Eagles Blog

Here is some interesting info on UDFA bonus money from Brian McIntyre of Yahoo.

NFL teams could spend a maximum of $78,170 in signing bonuses on undrafted rookie free agents this offseason, but there are no limits to the amount of guaranteed money teams can include in the standard three-year contracts signed by undrafted free agents. Seven NFL teams have spent more than the $78,170 signing bonus maximum in guaranteed money, with New England leading the way by spending $140,000 in guaranteed money on their undrafted free agents.

The Cowboys ($104,500), Rams ($103,100), Tampa Bay Buccaneers ($94,670) and New Orleans Saints ($88,500) round out the top five in guaranteed money on rookie free agents. The Jacksonville Jaguars ($86,000) and Philadelphia Eagles ($82,000) have also exceeded the signing bonus limit.

McIntyre says in the piece that RB Miguel Maysonet got the third highest bonus from the Eagles at $10,000.  I hit him up on Twitter to find out who was first and second.

@lawlornfl Thanks! Brad Wing ($12,500) and Jake Knott ($12k) were the top two.

— Brian McIntyre (@brian_mcintyre) May 24, 2013

The bonus doesn’t guarantee you anything, as we saw with Maysonet, but it does let you know who the team wanted the most.

Wing will have a legit chance to win the punting job. He and Donnie Jones will battle it out all spring/summer.

Knott is a player the scouts were very high on. I’m very interested in seeing him in Training Camp. Knott was a playmaker at Iowa State. His big challenge will be learning to shed blocks. In college he was able to run around blockers and still make plays. That won’t work in the NFL.

Eagles TE James Casey underwent arthroscopic surgery earlier this week. One of the sources? Casey on his Twitter account:

“I had a minor scope done on my right knee. I’ll be back to full speed in two weeks. Better to get it taken care of now”

Zach Berman has the details here. Key thing…Casey will miss OTAs, but be back by Training Camp. No reason to worry for now.

I love Trent Cole. That’s been true since he was a Cincinnati Bearcat. I was very happy when the Eagles took him and following his career has been a lot of fun.

PE.com posted the video of him speaking with reporters.

Trent said all the right things. He gave some interesting answers about adjusting to playing LB and in the 3-4. I think a huge selling point is the 4-12 record and defensive struggles. Trent knows his time in the NFL is winding down. He wants to win. If that means playing 3-4 LB, so be it.

If effort is enough for Trent to succeed at LB, he’ll get it done.

Where did the Eagles get their name?

I have been a fan for 25 or so years, but honestly had no idea until reading this.

The Eagles were named after the mascot used by the NRA.  No, not that NRA. I’m talking about the National Recovery Administration.

Check out the linked story to find out what that NRA was and to see the logo that inspired Bert Bell to name the Philly football team the Eagles.

Brandon Lee over at BGN wrote up a good post on some numbers Pro Football Focus put together on QBs and sack responsibility. Brandon did a good job of covering the info.

PFF had Michael Vick as one of the worst QBs in the league in terms of sack responsibility and Nick Foles as one of the best. They had Vick responsible for 5 sacks, Foles just 1.

The stats are a bit flawed in my mind because you don’t have context. Did Vick take sacks in situations where the team really needed a big play and dumping the ball off simply made no sense? Were the sacks on plays with max protect where there were only a couple of guys running routes?

The info does help with the notion that Foles will fit Chip Kelly’s offense better than Vick. Foles can run a spread offense passing attack that focuses on short, quick passes.

Skins fans are this afternoon’s source of entertainment.

Check out this picture for a good idea of who we’re dealing with.

Then watch this very NSFW video done by those same Skins fans. It will have you cracking up. The funniest thing I’ve seen in a few days.

Watch it over and over and over. The gift that keeps on giving.

The Eagles recently held the Men’s Academy and had fans come to the NovaCare for football tutorials and a great overall experience. One item they gave out was a depth chart for the offense and defense.

A fan over at BGN wrote a lengthy review of his experience and posted pics of the depth chart. There are only a couple of attention grabbers. Nick Foles is the QB. And the defense is a 4-3 with Jamar Chaney at SAM.

Was this real?

No. The marketing department put the depth chart together simply to give out to fans. It had nothing to do with the players or what the coaches really think. Much ado about nothing, as Mr. Billy Shakes would say.

Michael Vick vs Nick Foles, with a dash of Matt Barkley tossed in. Who will win? Who is winning? Honestly, only the coaches have any idea. The media has watched a total of 2 practices. You can make a judgment based on that, but the sample size is too small for conclusions.

Bob Grotz thinks it is clear that Nick Foles is ahead in one way.

“There was no argument, however, over which quarterback was most effective running Kelly’s hurry-up offense. It was Foles by a landslide.”

This would make sense. Foles played in a hurry-up system in Arizona. He should have a better feel for some of the things that Chip Kelly wants to do and the pace that Kelly wants to play at.

Jeff McLane points out that Vick has a couple of key things on his side – mobility and experience. Foles did run some zone read stuff at practice the other day and apparently is making some progress.  Foles knows that isn’t his strength, but he understands the value it can have for an offense.

“As a quarterback you’ve just got to be able to get a couple of 5-, 10-yard runs a game,” Foles said. “It puts the defense on their heels because they really have to watch out for you because they don’t want to give up a big run to the quarterback, that I’ll tell you.”

Can Foles become a functional runner? Can Vick hold onto the ball and make quick reads? The competition is wide open. Either player can win this. It won’t be decided in May or June or even July. Someone can take the lead, but Chip Kelly is going to let the players battle this thing out. He wants to make a smart decision, not a quick decision.

As for Barkley, he seems like a longshot to win the job, but you just never know. You would love for him to play his way into the competition. The depressing scenario would be if Foles and Vick played their way down to Barkley’s level.

As McLane pointed out, this is the first real QB battle for the Eagles since the days of Rodney Peete and Ty Detmer (1996-1997). It will be interesting to see how fans and the media handle this, as well as obviously the players.

I’d love to tell you this will be fun. But why lie?

Josh Norris, who covers the NFL draft for RotoWorld and NFL.com, took an extended look at SS Earl Wolff and how he fits in with the Eagles.

This certainly sounds encouraging.

“Enter fifth-round rookie safety Earl Wolff, a prospect I ranked No. 85 overall prior to the draft. General Manager Howie Roseman has already said he expects Wolff to focus on special teams while learning the safety spot during his rookie year. Because of that, Wolff’s impact on the defense might not be immediate, but my expectations are a little higher. I think he showed the tools of a future starter while at N.C. State.”

I think Wolff can be a starter in the future. For now, being a good backup and STer would be a good start to his career.

Tony Pauline of DraftInsider.net reviewed the Eagles draft.  Here is the part I found most interesting.

“Zach Ertz/TE/Stanford (Round 2, pick #35): Ertz was one of our favorite tight ends leading to the draft but I foolishly bought into many of the criticisms being passed on him rather than trusting the game film.  Eagles fans will be glad Kelly and company relied on the film and grabbed Erzt in round two.  He offers natural receiving skills and is much more a complete tight end compared to his former Stanford teammate Colby Fleener, the 33rd pick in the 2012 draft.  Expect Ertz to have an immediate impact for the Eagles offense as a pass catcher and blocker”

Pauline also offered good info on why Jordan Poyer fell. Read his review for the details.