Eagles Blog

Jon Dorenbos re-signed with the Eagles earlier this month.  They gave him a 4-year deal.  Life seemed pretty good for everyone.  The Eagles had stability at LS and kept a high character guy at a reasonable price. Jon is a fan favorite.  He’s funny and has a great personality.  His wife is a major hottie.

But what about his snapping?

That’s actually been on the decline.  Jimmy Bama just put up a post with pics showing the errant snaps.

The Eagles seem to agree with Jimmy (oh god, that’s a scary thought).  The Eagles have worked out 3 different college LS’s so far.  This isn’t common.  The Eagles are showing definite interest in bringing in competition for Dorenbos.  Ideally, they’d love him to win the job.  He’s the kind of player you want to keep.  But Dorenbos has to win. New STs coach Dave Fipp will have no allegiance to Dorenbos. And the 4-year deal didn’t include some huge bonus like other positions get.  Dorenbos is guaranteed nothing.

Good luck, Jon.

So…did anyone get the reference in the title?

Per Tony Pauline:

“Can confirm the Philadelphia Eagles worked out Josh Hill/S/Cal- the next sleeper safety from the Cal program….”

Hill, 5-10, 203, started at Safety in 2012 and led Cal in tackles.  In other years he played both Safety and Nickelback.  Hill finished his career with 5 INTs and 23 Passes defensed.  He would be a late round pick or priority FA.

And I wish he didn’t. 

In case you didn’t see it, Tony Romo signed an extension today.  He got 6 years, $108M, with $55M guaranteed. 

Donovan responded with this tweet:

Tony Romo 6 yr 55 million dollar extension. Wow really, with one playoff win. You got to be kidding me

— Donovan McNabb (@donovanjmcnabb) March 29, 2013

So Donnie thought Romo was overpaid at $9M per season? That is absolute insanity. I bet 20 teams would love to have Romo at QB if they only had to pay him that much.  That’s cheap for a starter with talent. 

Then Donovan realized the error.

My bad everyone it 55 million guaranteed. It’s a total of 108 million, wow

— Donovan McNabb (@donovanjmcnabb) March 29, 2013

So now he must think Jerry Jones is off the charts nuts.  $18M per year for just one playoff win?  Of course, the irony is that win came over Donovan and sealed McNabb’s fate in Philly.

Tulane QB Ryan Griffin had a rough college career due to the lack of talent around him, but he’s got NFL ability.  He showed that at the Texas vs The Nation all star game, where he was the MVP.  Griffin went 14-18-214 with a pair of TDs. 

Griffin, 6-5, 216, had a private workout for Eagles personnel executive Rick Mueller.  Griffin is more of a pocket passer than we expect Chip Kelly to want, but he is a talented QB.  Griffin said the workout focused on him and didn’t involve throwing to receivers.  That may have been the Eagles trying to get a feel for whether he is mobile enough to do what Kelly wants. 

Griffin would be more of a target in the later rounds.  Maybe he goes as early as the 4th, but could also last to the 5th or 6th round.  It is really hard to judge this QB class. 

Mueller also worked out LB Billy Johnson.  That is the third LS the Eagles have checked out so they want serious competition for Jon Dorenbos.

Jimmy Bama and I recorded a show this morning.  We talked about new DE Clifton Geathers, new P Donnie Jones, and some other moves that didn’t happen or are still pending (Victor Butler, Eric Winston, etc). We also talked about Vinny Curry and where he’ll play. 

About a 45 min. show.

Sheil Kapadia came up with a good story tonight.  Apparently the Eagles are going to change up the layout of the locker room.  Players used to sit with guys at their position.  Now that is going to change and it will be more of a random mixture.

This is a really cool idea.  You can improve chemistry by breaking out of the usual cliques that form.  Remember the Buddy Ryan days?  The defense and the offense didn’t get along.  We saw last year that Jim Washburn and the DL were a serparate entity from the rest of the team.

Moving lockers around isn’t going to magically solve anything, but it can help.  Players will have to interact with other guys than they are used to being around.  Players sit in meetings with their position group.  They practice and play with those guys.  They sit together on the bench.  Getting them into different groups in the locker room is a way to mix things up.

Simple idea, but I like it.

BYU’s stud DE Ziggy Ansah is definitely on the Eagles radar.  They sent DL coach Jerry Azzinaro out to watch him work out recently.  There was some question about whether the Eagles might consider him for SAM, but that tells you the team sees him as a DE. 

Ansah is going to be visiting the NovaCare complex soon.  No date has been announced, but that is big news.  When top flight prospects come to Philly, it shows a serious level of interest. 

The Eagles have Ced Thornton and the newly acquired Clifton Geathers at one DE spot, but obviously the team wants a stud to handle the starting job.  Ansah lacks their size, but is a better athlete and more of a pass rusher.  I think he’s a legit target at pick #4.

LB Victor Butler signed with the Saints.  Honestly, this makes the most sense.  They don’t rush the passer well.  He can get a lot of playing time if he has any success down there.  Also, he’s reunited with DC Rob Ryan.  Rob isn’t the greatest DC in the world, but Butler has worked with him in Dallas and that helps. 

DE Vaughn Martin signed with the Dolphins.  The Eagles had reportedly shown passive interest in him. 

Les Bowen provided an Eric Winston update.

“OT Eric Winston is still out there on the FA market and I’m told the Eagles, who had shown early interest, recently checked back in w/agent.”

I can’t get a read on that situation.  Winston doesn’t feel like the type of guy the Eagles should be adding, but they’re staying in touch.  We’ll see.

From NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah (former Eagles scout):

“Here are the QB matches I hear most often from NFL sources: Bills-Geno, AZ-Glennon, JAX-Nassib, PHI-Manuel…for what it’s worth.”

This doesn’t mean the Eagles are hyping Manuel behind the scenes, but rather that the talk in league circles is that the Eagles are expected to like Manuel.

The Eagles are sending a contingent to work Manuel out later this week.  They could very well like Manuel and see him as the QB to take, likely with their 2nd round pick.

USC’s Khaled Holmes is one of the top Centers in the nation.  The 6-3, 302 Senior started the last 2 years in the middle of USC’s line.  He started at OG back in 2010.  Holmes suffered a pectoral injury at the Combine and that limited what he could do in Indy.  He had a lower leg injury during the season caused him to miss the Stanford game and struggle in some others.

The Eagles have a campus workout scheduled with Holmes on Friday.  He would offer depth at C and G.  Holmes does have 35-inch long arms.  Coach Chip Kelly likes players with good length.  Kelly also knows about Holmes after facing him the last 3 years in the USC/Oregon rivalry.