Eagles Blog

Zach Berman of the Philadelphia Inquirer spoke to Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie about Chip Kelly. My favorite part:

“I guess one of the things that we focused on in the search, but has been so ratified by what I’ve seen so far, is his sense as a program builder,” Lurie said in an interview with The Inquirer. “We knew [he had a] dynamic offensive mind. We knew he thought about a lot of big-picture aspects. But his managing of the details of building a program and bringing people together in that building – the program building, not the physical building – I can see that’s why he’s been so successful.”

Andy Reid had a similar impact on the Eagles back in 1999. Chip can hopefully take the organization a step further.

The Eagles won’t be getting any, says Sam Lynch.

Let's nip this early: #Eagles not getting any. MT @Jason_OTC Potential qualifiers for comp draft pick determination. http://t.co/39cfIfudHC

— Sam Lynch (@shlynch) June 6, 2013

The Eagles signed a bunch of free agents. The Eagles lost a couple of FAs, but cut more  guys than they let walk. Cuts don’t factor in. No Comp picks next year.

NFL Total Access is doing a 32 in 32 series, previewing one team a day. They just covered the Eagles.

The link has an article about expectations for the upcoming season. Point #4 should make you happy to read:

“4. There aren’t a lot of teams deeper on offense than Philadelphia. LeSean McCoy, Bryce Brown, andFelix Jones is a terrific three-pack at running back. The offensive line is as talented as any group in the league. James Casey is essentially the team’s third tight end. Wide receiver has plenty of depth too.

Kelly should be able to send waves of players at opposing defenses, along with his new playbook.”

There is also a short, unrelated video. In that, Willie McGinest and Solomon Wilcotts discuss the QB situation. Both of them think Michael Vick will get the job due to his mobility. It really is amazing how NFL people think Chip Kelly is obsessed by QB mobility.

Les Bowen wrote a good article on the Eagles O-line. Tuesday was the first time anyone had gotten a loot at the projected starters playing together (Peters-Mathis-Kelce-Herremans-Johnson). As Mathis put it, “the band was back together”.

One real interesting point to consider is that the Eagles starting OL never played or practiced together last year. Jason Peters got hurt before the draft. That meant you had King Dunlap and Demetress Bell fighting for the LT spot in the OTAs, minicamps and Training Camp.

In the preseason you had:

Week 1 – Bell – Mathis – Kelce – Watkins – Herremans

Week 2 – Dunlap – same as above

Week 3 – This game was so close to Wk 2 that Reid sat most of the starters. Dunlap and Bell split time at LT.

Week 4 – The PS finale is always backups.

That was a lot of shuffling and little continuity for the OL. Peters being healthy means the 2013 group is off to a much better start. Let’s hope the results are much better as well.

One big thing that will help is that now the Eagles have backups in Kelly, Watkins, and Reynolds who have all started 10 or more NFL games. Lane Johnson is the only starter who is operating with no experience. To help make up for that, he’s got great athletic ability.

Coach Chip Kelly has met with the media after the first couple of days of minicamp.

PE.com has Day 1 and Day 2 videos posted.

There is nothing groundbreaking, but there are nuggets of interest. He did talk about how the CBs cannot play press coverage and how that has made it tough to evaluate them. The Eagles want to be a press team with physical corners, but now they are just playing off coverage. That will change at Training Camp.

Kelly does get snarky with the media when they ask some generic questions.  Is your team where you want it to be? I don’t think he’s being a jerk, but the media may feel differently. They still seem to like him right now, but that won’t last forever.

Who will start at CB opposite of Bradley Fletcher? Cary Williams was signed to play that spot, but has missed time. Curtis Marsh has taken advantage of his absences and is doing what he can to win a roster spot, let alone playing time.

Geoff Mosher has a good piece on the duo.

Williams should be fine, since he is a veteran and we’re talking about CB. If he was the QB, LT, or MLB, I might be worried. CB isn’t nearly as complicated.

Heck, maybe this will be a blessing in disguise. The Eagles must find out if Marsh can play. The extra reps should help him be on top of things when Training Camp rolls around. If Marsh struggles, that is likely a sign that he won’t pan out at all.

Jason Pierre-Paul. Those are 3 words that strike fear into the hearts of all offensive players, Eagles fans, and Brandon Graham. Alright, so BG isn’t scared of him. He does hate him and that was close enough for the opening sentence.

Anyway…JPP is having back issues and will now have surgery. I will never cheer for an NFL player to get hurt, whether it is a rival or not. I’d rather beat JPP straight up than have his career ruined by a bad back.

Jimmy Bama has a couple of details and a colorful description of the injury.

Should we now start calling him Jimmy House?

Good luck to Jason. He’s the enemy, but I don’t want to see the NFL robbed of star players by injuries. That’s not good for the game.

Training Camp info is finally out. Go to PE.com for the details. It won’t be the same atmosphere as Lehigh, but maybe there will be some advantages.

One interesting thing on the schedule is joint practices with the Patriots on August 6th and 7th. The teams play a preseason game at The Linc on the 9th. Chip Kelly is friends with the Pats staff so doing something like this makes sense. Unfortunately, those practices are at the NovaCare and closed to the public. Hopefully we’ll get plenty of good media coverage.

DeSean Jackson fired Drew Rosenhaus, his longtime agent. That’s the only thing we know for a fact. Why is a more complicated question.

Tim McManus has a good piece on the situation.

Jeff McLane also has some info.

Is this about money? Is this about Jackson trying to grow his rap career by getting in with Jay Z?

Honestly, I don’t care why he makes the move, if it does happen. Rosenhaus is hoping to woo DJax back. I just want DJax focused on playing well this year.

As McManus points out, the Eagles can get out of the big contract extension after this season. Jackson needs to play well to keep his job and his deal. I don’t think this will be a distraction, but you never know with athletes.

The Eagles drafted DL Bennie Logan in the 3rd round. Is he a NT, DE, or DT? Maybe all 3. Nick Menta of CSN wrote a good piece on Logan.

“I translate good [to the 3-4],” Logan said. “I’m picking up the scheme good. Fitting good in the defense. Whatever the coach asks me to do, I’m willing to do it. I’ve been learning the position. It’s been a very productive OTAs for me. Players tell me I’m improving — that’s a big comfort for me coming into a new scheme.

“Overall, it’s been a real good thing here.”

Logan is most likely a NT or 3-tech, but he needs to be able to play DE as well.