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Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links ...
Perfect scheme fits for top NFL free agents 2021: Landing spots for JuJu Smith-Schuster, Aaron Jones, more - ESPN+
Matt Milano, LB — Best scheme fit: Eagles | 2020 team: Bills | Age: 27 — Milano would be an upgrade at linebacker in Philadelphia, and the traits are there to play a three-down role for the Eagles. He can be schemed as a rusher off pressures (3.5 sacks last season), and he will play off-contact to find the ball in the run game, too. Plus, with the ability to drop in coverage, and move in space, Milano can match in zone coverage or close windows as an underneath hook defender in sub packages. [BLG Note: ESPN also has Andy Dalton and Malik Hooker as perfect fits in Philly. I’d pass on Dalton but Milano and Hooker make sense if the Eagles can manage to afford them.]
Daniel Jeremiah says the Eagles drafting Kyle Pitts is a “no-brainer” - BGN
The line about how the Eagles could “break the huddle with those two guys [Pitts and Goedert] and force teams to try and figure out how to match up with them” reminds me about people once said about Zach Ertz and Goedert. And how that offense was entirely stoppable. You can blame the coaching staff and/or poor roster construction for the Eagles’ 12 personnel package not being more effective. But it’s not like there are other teams having tremendous success by using a ton of two tight end sets. The Eagles led the lead in 12 personnel utilization in both 2019 (52%) and 2020 (35%). Perhaps Pitts is truly more than a tight end. But I can’t help but think that premise could end up being a galaxy brain thought that doesn’t age well.
A peek around the rest of the NFC East prior to the start of free agency - PhillyVoice
Prescott was a good quarterback from Day 1 in the NFL, earning NFL Rookie of the Year honors in 2016. The Cowboys had an extremely cheap player on a four-year rookie contract at the most expensive position, by far, in the sport. They won one playoff game during that span. Now they’ll have to find a way to build a roster around Prescott without the luxury of that rookie quarterback contract, for the foreseeable future.
A Different Dude - Iggles Blitz
I know more than a few people hate the thought of the Eagles taking Pitts. The team already has an above average TE in Dallas Goedert. Why waste a premium pick on another TE? This goes back to the point I made earlier. You can’t think of Pitts as just a TE. He is an offensive weapon. If the coaches embrace that idea rather than just thinking of him as part of a 2-TE offense, Pitts can be special. His potential is off the charts. I have mixed feelings on the situation. You can find TEs all over the place. George Kittle and Travis Kelce are the two best TEs in the league. Neither was a first round pick. The flip side is that you can draft mid-round TEs for a decade and not find guys like that. When you have a chance to get a special prospect, you should do it. That doesn’t mean the player will pan out. Even if he does, that doesn’t guarantee team success. Calvin Johnson never came close to a Super Bowl.
Why are you already writing off Hurts? - NBCSP
Last month, I wrote about the dramatic improvement Eagles quarterbacks such as Donovan McNabb, Nick Foles, Randall Cunningham and Carson Wentz made from Year 1 to Year 2. Guys get better. They learn. They practice. They grow. They improve. Nobody is a finished product after four games, and if you’re convinced Hurts can’t be a successful quarterback in this league based on his late-season cameo in December, then you’re just not being honest with yourself. The reality is Hurts did some very good things under very difficult circumstances this past fall. His 1,085 combined passing and rushing yards are 2nd-most ever by a rookie QB in his first four games, and he became the first QB ever with two games of 320 passing yards and 60 rushing yards within his first four starts.
Former Eagle says Jeffrey Lurie made decisions based on WIP - Radio.com
Well, apparently, Lurie has been making personnel decisions for awhile. In fact, according to former Eagle Barret Brooks—who played his first four NFL seasons in Philadelphia from 1995 to 1998—Lurie used to base decisions off of the conversation on WIP. Brooks told a story on The Middle about how an Eagles tight end Jimmy Johnson was released and the head coach at the time, Ray Rhodes, had no idea.
