Here is a video that shows what could be a major feud in the making.
Notice how Brandon Boykin steals the last rebound from Nick Foles? I’m sure this will end up being the devisive issue that ruins the 2013 Eagles. I’d bet my Mike Florio autograph on it.
The Eagles made it official, cutting rookie RB Miguel Maysonet. The team signed TE Will Shaw, who had a tryout at the rookie camp.
Maysonet was one of the top UDFAs in the league and got a $10,000 signing bonus from the Eagles, but he failed to impress the team in some way. We don’t know if it was physical, mental, or having to do with effort.
Shaw, 6-2, 242, played collegiately at Youngstown State. He began at a junior college and then played 3 years at YSU. He was a Safety in 2010 and then moved to TE in 2011. This season he led the team in receiving, going 35-429-5.
Interesting move. There seemed to be good depth at TE already. The Eagles must have been impressed with Shaw.
“The Eagles are expected to waive UDFA RB Miguel Maysonet, per source. Certainly a surprise.”
I don’t know what the young man did or didn’t do. Maybe he simply didn’t impress Chip Kelly during the rookie camp. Maysonet missed the last set of OTAs so there’s nothing he did wrong there. The Eagles did add RB Felix Jones, but having Maysonet battle for a job still makes sense.
For whatever reason, it sounds like he’s out. Good luck to the young man on pursuing his goal of an NFL career.
Now this is interesting.
From Zach Berman:
“Another player who is taking snaps on the defensive side for versatility purposes? WR Jason Avant, in defensive backfield” – on Twitter
“Clay Harbor worked with OLBs. Avant worked with DBs. Just to be clear, these are not position changes. Just for purpose of versatility” – on Twitter
From Geoff Mosher:
“Avant didnt seem to think the snaps at DB clouds his future but harbor much more aware he might not make team.” – on Twitter
“Just talked to Clay Harbor & Jason Avant. Harbor spent 1 day practicing at OLB. Avant has seen time at DB.” – on Twitter
The first thing to point out is that these are not permanent moves. The coaches did some experimenting in practice. That said, it isn’t a good sign when a veteran player is getting reps at another position.
Why is this happening? Chip Kelly comes from college football. Position switches are common in CFB.
We’ll see how Avant and Harbor’s situations pan out. Maybe the experiments are over. Or maybe they’re just beginning. Both players have an uphill battle to make the team. Avant isn’t the kind of athlete Kelly wants at WR. Harbor has failed to develop at TE. There is a lot of depth at WR and TE now, making them more competitive spots. Both players do have talent. It seems Kelly is trying to find new ways to use that talent in his schemes and possibly find spots for the players.
Spike Eskin wrote a good column on Donovan McNabb and Philly…and the vicious cycle between the two.
He’s not really news this week because he said anything, or did anything. He is news because he is Donovan McNabb, and this is Philadelphia. He is always news.
The discussion about McNabb, whether it be about how Hall of Fame worthy he is, or whether he should have his number retired, or something seemingly trivial like whether he threw up in the Super Bowl almost a decade ago, is a parody of itself. Just like he’s become, to an extent. Just like we’ve become, as fans of the Eagles. It’s a caricature, and only loosely based in the reality of the McNabb led Eagles that we all experienced.
Really good column. This is a bizarre relationship, as if we’ve been unable to completely shake our ties to an old girlfriend. One that we had great times with, but obsess on the shortcomings of. Neither side will fully move on, which keeps the craziness going, and going, and going.
I was doing some research and stumbled onto a good article on the Oregon defense. There were some good comments on Jerry “More violence!!!” Azzinaro.
The Ducks always had a 3-4 package in their defense, for passing situations and such. By making that fourth lineman into a hybrid player, Oregon can now switch easily from a 4-3 to a 3-4, or even less traditional fronts, depending on what the offense figures to do.
Credit for that goes in part to Azzinaro. When Oregon used to hold practices open to the public, there would occasionally be times the man they call “Azz” might have been mistaken for the coordinator, as Aliotti sat back and allowed his assistant to install a new blitz package.
“That comes from Chip (Kelly),” Azzinaro said. “Chip allows you, and the people he’s hired, to do their job.”
Check out the article. Good read.
Geoff Mosher spoke to 3 AFC scouts about the Eagles draft. I always love pieces like this. Whether you agree with what they say or not, it is interesting to find out what scouts think about the players your team took.
Here’s what they said about Matt Barkley:
Round 4
Matt Barkley, quarterback, 98th overall
Scout B: “They got a steal. To be honest, I thought he was the best pure quarterback [in the draft]. Everyone questioned his arm strength. I didn’t think he had bad arm strength. I thought he could put the ball in holes, he had good placement, good anticipation, good velocity. He might not have an arm that can throw 60, 70 yards downfield, but who does? And how many times are you throwing the ball 60 or 70 yards downfield? We had him as third-round, but I honestly believe if we had needed a quarterback, he would have been in our first round.”
Scout C: “It’s all who you talk to. Even within our own department, it ranged from second and fifth [rounds]. Nobody knows him better than Chip. He has a lot of the stuff — the mental makeup that you need that will compensate for not being a phenomenal athlete with phenomenal arm strength. But fourth-round quarterback, you can’t go wrong.”
Make sure to read the article to find out about the late round picks and why they slid. Were those guys good value or simply bad players?
If you go back to pre-draft 2012, you’ll find that I liked WR B.J. Cunningham quite a bit. I thought he would be a very good late round target for the Eagles. I listed him in several mock drafts.
In the actual draft, the Eagles went with WR Marvin McNutt in the 6th round. Cunningham went to the Dolphins.
Miami cut Cunningham and the Eagles added him to the practice squad. He is still on the roster now and hoping to challenge for a spot. McNutt was cut recently…and is now a Dolphin. No big deal, just kinda weird that the 2 receivers went to teams last spring and then switched places in the course of a year.
If only we could go back to 1997 and somehow trade Jason Taylor for Jon Harris…
Bob Grotz of the DelcoTimes has an interesting post up tonight which says Clay Harbor will get some reps at OLB. The full story will be in Friday’s paper.
Here is the key quote from Harbor:
“I’m trying a little outside linebacker, actually, to be more versatile,” Harbor said. “We’ll see how it works out.”
Harbor was asked about this on Twitter and responded to a fan.
@phillyboyintn haha just learning some LB for emergency situations and versatility purposes
— Clay Harbor (@clayharbs82) May 16, 2013
Harbor could fit as a LB, in theory. He has good size at 6-3, 255. He is athletic. He is tough and physical. Harbor hasn’t panned out so far at TE, but it isn’t due to lack of raw physical ability.
Let’s find out if this is just an odd experiment or a full time move before we make too much of it.
A few of you have noticed a lot of spam in the comments recently. One of the problems with a successful blog is that you have to deal with spam.
I spend about 5 minutes a day deleting bogus comments. I’ve resisted putting in Disqus because I know not everyone is a fan of it. I might have to go to that. The spam filters on Word Press pickup 75 percent of the comments. You guys just see the tip of the iceberg.
Any other suggestions?
