Eagles News: PFF says Philadelphia has one of the NFL’s best receiving corps

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2022 NFL receiving corps rankings: Cincinnati Bengals take No. 1 spot, Philadelphia Eagles make top five - PFF
4. Philadelphia Eagles. A.J. Brown, a legitimate No. 1 option who can win over the middle of the field, changes everything for Philadelphia’s receiving corps. The only wide receivers to average more receiving yards per route run than Brown — who the Eagles traded for on Day 1 of the 2022 NFL Draft — since he entered the league in 2019 (2.61) are Davante Adams and Justin Jefferson. Brown, DeVonta Smith and one of the more underrated tight ends in the league (Dallas Goedert) is a nice core with players like Quez Watkins and the thus-far disappointing Jalen Reagor adding some speed behind them on the depth chart.

4 Eagles players most likely to make “the leap” in 2022 - BGN
Anytime you get anything from a 6th-round draft pick, it’s an incredible success, so seeing Watkins haul in 43 passes for 647 yards, averaging 38.1 yards per catch, was fantastic. It’s still kind of amazing he didn’t score on this play, and that the Eagles got zero points out of it. Anywho... if you watched any All-22 film of the Birds’ offense last year, you saw a number of instances in which Watkins was wide open sprinting down the field and Hurts couldn’t find him. If Hurts emerges as a more competent passer in 2022, Watkins’ numbers should improve even more. Yes, there may not be as many targets with Brown now in the mix, but given the fact the Eagles were run-heaviest team in the league and he only saw 3.6 targets per game last year, one can’t help but think that number will jump a bit. Watkins may never be a Pro Bowler, but he could be an 800-900 yard receiver with a few touchdowns thrown in the mix and one of the best No. 3 receivers in the league. No small feat, given how much Nick Sirianni will likely want to run things out of 13 personnel.

Eagles OTA practice observations! (Day 2) - BGN Radio
With Jimmy Kempski still on vacation, Brandon Lee Gowton is joined by Shamus Clancy to break down what they gleaned from Wednesday’s Eagles OTA practice. The guys talk about Jalen Hurts, offensive and defensive standouts, press conference takeaways, and more!

WGA East Strike Threat Looms On Monday, 300 Vox Media Staffers Sign Letter Pandemic-Shaming CEO Jim Bankoff - Deadline
Gearing up for a potential strike on Monday, more than 300 Vox Media employees have signed an angry letter to their boss, CEO Jim Bankoff. They were pandemic-shaming him for asking for cost-of-living and 401(K) roll-backs in the media conglomerate’s ongoing contract talks with the WGA East. “We’re absolutely ready to strike on Monday,” said a guild source. “We don’t want to, but we’re absolutely ready to.” The guild’s ruling body, the Council, unanimously authorized a strike on Tuesday, and the bargaining unit is scheduled to take a strike authorization vote as soon as Friday. The letter comes in the wake of a “strike pledge” signed by 95% of the bargaining unit, which includes editors, writers, producers, reporters, podcasters, and other staffers who work for Vox, The Verge, Eater, Polygon, SB Nation, Recode and Seeker.

Eagles’ play-caller drama is meaningless. Jalen Hurts is the only variable that matters. - Inquirer
Here’s the stark reality: Only four teams passed for fewer yards than the Eagles did in their last 11 games. Even as the Eagles went 7-4, Hurts averaged just 184.9 yards passing with eight touchdowns, five interceptions, 14 sacks, and an 85.9 QB rating. Hurts averaged a mere 25 pass attempts during that stretch. This wasn’t a matter of Steichen dusting off the old Justin Herbert playbook. This was Sirianni recognizing what kind of team the Eagles needed to be in order to win, and that such a team required him to be a head coach rather than a play-caller. That’s a good thing, mind you. Lurie got a good one in Sirianni. At the end of the day, though, Hurts is the only person who can turn the Eagles offense into a unit capable of winning a Super Bowl. Everything else is early summer noise.

Nakobe Dean, pride of Horn Lake, was always destined to be a star - NBCSP
Nakobe Dean’s favorite food is peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He’ll take them with creamy or crunchy peanut butter; either way. But his mother, Neketta Dean, insists her son ‘Kobe will declare a house with a fully stocked refrigerator to be devoid of food if it lacks the necessary ingredients to create his culinary masterpiece. “That’s his absolute favorite food,” she says. In part, Neketta Dean, the rock of the Dean household, tells me this about her son so I can get to know him beyond the surface. It’s just a fun little fact. It does, however, make Dean a tad more relatable. He likes a good PB&J. Oh yeah, she continues, he also likes to dance. Although he’s a bit shy — with a serious demeanor — and doesn’t let that fact slip out all that often. He might not be too happy she’s sharing this. In plenty of ways, Nakobe Dean is just an ordinary guy from Horn Lake, Mississippi. But in so many more, he’s extraordinary.

