Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links …
The Eagles have a Super Bowl-caliber roster. The bar for Jalen Hurts is nothing less – Inquirer
And therein lies the point. The big question isn’t whether Hurts is good enough to keep the Eagles competitive. It’s whether he can do the things that a quarterback needs to do to maximize the talent around him. Given that he has more offensive talent around him than any Eagles quarterback since Donovan McNabb in 2004, it’s pretty clear where the bar lies. No, Hurts doesn’t need to win a Super Bowl this season. But he needs to make the Eagles look like a team that is capable of winning one. Because they are. The only question is him. Maybe that sounds like a lot of pressure for a 24-year-old second-year starter. Well, tough. The Chiefs won a Super Bowl in Mahomes’ second year. The Seahawks won a Super Bowl in Wilson’s second year. The Eagles won in Wentz’s second year. The Steelers won a Super Bowl in Ben Roethlisberger’s second year. History is what it is. Anybody who is entering 2022 hoping for marginal improvement is fooling themselves. Fact is, the easiest money in the country right now is the Eagles over 8.5 wins. Open up the schedule, read it line by line, and give me a hoot or a holler any time you see a team who leaves you feeling a little bit of Quarterback Envy. You know what I mean: that feeling you get when you look at an opponent and think, “Man, I wish we had a guy like that.” In other words, count the number of times the Eagles will be playing a game in 2022 against a quarterback who is definitively better than the one they’ll be running out there.
10 players the Eagles can least afford to lose to injury – PhillyVoice
1) QB Jalen Hurts And finally, there’s Hurts. Would the Eagles’ season go in the toilet if Hurts went down? Meh, probably not. Gardner Minshew is capable of winning games, assuming the Eagles don’t trade him to some other team in desperate need of a starter. There’d be a dropoff from Hurts to Minshew, but probably not a major one. So why does Hurts top this list? Well, 2022 is a tryout year for Hurts, much like 2021 was. Last season Hurts didn’t play so well that he kept the Eagles from trying to pursue quarterbacks like Russell Wilson and Deshaun Watson, but he did enough to keep them from adding some other middle of the road guy. He was fortunate the 2022 quarterback class in the draft wasn’t very good. In 2022, Hurts once again will have a chance to leave no doubt that he should be the long-term answer. If he can do that, great! If not, then the Eagles will be trying to parlay their two first-round picks into a quarterback they think can be the long-term answer. But let’s find out.
Why hasn’t the NFC East had a repeat champion in 17 years? – BGN
There are some streaks/records in sports that are simply unexplainable. From May of 1992 to July of 1993, Mets starting pitcher Anthony Young started his career with 27 consecutive losing decisions, an incredible stretch made even more incredible in that, during the streak, he put together a 23-inning scoreless streak. Notre Dame once won 43 straight games over Navy in college football. In January of 2020, Clemson’s college basketball team finally beat North Carolina on its home court for the first time ever, snapping an incomprehensible 0-59 run. Big league pitcher Johnny Van Der Meer remains the only pitcher in MLB history to throw two straight no-hitters. The NFC East’s streak of 17 straight seasons without a repeat champion may not be quite as crazy, but it’s wild nonetheless.
Doug Kyed’s Mailbag: New England Patriots’ offense, Davante Adams, the Atlanta Falcons’ offseason and more – PFF
@powertimmy: How will the Cowboys end up choking the season away this year? … I might eat these words, but they might have done that this offseason. They had a pretty bizarre free agency period when they lost Amari Cooper, Cedrick Wilson, La’El Collins, Connor Williams, Randy Gregory and Keanu Neal and replaced them with James Washington and Dante Fowler. I think their draft could wind up looking strong a few years down the line with offensive lineman Tyler Smith, edge rusher Sam Williams and wide receiver Jalen Tolbert, but Dallas lost a lot of talent since March. And the Philadelphia Eagles are coming for them after adding Haason Reddick, Zach Pascal, Kyzir White, James Bradberry, A.J. Brown, Jordan Davis and Nakobe Dean, among others, this offseason. There could be a power shift in the NFC East. And if the Cowboys falter in 2022, could we possibly see a change at head coach? Sean Payton is out there.
Inside the Plans for the NFL’s First Diversity Networking Event – SI
1. I love the fit for James Bradberry in Philadelphia. More than a couple of evaluators told me following his release from the Giants that he’d lost some of his movement skills (and speed), but could be solid starter in the right scheme. And Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon runs a multiple system that protects its corners and will often deploy Bradberry in zone (which is where he’s better now). Also, given that the Eagles have Darius Slay, it’s fair to assume they can manage what they’re asking of the wily, smart, tough Bradberry. And from a team standpoint, $7.5 million (a little more than half what he was supposed to get with the Giants) isn’t a heavy price to pay for a pretty good player at that position.
Evaluating 5th-year options for all 32 NFL teams: The good, bad and what’s trending – The Athletic
The Eagles’ new contract with veteran receiver A.J. Brown carries large cap numbers beginning in 2024, which would be the year when 2020 first-round receiver Jalen Reagor’s salary would spike if Philly picked up his fifth-year option (the odds of that happening seem remote). The fifth-year salary for 2021 first-rounder DeVonta Smith would hit the books in 2025. There’s lots of time until then, salary-cap allotments will increase and deals can always be reworked, but the likelihood of all three receivers remaining prominent in the Eagles’ plans by then is not high.
Report: Colts’ Morocco Brown No Longer a Candidate for Eagles Assistant GM Job – Stampede Blue
According to NFL Insider Josina Anderson, Indianapolis Colts director of college scouting Morocco Brown is no longer considered a candidate for the Philadelphia Eagles assistant general manager job—despite being thought of as an initial frontrunner.
