Eagles News: Philadelphia among NFL’s most improved teams

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NFL’s most improved teams in 2022? Raiders, Eagles, Chargers among six rosters on the rise this offseason - NFL.com
Viewed as a rebuilding operation a year ago, the Eagles arguably hopscotched the Cowboys as the most promising roster in the NFC East. Jalen Hurts is one of the offseason’s grand winners after Philadelphia stayed put at quarterback while pulling the trigger on a mouthwatering trade for big-bodied wideout A.J. Brown. The former Titans game-wrecker is destined to baffle secondaries across from DeVonta Smith. It’s bound to nudge Philly off last season’s run-centric attack, but only because the offense has the personnel to do things that seemed impossible a year ago. Unlike the Raiders above, the Eagles are a fortress up front with a trio of linemen (6-foot-8 behemoth Jordan Mailata at left tackle, center Jason Kelce and right tackle Lane Johnson) who graded out as top-10 performers at their respective positions in 2021, via Pro Football Focus. Second-year coordinator Jonathan Gannon oversees a defense better prepared to maximize his scheme after inking pass rusher Haason Reddick, re-signing Derek Barnett and adding capable coverage ‘backer Kyzir White. General manager Howie Roseman then turned a disaster for the rival Giants into a delicious victory for Philly by signing top-shelf corner James Bradberry off the street after New York was essentially forced to dump his salary in order to pay the incoming draft class. The pairing of Bradberry with shutdown ace Darius Slay is liquid gold in today’s pass-drunk NFL. Roseman also grabbed humongous human Jordan Davis with the No. 13 overall pick in the draft. Having just won the Chuck Bednarik Award as college football’s top defensive player, the 6-6, 341-pound Georgia product is a lock to swallow blockers and stir trouble along the Eagles’ interior D-line. Nakobe Dean, another decorated Dawg who collected the Butkus Award as college football’s best linebacker, looks like a third-round steal if past pectoral and knee injuries don’t cloud his start in the NFL. A return trip to January play is quite realistic for Hurts and friends after a brilliantly choreographed offseason.

At the Podium: Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, Jordan Davis and Brandon Graham at OTAs - BGN Radio
Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, Jordan Davis and Brandon Graham talked with the Philly media following OTAs on Friday.

The Eagles’ pattern under Jeffrey Lurie spells uncertainty for Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts - Inquirer
The words were nice. The results, especially with the additions the Eagles have made this offseason, are what matter. There’s a reason Howie Roseman traded a conditional sixth-round pick to the Jaguars last year for Gardner Minshew and that Roseman hasn’t yet flipped Minshew for a better pick or picks. Everyone’s hedging his or her bets when it comes to Hurts, but Sirianni has nearly as much at stake this season. If he and Steichen can’t develop Hurts into the Eagles’ clear-cut choice as their now-and-future quarterback — whether they fail to do it or whether Hurts proves incapable of overcoming his own weaknesses — Sirianni is going to be afforded only so many more chances to mold another one. Just look at the pattern. Lurie tends to get impatient when he perceives that the Eagles are cycling through starting quarterbacks, and when he gets impatient, he tends to hold his head coach responsible for it.

Eagles rookie NFL player comparisons: Grant Calcaterra - PhillyVoice
The player who Calcaterra reminds me of (in sort of a best-case scenario) is former Texans, Ravens, and Broncos TE Owen Daniels. Over his 10-year NFL career, Daniels was known more as a quality pass-catching tight end than a blocker. In fact, he was a wide receiver in college at Wisconsin who transitioned to tight end in the NFL. Daniels and Calcaterra have similar size and speed.

In Roob’s Observations: Will youngest Eagle wear the green dot helmet? - NBCSP
2. Tommy McDonald once had 237 receiving yards in a home game vs. the Giants. Jalen Reagor has 227 yards in all the home games he’s ever played.

