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NFL New Year!

The NFL Calendar is flipping it’s page into the 2023-24 season.  The scouting combine week (2/28-3/6) was completed, as was the date to apply franchise tags (3/7).  The oxymoron known as the “legally tampering period” is from 3/13 -3/15 (teams can talk to players with expiring contracts on other teams), with the league year starting Wednesday 3/15 at 4pm ET, the first day unrestricted free agents are permitted to sign contracts with any team. So dates of note: 

  • 2/28 – 03/06: Scouting Combine
  • 3/07: Last day to apply franchise tags
  • 3/13 – 3/15 4pm ET: Legal Tampering enabled for other Teams FA
  • 3/15 4pm ET: 2023-2024 NFL Season commences.  FA can officially be signed by competing teams.
  • 4/17 Teams with returning Head Coaches can begin off-season work-out programs.
  • 4/21 will be the last day restricted free agents can sign offer sheets.
  • 4/26 is the deadline day for teams to exercise their right of 1st refusal for restricted FA.
  • 4/27 – 4/29: The NFL Draft!
  • 5/01 is the deadline for teams to exercise 5th year options for 1st round players of the 2020 draft.
  • 5/5-5/8 OR 5/12-5/15: Slots permitted to host a 3-day post-Draft rookie minicamp

Ironically, the 3/15 Wednesday league New Year is relatively anti-climactic, since during Mon-Tue (official tampering) big FA deals not only get done in all but name, they get announced.


Eagles coaching losses:

After a very successful season falling just short of the ultimate goal, the Eagles will ironically be licking their wounds from a multitude of losses.  One of the challenges of building a successful franchise is the inevitable attrition in an organization… Not everyone can get promoted fast enough.  Other teams in  League are hungry to acquire the men and women that helped lead your success.  This started last May when I reported on the many successful Eagles front office personnel pilfered by the competition.  After an NFC Championship season, it was inevitable the Eagles would lose some of their coaching staff under Head coach Nick Sirianni, and therefore the element of continuity they carried into 2022-23. 

Very unusual to lose 2 coordinators at the same time (since 1994).  Shows the leagues respect for the Eagles processes, both in hiring coordinators AND in the coordinators systems and promotability.  Laurie/Roseman hand picked Gannon and Steichen, and THEN Sirianni.  The league knows this, and ARI and IND, in trying to get as close as they can to the next Sirianni, wasted no time in scooping up the Eagles coordinators.

It was stated multiple times by Howie Roseman the Eagles were “renting” Jonathan Gannon.  Was Vic Fangio as a consultant for the Eagles their first choice?  Since Philly went to the Supe and Gannon clearly remained their coordinator into February, the Birds were unable to guarantee a job for the highly desired Fangio, so he took the Dolphins job.  Gannon was scooped up by the Arizona Cardinals as their new head coach.  Jeff Laurie offered Gannon more money to remain in his Eagles Coordinator position than he’ll be paid as head coach in Arizona, but for Gannon the lure to lead his own club was paramount.

So the Eagles hired Seahawk assistant head coach Shawn Desai to lead their defense. Youthful (under 40) Vic Fangio disciple, therefore extolling a VF base defense.  Extremely intelligent, has a PHD in educational administration with an emphasis in higher education.  Pete Carroll loves him, made him not only a Defensive Coordinator (DC) for the Seahawks last year but also their assistant head coach. Desai brings a lot of emotional intelligence too, he cultivated relationships with his players and knows how to lead.  He has 1 year of play calling experience & success with Bears.  He’s more creative at the line of scrimmage than Gannon, using multi-front blitzes, overloads and even some wide 9, so will need to meld ideas with the Eagles D-Line coaches Tracy Rocker & Jeremiah Washburn.  CJG tweeted after the Super Bowl that the DC (Gannon) needed to put his people in a better position to win.  Gannon had a great year but got eviscerated by Andy Reid in that final chess game.  Theoretically, the Eagles are looking for a replacement that might not consistently beat Andy (who can?), but could create some stops.

Regarding the choice of Desai over defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson, here are, in descending order, what I believe are some of the general items the Eagles are looking for in their coaching candidates-
1- The Eagles biggest priority is, as always, what’s best for the team.
2- #2 in their “weight” is the “score” on the interview.
3- Eagles heavily emphasize coaches that can teach to their players.  It’s great to have talent, but getting better thru understanding the game is critical to the Philly philosophy, and that starts with the position coaches being able to make players better.  Desai’s PHD in education didn’t hurt.
4- Sirianni emphasizes repeatedly his desire to help his coaches grow & make them better.  He knew many things he did enabled Gannon and Offensive Coordinator Shane Steichen become viable Head Coach candidates in their own right.  This is part of the plan in building a winning organization.  Sirianni also recognizes his coordinators need to carry this same philosophy with their position coaches.
5- Experience.  In the case of the DC, Desai had a (successful!) year with the Bears calling plays.  Wilson did not have that on his resume.