Futures: Ohio State QB Justin Fields - Football Outsiders
Fields does everything you want to see from a quarterback in terms of getting to the throw. He can read the field, is willing to be aggressive, understands how to manage the pocket, and has all the physical tools to keep plays alive. In many ways, that does not sound all too different from the last quarterback featured in the Futures series, Trey Lance. What separates Fields from a player such as Lance, however, is that Fields is one of the most accurate quarterback prospects in recent history. If Fields gets to the throw he wants, it is almost a certainty that he will complete it. I have personally charted quarterback prospects dating back to the 2016 class. I chart the entirety of a player’s final season, as well as a portion of the previous season, which serves as a sort of anchor for any improvement or decline during their final year. Fields’ adjusted accuracy (weighted by depth of target) of 83.2% is the best rate I have recorded in those six years. To every level, Fields’ accuracy is simply phenomenal
The Dallas Cowboys were awarded four compensatory picks, now have 10 selections in 2021 NFL Draft - Blogging The Boys
At season’s end the Cowboys held six selections in the upcoming draft (remember that their 2020 fifth-rounder was sent to the Philadelphia Eagles during last year’s draft when they traded up to select Tyler Biadasz). You are an educated football fan so you knew things would be changing from that and the time for change is now. On Wednesday the NFL announced the 2021 compensatory picks. One projection this offseason had the Cowboys earning comp picks in round three through six, well the final number is out and the Dallas Cowboys did net four, the most of any team.
Breaking: Giants release veteran guard Kevin Zeitler - Big Blue View
Zeitler never been voted to a Pro Bowl or selected as an All-Pro. He is coming off his worst season, with his lowest Pro Football Focus grade and second-most pressures allowed in nine seasons. Valentine noted that this combined to make it a difficult proposition for the Giants to restructure and extend Zeitler’s contract. That’s especially if they can replace him for a cheaper price tag, and all signs point to this possibility. The move could allow the giants use both Shane Lemieux and Will Hernandez, who shared left guard last season, to start.
Washington uses exclusive rights tender on Kyle Allen, QB returns on 1 year, $840k deal - Hogs Haven
Ron Rivera said he expected Kyle Allen to be back with the team for training camp when he spoke with the media for today’s presser. The team made it official by tendering Allen, who was an Exclusive Rights Free Agent this year. The QB returns on a 1-year, $850,000 deal. Washington traded a 5th round pick to the Carolina Panthers to acquire Kyle Allen. They planned to use him as a long-term backup behind starter Dwayne Haskins Jr. That plan changed when Haskins was benched after the 4th game. Allen became the new starter, and held that spot until he fractured his ankle. He started 4 games, but only finished two due to injury. He was replaced by NFL Comeback Player of the Year Alex Smith who had a 5-1 record as a starter.
The drop in the NFL salary cap is going to cause chaos - SB Nation
This isn’t designed to be a doomsday scenario. The NFL has maintained its status quo for decades, and that will likely continue — but there are tea leaves to read that something concerning could be on the horizon. If bad teams are forced to overpay for talent in order to sway them away from taking one-year rental deals, then this will have a knock on effect where bad teams are saddled with bad contracts, while the league’s best teams now have healthier cap space in the future. The concept of the “super team” working in the NFL was always hand waved off by the notion that there are too many moving parts, and too much of a learning curve for players to truly be effective entering a team on a one year deal. However, the league is simplifying offensive and defensive concepts, the Buccaneers proved it could be done, and we could see a greater shift league-wide to teams adopting for more roster churn in the future than in the past.
The Palpably Unfair Podcast #27: Tag Reactions + Top Free Agent Linebackers - The SB Nation NFL Show
Michael Kist and Kyle Posey unpack all the franchise tag news, discuss Lavonte David returning to the Bucs, and preview the upcoming class of free agent linebackers with thoughts on Jayon Brown, Matt Milano, KJ Wright and more!
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