Why Eagles’ DeVonta Smith believes events like his softball game can help with team chemistry - NJ.com
“We are just finding a way to give back to the community and be able to help anybody any way you can,” Smith said about hosting the event. “Being from where I’m from, being able to give back to the community is big.” Smith added that doing events like this outside of football is an important step in building some chemistry for the upcoming season. “That’s a big part of it,” Smith said. “Everybody is coming together to become a family. If you don’t have that connection with your teammates, that can mess up everything on the field. The better the connection you have off the field, the better it is on the field.”

DeSean Jackson had an issue with Donovan McNabb over 2009 Pro Bowl comment - PFT
“When the ballots came out, and they found out that I was the first player in NFL history to get elected to start in the Pro Bowl for two positions,” Jackson said, “my starting quarterback tells Michael Vick, ‘Damn, I don’t think he should’ve got that. He shouldn’t have deserved that.’” Jackson wasn’t happy with the remark. He said he never raised it with McNabb.

Frank Gore officially retires: ‘I can confidently say that I put all I had into the game of football’ - Niners Nation
Gore didn’t hold a press conference or have any media session, which is fitting. But how can you not love him leading by reminding the Niners that they made the right choice? After 16 years in the NFL, he deserves it. [BLG Note: A former Eagles legend is calling it quits.]

4 things that would make Stephen Jones look like a genius for his thrifty offseason moves - Blogging The Boys
CeeDee Lamb becomes a star. Nobody believes that Amari Cooper is a hack, but it’s heavily debated whether he’s worth the $20 million per year the team had agreed to pay him. Clearly, we know where the Cowboys’ front office stands on the matter, but was that a smart move? If third-year receiver CeeDee Lamb takes the next step and emerges as one of the elite wide receivers in the game, then all will be forgotten when it comes to Cooper. And when you consider they also have Michael Gallup and rookie Jalen Tolbert, who, with Lamb, will all cost less collectively than Cooper did by himself, that’s a pretty good arsenal of receivers. Is it far-fetched to believe this trio of WRs can be every bit as good as what they had with Cooper?

Logan Ryan on being cut: ‘I definitely took it personal’ - Big Blue View
First the Giants released DB Logan Ryan, then they were forced to release CB James Bradberry after failing to find a trade partner. The two were stalwarts in the Giants’ secondary, and important reasons for the teams’ defensive improvement from 2019 to 2020 and 2021. However, the team was heading in a new direction. While Bradberry’s release was widely expected as the team needed to clear cap space, Ryan’s release came as a surprise. He is still a useful player, and cutting him only saved the Giants $775 thousand on their salary cap.AD Ryan was a guest on Jim Rome’s show recently, and he spoke about his release from the Giants. “Does it give you a chip that you have on your shoulder? Like, what’s it like to hear that?” Rome asked. “I think I definitely took it personal,” Ryan answered. “I guess he’s a little bit of a chip because I felt like I gave it all I had in New York.”

3 dead, 12 injured after shooting on South Street in Philadelphia - 6ABC
Three people have died and at least 12 other people were wounded in a shooting late Saturday night on Philadelphia’s South Street. The gunfire erupted shortly before midnight. That’s when police on patrol heard numerous gunshots from the 200 block of the street in the city’s Queen Village neighborhood.

Polling is clear: Americans want gun control - Vox
The massacre of children at an elementary school in Texas is adding fresh urgency to the conversation about gun control in the United States, which has been politically fraught and lacking in progress. That’s not because of a lack of support for gun control. That support just needs a little bit of parsing. To be clear: Americans’ views about guns are complicated, and vary significantly by political party and geography. Overall, the vast majority of Americans support the right for private citizens to own guns, and more than 40 percent of households own at least one firearm. That doesn’t mean they’re against tighter rules on their guns. Nearly three-quarters of Americans think that gun violence is a big or moderately big problem, according to a survey last year by Pew Research Center. And a majority of Americans think that the epidemic of school shootings could be stopped with drastic changes in legislation, according to a poll this week by YouGov.

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