around me. Always take somebody with you and create that camaraderie, that community. And all those things, all those characteristics, they’re contagious. Just trying to be a coffee bean.” That last line offers a glimpse at how Hurts views himself and his role within a team. The “coffee bean” comes from a short story with a number of different names that displays how things and people respond to the circumstances around them. Hurts always wants to be the one who is affecting the others around him in a positive way.

Jake Elliott searching for answers: ‘It kills me inside’ - NBCSP
Jake Elliott has gone from one of the NFL’s most accurate kickers to one of the least. “It kills me inside,” he said. Of 33 kickers who’ve attempted at least 10 field goals this year, Elliott ranks 29th at 72.2 percent — far below the NFL average of 84.3 percent. Since signing a massive five-year, $19.3 million contract last November, he’s just 21-for-30. And a disappointing season turned into a disaster Sunday when he missed a 22-yard attempt — the shortest miss by an Eagles kicker in 27 years. Elliott is searching for answers.

Who is No. 41? It’s Kevon Seymour, with a tale to tell - PE.com
Kevon Seymour wants to tell his story. All of it. From the Snake Pits of Northwest Pasadena to USC as a 4-star recruit to the NFL, the ride has been as wild as any you’ll hear. A sixth-round draft pick by the Buffalo Bills in 2016, Seymour had a normal, solid rookie season. He played 15 games at cornerback, started in three of them. It was good. It felt right. And then he was called into the office and was told he was traded to Carolina for the 2017 season and, even there, he played a season with another two starts and 16 games and good reps on special teams and his arrow was pointing in the right direction. From that point on, though, it’s been crazy. And trying. Oh, it’s been trying. “Since 2017, I’ve been dealing with a lot of adversity, dealing with the injury bug and going through a lot of adversity, a lot of surgeries,” Seymour said. “It’s all been worth it. Praise due to the most high. I was able to keep my faith and keep believing in myself and at the same time keeping myself in shape and knowing that when I got my next opportunity, I would take advantage of it.”

Haskins gets 1st team reps as Smith rests leg ahead of Sunday’s game; no clear decision on starter yet - Hogs Haven
After Sunday’s victory over the 49ers, head coach Ron Rivera expressed little concern over Alex Smith’s calf injury and full confidence in Dwayne Haskins’ ability and readiness to play if needed. Reports on Monday and Tuesday indicated that the coaches would know more after seeing Alex at Wednesday’s practice, but that the priority was likely to be on Smith resting the leg this week rather than taking reps ahead of the Seahawks game scheduled for 1:00 pm Sunday at FedEx Field. There were apparently no surprises on Wednesday, as Haskins reportedly took first team reps and Smith rested. QB Alex Smith said his right calf strain was unrelated to his previous major injury to the leg. Smith called it “a freak thing” that was minor the week before and it became a bigger problem vs SF.

Giants QB Daniel Jones has 2nd injury, is uncertain for Sunday’s game - Big Blue VIew
New York Giants coach Joe Judge said Wednesday that Daniel Jones has “another lower leg injury” to his left leg in addition to his hamstring and that his status for Sunday night’s game against the Cleveland Browns is uncertain. Jones missed the Week 13 game against the Seattle Seahawks after injuring his right hamstring in a Week 12 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. His mobility was obviously limited in Sunday’s 26-76 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Jones completed 11 of 21 passes for 127 yards and fumbled three times. Jones suffered six sacks in that game against Arizona, was noticeably hobbled by the fourth quarter and was replaced for the Giants’ final offensive series by backup quarterback Colt McCoy. NFL insider Ian Rapoport is reporting that Jones’ second injury is a sprained left ankle that he suffered during the second quarter.

The lesson no one wants to hear from the Cowboys’ win over the Bengals - Blogging The Boys
We naturally want to believe we are in control of things. Mostly, folks, that is an illusion. Outside and random influences can completely upend our lives. You know, like a surprise pandemic. Before we make our final judgment of the staff, and really the entire 2020 edition of the Cowboys, maybe we need to at least consider that this year was doomed regardless, especially once Prescott went down. All that can really be done at this point is to plan to use the draft wisely and try again. [BLG Note: Love that kool-aid drinking down in Dallas.]

NFL owners approve formula for determining potential 17th game - NFL.com
New scheduling procedures with respect to the 17th regular-season game will “be an interconference match-up based on divisional standings” from the previous campaign, and “on a rotating divisional basis” in a fashion similar to current scheduling standards that annually see one AFC division play an entire NFC division, and so on. This change should mean the football-viewing world will see more marquee matchups across conferences that would traditionally be limited by the annual interconference divisional rotations. The new CBA, ratified in March, gave owners the option to expand the regular season to 17 games starting in 2021.

The SB Nation NFL experts make their picks for Week 15 - SB Nation
It’s going to be a long winter for the if Tom Brady can’t bring his team to the playoffs.

Off Day Debrief #15: Ravens win the game of the year + AFC/NFC playoff picture - The SB Nation NFL Show
Rob “Stats” Guerrera (Niners Nation) and Brandon Lee Gowton (Bleeding Green Nation) react to the best game of 2020 and break down the playoff picture in both conferences. Jake Louque of the Baltimore Beatdown Podcast helps settle the Lamar Jackson poop controversy. Is Baker Mayfield becoming the QB we thought he’d be? Who can win the Super Bowl in the AFC? Why the Saints losing the top seed in the NFC could spell doom for them Can anyone stop the Packers now?

Your state’s Covid-19 epidemic, explained in 4 maps - Vox
At the state level, things can look even worse than the national picture. Public health experts look at a few markers to determine how bad things are in each state: the number of daily new cases; the infection rate, which can show how likely the virus is to spread; and the percentage of tests that come back positive, which should be low in a state with sufficient testing. A Vox analysis, updated weekly, indicates the vast majority of states report alarming trends across all three benchmarks for coronavirus outbreaks. Most states still report a high — sometimes very high — number of daily new Covid-19 cases. Most still have high infection rates. And most have test positive rates that are too high, indicating they don’t have enough tests to track and contain the scope of their outbreaks.

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