Eagle Fan Diary

  New Steeler Assistant GM Andy Weidl, New Eagle Player personnel executive Brandon Hunt A week and a half ago, the diary reviewed a series of front office changes, which included 8 subtractions and 4 additions .   Summarizing, the Eagles lost 4 key executives (Ops VP Catherine Raiche, Codirectors of player personnel Ian Cunningham and Brandon Brown and key internal personnel consultant Tom Donahue), removed 4 other personnel folks (Director of scouting ops Casey Weidl, Area scout Shawn Heinlein, Personell executive TJ McCreight and scouting assistant Evan Pritt), and added 4 folks in beginning to fill the void (Matt Russell, Jordan Dizon, Charles Walls and Ryan Myers… positions TBD).   The NFL Network was first to report the news that Andy Weidl will join the Steelers staff as No. 2 underneath Steelers executive Omar Khan, a similar effective position to the one Weidl left under Roseman with the Eagles.   Weidl had also been a candidate for the Steelers’ GM job th...

  One of the significant Rule changes from last year was reviewed in this diary’s 4/10 post (Colts and Eagles work together again) , discussing the rule change where both teams will get an opportunity to touch the ball in a post season regulation tie.   Some other rule changes have come to recent attention: First , IR, Practice squad & cut-down COVID alterations have been deemed beneficial & will be retained: IR- Teams can return 8 players from their IR (including non-football injury and illness) list.  This number was unlimited in a COVID 2021 season, but much more flexible than pre-COVID, where players could not return.  Also, a player can be IR’d up to 3 times, and repromoted up to twice in a given season. Practice Squad- Increased to 10 players a few years ago and 12 the last 2 (COVID) years, this group is now 16.  Ten of those players can be those without 2 accrued seasons of NFL experience (Free agents on active rosters < 9 regular season game...

  The Birds signed ex-Giants cornerback James Bradberry to a 1-year, $10 million contract on Wed, multiple sources reported. $7.25 million of that is guaranteed.   A bit over a week ago, he had been released by the Giants after they failed to find a trade partner for the  Pro Bowl er . He was the top cornerback on New York’s depth chart, but his impending $21.9 million salary cap hit made keeping him in NY impossible given the Giants dire cap constraints.   He had played at a high level since coming into the league as a 2 nd round pick by Carolina in 2016. The Good: Baller - Bradberry is acknowledged to be one of the better zone corners in the NFL.   It is anticipated Jonathan Gannon’s defense will emphasize zone coverage, meaning the Birds likely added a top 10 corner- Bradberry spent the last 2 seasons with the Giants and had good production during both of them. In 2021, Bradberry finished with 47 total tackles (37 solo), one fumble recovery, four interceptio...

  On Thu night (5/12) the NFL published their schedule.  I’ve always poo-pooed this event… The opposition was already known for the season, it’s just “calendarizing” it.  And any attempt to forecast wins/losses in May is so arbitrary given the level of change teams can have year-to-year (example… 2020 Bengals had 4 wins, 2021 Bengals were Super Bowl participants).  So here I am now, writing my Eagles Diary for the event… i.e., my “schedule” (aka poo-poo) entry.  I am going to take my typical good/bad/ugly approach describing the Birds schedule: Philadelphia Eagles 2022 Schedule of Opponents with Date, Time, Network Week 1   (09/11)- AT Detroit Lions     (1:00 PM, FOX) Week 2   (09/19)- Minnesota Vikings    (8:30 PM, ABC Mon Night Football) Week 3   (09/25)- AT Wash. Commanders (1:00 PM, FOX) Week 4   (10/02)- Jacksonville Jags    (1:00 PM, CBS) Week 5   (10/09)- AT Ariz. Cardinals   (4:25 PM, F...

  Philadelphia Eagles GM Howie Roseman. Photo from USA Today Sports. While the Eagles appeared to have done quite well in the combined free agency / draft upgrade period, Howie Roseman has had the additional challenge of hitting his targets with a morphing staff.   The Eagles have several recent front office staff leaving, either voluntarily through opportunities for advancement or by design given changes the team feels are necessary.   Let’s examine the losses: Vice President of Operations Catherine Raiche is heading to the Cleveland Browns to report to her Philly mentor and former Eagle front office consultant Andrew Berry. Co-Director of Player personnel (College Scouting) Ian Cunningham went to the Bears as Asst. GM Co-Director of Player personnel (Pro Scouting) Brandon Brown went to the Giants as Asst. GM Tom Donahoe, a long-term consultant and mentor in the Eagle organization, announced his retirement at the age of 75.   This represents serious turnov...

  After starting the draft by adding 4 potential pro bowlers to their roster (Jordan Davis, A.J. Brown, Cam Jurgens and Nakobe Dean) in days 1 and 2 during the first 3 rounds, the Eagles entered day 3 with dramatically reduced draft ammunition.  They had given up a 3 rd round pick, a 4 th round pick and two 5 th round picks as additional draft capital to supplement picks 15 and 18 to acquire Davis and Brown.  While this appears to have been a good use of resources, it certainly wasn’t “cheap” either, so left only a 5 th and a 7 th round pick for the drafts final 4 rounds.  The Eagles manipulated this pair of picks into a pair of 6 th rounders and made the following 2 selections: Kyron Johnson is a player apparently taken to back up Hassan Reddick at the SAM to be a special teams ace.   With significant special teams success last season alone for Kansas (per Howie Roseman, “ He was a captain and had 17 special teams tackles ”), Johnson appears to   h...