What’s next for Michael Clay’s special teams in Year 2? - PE.com
The bottom line is that Michael Clay built the foundation for the special teams in 2021 and now he wants to advance the production in every phase. He’s working through his players now, getting to know them just a little bit more, and when Training Camp starts the open competition begins. That’s the way of the world in NFL special teams, and the Eagles are no different than any of the other 31 franchises in that regard. The Eagles will enter Training Camp with stability at the specialist positions with Jake Elliott coming off of his first Pro Bowl campaign; Rick Lovato, a 2019 Pro Bowl selection, one of the best in the business; and Arryn Siposs, who Clay wants to “unlock” in his second year as the team’s punter. “We still think he has a lot of talent in that leg and it’s just him unlocking it not for a three-game stretch, but for an entire season stretch right there,” Clay said. “But also, he does a lot in terms of the holding and the confidence that helps Jake. Punters aren’t just here to punt the ball; they actually have to hold and help bring that confidence from both Rick and Jake.”

Cowboys defense will likely regress because of turnovers and opposing quarterbacks - Blogging The Boys
Those seem somewhat contradictory. If Dallas is allowing other teams to move the ball well enough to have them in the bottom half of the rankings, how can they be so much nearer the top in scoring defense? Well, that probably comes down to one other little stat. The Cowboys had the most takeaways and tied for the best turnover margin in the league, intercepting the ball 26 times and getting eight fumbles. Taking the ball away clearly kills scoring chances for the opponent and was probably the reason Dallas looked so good in points allowed. Trevon Diggs was the big story with his league leading 11 picks, but clearly he had a lot of help. Given that Diggs is just entering his third year and Dallas brought back almost all of the defensive starters from last season, they should continue to take the ball away at a high rate. Sorry. That is a false conclusion. Turnovers are one of the most chance driven parts of football. In other words, they rely on a certain amount of luck over skill.

Giants’ RB Saquon Barkley out to prove he’s still an elite player - Big Blue View
Barkley is an afterthought when discussing the best NFL players. He is a “maybe he can be great again” guy. Barkley is nowhere to be found on those “best” lists. You won’t even find him anywhere the top of best running back lists, like this one or this one. Injuries and incompetence around him have robbed him of the luster of the SAQUON BARKLEY days. Now, he is just Saquon Barkley. He still wears the “26” earring. He still has the massive quads. He still draws a crowd when he speaks to the media. He still largely carries the hopes of a Giants franchise begging for something to feel good about after an awful decade of football. Barkley, though, also carries a lot of questions around on his broad shoulders. Can he be great again? Does the 2018 Barkley still exist? Playing 2022 on his fifth-year option, can he convince a Giants’ regime that did not draft him that he can be part of the team’s future? At a time when we are seeing big second contract for running backs often turn into Fool’s Gold, how much money is he worth?

Projected 2022 stats for Washington’s offensive skill players - Hogs Haven
Carson Wentz played in a run heavy offense with the Colts last season — only 4 teams ran the ball more (Philadelphia ran the ball more often than any other team in 2021). In 2020, the Eagles offense (led by Carson Wentz) was ranked 8th for the frequency with which they passed the ball (62% of the time). In 2019, when Carson played all 16 games in a relatively normal season, his Eagle’s offense passed the ball 58.8% of the time (20th in the NFL). That season, Carson averaged 252 yards per game. In 2018 & 2017, he averaged 279 and 253 yards respectively. If we project 240 yards per game for Carson, over 17 games, that would be 4,080 yards. That looks like a huge leap for Scott Turner’s offense, which has averaged around 210 yards per game over the past two seasons, but QB passing is a gross number, with sack numbers accounted for separately. Over his career, Wentz’s sack yards have been about 6.6% of his passing total. If we apply this, then his net yards per game would be 224 yards per game (240 yards x 93.3%). This 10.6% increase over the WFT 2021 offensive passing output seems achievable for a Scott Turner offense throwing the ball 3 times more per game than they did a year ago, with Wentz’s cannon vs. Heinicke’s shotgun. In 2021, this total would have ranked 15th in the NFL; in 2020, it would have ranked 24th.

Deshaun Watson allegations keep piling up without a word from the NFL - SB Nation
An NFL player is in the middle of one of the largest controversies the league has ever seen, and the silence from key figures has never been more noticeable. New allegations against Deshaun Watson are coming in, and a lawsuit against the quarterback has now expanded to include the Houston Texans, but you’d never know anything was happening if you only paid attention to the NFL directly or the Cleveland Browns. On May 24, commissioner Roger Goodell said the league’s investigation into Watson was winding down. As recently as last week it was reported that the league had completed its probe. Now there’s seemingly no end in sight, even though the NFL has reportedly been investigating Watson for the last 15 months. Throughout this process the NFL has held the line that it won’t comment on an ongoing investigation. This is fair for something that would last a few months, but this has been dragging on for well over a year. How much more time is needed? Surely the NFL has learned enough to give a process update, or issue preliminary findings — even if more allegations roll in. As it stands the avoidance feels like an attempt by the league to shield Watson and the teams involved from scrutiny, rather than find the truth — which is the entire point of an investigation in the first place.

NFL Daily Kickoff, Friday- Tom Brady doesn’t deny the Miami Dolphins rumors - The SB Nation NFL Show
Buccaneers’ quarterback Tom Brady met the media for the first time since losing to the Rams in the playoffs last year, and he didn’t deny the rumors that he was trying to get to the Miami Dolphins this offseason.

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