Eagles Blog

Here is Chip Kelly hanging out with Mike Tomlin and new PSU coach James Franklin at the Nittany Lions Pro Day.

Penn State Pro Day attendees. #DominatingtheState with the @Eagles & @steelers coaches. pic.twitter.com/v7VqzBYUdB

— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) April 8, 2014

NFL.com has an article up on all of the traveling he’s done. Kelly has gone to at least 12 Pro Days that they know of.

Is this unusual?

Don't think I've ever seen a head coach attend more pro days than #Eagles' Chip Kelly has this year. At #LSU's today.

— Gil Brandt (@Gil_Brandt) April 9, 2014

Jason Avant did sign with the Carolina Panthers. Good for him and good for them. He’ll play with a good QB and on a talented team. Cam Newton needs a receiver that can get open and catch the ball. Avant won’t make many plays, but he can move the chains.

* * *

Kurt Coleman visited the Vikings. He’s getting looked at by lots of teams, but no one has pulled the trigger yet. You wonder if he might get signed by someone after the draft. Some team will miss out on adding a Safety and still want help.

Good luck to Kurt.

The Eagles announced their preseason schedule.

ICYMI #Eagles announced 2014 preseason schedule today: Wk 1 – at @ChicagoBears Wk 2 – at @Patriots Wk 3 – vs. @steelers Wk 4 – vs. @nyjets

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) April 10, 2014

The Bears? That’s a new one for me. I don’t think I can recall the Eagles ever facing them before in the preseason.

The other 3 are AFC teams that the Eagles have played a lot over the years. Geoff Mosher raised the point that you have to think the Eagles might do joint practices with the Patriots prior to that game, as the teams did last summer in Philly.

Jason Avant is still looking for a job.

#Panthers to host free agent WR Jason Avant on Monday, along with former #Falcons safety Thomas DeCoud. http://t.co/CQXShjlbVQ

— Joe Person (@josephperson) April 7, 2014

Carolina needs WR help in a big way so this is a smart move. Avant could be a big help for a young QB like Cam Newton. Let’s hope things work out for Avant.

Let’s check in on Patrick Chung and Kurt Coleman.

I have more safety news today! Ex-#Eagles safety Kurt Coleman is set to visit the #Colts Friday, source says. Checked out #Jets on Tuesday

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 3, 2014

I’m happy for Kurt. He can be an effective backup and STer. I hope he gets a job somewhere.

Chung already signed with the Patriots. They have a young secondary and needed veteran help. Chung didn’t play well in 2013, but Bill Belichick must feel that he’s worth bringing in for competition. We’ll see.

Brian Baldinger was an OL for the Eagles in the early 1990’s. Hollis Thomas was a DT from 1996-2004. Check out this pic of the old guys hanging out in the gym.

Hollis is a big man. Brian looks like he’s there for the tryouts for new Brawny paper towel ads.

Happy 51st birthday to former @Eagles QB Randall Cunningham. 1 of the most exciting players in NFL history. #tbt pic.twitter.com/mwCPs6PhC9

— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) March 27, 2014

Auburn DE Dee Ford is one of the top edge rushers in the upcoming draft. Will the Eagles have interest in him at 22? Ford shares his thoughts.

Do you get a sense of where you’ll go to in the first round?

DF: I hear a lot of talk about Philadelphia and New Orleans. I’m hearing more of the 20 to 30 range. It doesn’t matter to me. All I need is the opportunity.

Is that media talk? Rumors his agent is hearing? Scuttlebutt from scouts? Hard to say. I don’t anticipate the Eagles going for Ford at 22, but there would be some logic to the move.

Here’s the deal.

The one-year deal Mark Sanchez will sign with the Eagles on Friday will be worth a max of $4 million. Base value roughly half of that.

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) March 28, 2014

$2M for a backup QB is about right. Sanchez will only get more than that if he plays and plays well.

Patrick Daugherty of Rotoworld ranked NFL GMs. Where would you think Howie Roseman would end up?

How about 13th. I think that is reasonable.

13. Howie Roseman

You could argue this is too high for one of the architects of the most disastrous free-agent class in recent memory. Roseman’s role in Philly’s ill-fated “Dream Team” will be a stain he wears until he trades in his suits for pleated-retirement khakis. But he couldn’t have bought a better detergent than Chip Kelly. Roseman replaced a weary Andy Reid with arguably the brightest offensive mind of a generation, and has put his team one step ahead of an ever-changing NFL as a result. As an evaluator and player procurer, Roseman leaves much to be desired. But Kelly provides an easy-to-follow blueprint, lessening the room for error. The degree to which Roseman is tied to his head coach is highly unusual for a modern GM. Thankfully, he’s chosen the right one — the kind that should make him look like a genius in due time.

I hate the extreme slam for the 2011 free agent signings. The Eagles felt they were very close to winning a Super Bowl. They signed a bunch of free agents to help put them over the top. The plan backfired for sure, but 2 years later the Eagles were rid of those guys. The contracts were all reasonable and the team never had to deal with any cap consequences.

Besides, injuries were a huge factor in the 8-8 and 4-12 records. It isn’t as if every player the team signed was awful. That was a failed experiment, but those comments are overly harsh.