Giants roster moves: Giants sign CB Michael Jacquet, waive DT Antonio Valentino – Big Blue View
The New York Giants have announced that they have signed defensive back Michael Jacquet. Jacquet was originally signed by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2020 as an undrafted free agent out of Louisiana. Jacquet, 6-foot-1, 205 pounds, has played in 8 games for the Eagles and Jacksonville Jaguars over the last two years. He started two games for the Eagles in 2020, recording 18 total tackles, a sack, three passes defensed, and a forced fumble.
Steelers continue second round of interviews for GM opening with Andy Weidl – Behind The Steel Curtain
The Steelers have not put any timetable on when they will make an official announcement on the next GM, but one would imagine the decision should be coming sooner, rather than later, with training camp on the horizon.
Ryan Fitzpatrick recalls getting snubbed for a handshake after beating Tom Brady – PFT
“Beating Tom Brady, after the first time, because after the first time he didn’t shake my hand,” Fitzpatrick said, via Insider.com. “I was on the Jets [for the second win, four years later], and I had to chase him down on the 50-yard line.” Fitzpatrick beat Brady a total of three times, once with each of the Patriots’ three AFC East rivals, and he said Brady is extremely competitive — and extremely unhappy when he loses. “Apparently, he hates losing more than everybody else hates losing,” Fitzpatrick said. “When he does lose, I want a handshake.” This isn’t the first time Brady refusing a handshake has come up. Brady has previously insisted that he wasn’t intentionally snubbing Nick Foles despite failing to shake his hand after losses to Foles’ teams.
Where are they now? RB Bryce Brown – PE.com
After playing for part of the 2014 season with the Bills and then concluding his career with Seattle in 2015, Brown returned to his hometown and was the offensive coordinator at his high school alma mater for two seasons. He followed that by coaching wide receivers for two seasons at Butler Community College in El Dorado, Kansas. On March 31, 2022, Brown was named as the running backs coach and transfer/junior college liaison at Tennessee Tech University. “I learned things at the high school level, at the junior college level, and I’m sure I’ll learn things at this FCS level as well,” Brown says. “But everywhere I go, the most important thing is to leave an impact. To impact people’s lives and develop those relationships. When they graduate and go into their careers, wherever it is, I want them to still be able to pick up the phone, ‘Hey, Coach, I’m going through this. What was your experience like?’ “Just developing the relationships and seeing these guys mature, and hopefully have the chance to achieve some of their goals, whether it’s on the field or off, I go back to the impact that Duce had on me. It’s the same. I want to be Duce Staley to these guys.”
3 reasons to be optimistic about the Cowboys 2022 season – Blogging The Boys
Dak Prescott is still the far-and-away best quarterback in the NFC East. While the end of the 2021 NFL season was a disappointing one for Dak Prescott and the Cowboys offense, too much of the blame was pointed at Prescott, and not the Cowboys offense struggling to block, run the football effectively, and not commit penalties that stalled drives before they could even get started. While it’s easy to place blame on the guy who touches the football on every play, it’s also easy to evaluate why things didn’t go so well. The Cowboys passing game caused terror for defenses after a terrific first half of the season. With Dak Prescott near the top of the list of MVP candidates at the midway point of the season, defenses adjusted, and in doing so begged the Cowboys to run the football in order to find success on offense. The Cowboys failed to do so with any sort of consistency and that resulted in a numbers game, that did not favor Dak Prescott, Amari Cooper, CeeDee Lamb, Cedrick Wilson, Michael Gallup, and Dalton Schultz for most of the second half of the season.
Report: Antonio Gandy-Golden will move to tight end in 2022 (and other roster notes) – Hogs Haven
In his report, Keim mentioned that starting TE Logan Thomas is likely to miss the start of the season, and that the other tight end candidates on the roster indicate that the team is looking for an option at the position that offers more potential as a receiving threat. Keim also talked at length about the fact that the coaches didn’t want to force the change on AGG, but instead wanted him to buy in to the change. On the podcast, Keim said that after some preliminary work at tight end both on and off the field, Gandy-Golden has done exactly that, and that he will now work with the Commanders new tight end coach, Juan Castillo, to develop the on-field skills he will need. Keim also said that AGG had bulked up recently in anticipation of the change, and that the physical change is noticeable, but he didn’t say how much weight the young player has put on.
Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka calling plays in practice; decision on games TBD – NFL.com
Improvement, plain and simple, is at the forefront for a New York Giants franchise that has strung together five consecutive losing seasons. However, an offensive upgrade is a particular onus with former Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll taking over as head coach and former Kansas City Chiefs quarterback coach Mike Kafka coming on as offensive coordinator. As of now, it remains to be announced who will be calling plays for the Daniel Jones-led offense as Kafka is currently handling the duties at practice, but no decision has been made for games. “Right now in Phase 3, we’re just taking it kind of day by day,” Kafka said Thursday, via team transcript. “I’m calling the plays for the quarterbacks in practice, and then we’ll let Dabs evaluate that, and he has every right to evaluate how he wants to handle that.”
The Look Ahead #89: Who is likely to go first to worst in 2022? – The SB Nation NFL Show
Rob “Stats” Guerrera and RJ Ochoa pick the division winners from 2021 that are most likely to finish this season in last place. Your reviews for the NFL Show (1:31). The Cincinnati Bengals (8:14). Kansas City Chiefs (11:55). Tennessee Titans (15:08). Dallas Cowboys (21:40). Buffalo Bills (32:41). Green Bay Packers (37:14). Non-NFL story: Nick Saban is a whiny baby (44:29).
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