Wilson was a finalist for the job, having been the favored choice across all the internal candidates.  He was reportedly fired by Sirianni after the hiring of Desai and subsequent meeting between Sirianni and Wilson.  Not sure what Sirianni carried INTO that meeting, but it could not have gone well?  Nick firing Wilson is tough for him and tough for the Eagles.   Wilson landed a job quickly, a lateral move to the Ravens. Wilson coached the best secondary in football last year, but perhaps Sirianni saw future disruption amongst his coaches?  It was LB coach Nick Rallis, NOT Wilson, who Gannon chose as HIS DC.  Unlikely Nick would be too “altruistic,” so it appears he felt what was best for the team was to move on.

The promotion of Brian Johnson to OC… that was a slam dunk given his credentials, reputation in the league, his close relationship with Jalen Hurts and the success Hurts had this past season.  It was a rapid internal decision, one only officially delayed to enable fulfilling the requirements of the Rooney rule (must interview at least 2 external minority or female candidates even before an internal promotion). Johnson, like his predecessor Shane Steichen, will call the plays.  Two “under the radar” items to watch as a bit of reshuffling takes place to fill the roles under Johnson- 1: Alex Tanney is now the Qb coach.  Shane Steichen would have loved to bring him to Arizona, saying his skills are “2nd to none” in becoming a QB coach.  He is young, well thought of, and moving up, even a possible replacement next year if Johnson continues his own meteoric rise.  2: Marcus Brady was helping out on defense.  He has been named a senior offensive assistant. He was a long time QB coach in Indy, and Sirianni has moved him in to help Johnson. Both these guys will be expected to help fill the void the offense will feel as a result of losing Shane Steichen, who earned a reputation last year as one of the NFL’s ‘22-‘23’s best play callers.

So now the Eagles have 3 minority coordinators.  At least they’ll get future compensation (3rd round picks) for future losses via promotions outside the organization!

The Eagles need to replace their LB coach.  Nick Rallis was “pilfered” by Jonathan Gannon to be his new DC out in Arizona.  Rallis has come very far very fast (29-year-old DC now!), but he clearly did a terrific job coaching Eagle LBs TJ Edwards and Kyzir White. Tyler Scudder is a potential in house replacement as the LB coach, a guy brought in by Sirianni who he clearly likes. 2 big “outside” names that seem unlikely as the new eagles LB coach at first glance are Mike Pettin, who is with the Vikes as an assistant HC (so the Birds would seemingly need to make a better offer than LB coach, although the Vikings are shifting DCs and philosophies going from DC Ed Donatello to DC Brian Flores).  The second “name” is Matt Patricia, a good former DC but a coach who did NOT get along with Darius Slay.  Other Lion players did not get along with Patricia as he neared the end there.  Another name to consider is John (not Chuck) Pagano, DC for the Chargers while Sirianni was there.

As far as the new DB coach opening, Sirianni wants to be a mentor and developer for his coaches, but he also seriously holds them accountable, unlike his predecessor (Doug Pederson).  Sirianni “coaches his coaches,” & clearly chose Desai over Wilson as DC, then agreed to a mutual parting of the ways with Wilson as DB coach rather than retain him, even though key players (Slay, Gardner-Johnson) showed support for Wilson after what appeared to be a very successful year (In addition to Slay & CJG, Marcus Epps, Reed Blankenship & James Bradberry all had their best seasons). The in house candidate to replace Wilson is DK Mcdonald, the assistant DBs coach. This will be a tough job to fill.  Wilson had a great reputation in the building, & did a great job managing personalities, and had great respect from all the DBs.  Both Slay & CJG can be volatile.  Wilson will be missed. Hopefully Sirianni does not regret the connected decisions of bringing in Desai as the DC while jettisoning Wilson.  Desai will need to show the relationship building and leadership skills he has this far demonstrated during his young, so far successful career.

Old news is new news- Many may not know both Jonathan Gannon and Shane Steichen, the Eagle defensive & offensive coordinators recently named Head Coaches of the Arizona Cardinals and Indianapolis Colts respectively, were selected by Jeff Laurie & Howie Roseman BEFORE Nick Sirianni was selected to be head coach of the Eagles!  In this unusual process where the tail wagged the dog, the choice of Sirianni may have been heavily influenced by the coordinator’s knowledge, comfort level & approval of their future head coach!  The Eagles appear to have strong in house candidates in QB coach Brian Johnson and DB coach demand Wilson to replace the coordinators, leaving Sirianni fortunate but again without much wiggle room to make his own choice(s).  Was the selection of Desai a selfish one by Siriani, or him doing what he truly believed was best for the organization?


Free Agency:

Known Howie Roseman roster maintenance operational strategy- Re-sign player who is either in the 3rd year of his 3+ year contract, or recently completed the 3rd year of said contract.  This year that’s just 1 guy… Jalen Hurts!  Jalen is unique in having improved not only EVERY year in a 3 year college career, but continuing that improvement curve in his subsequent first 3 NFL seasons.  And Howie will want to close this before deals get done with Justin Hebert, Joe Burrough or Lamar Jackson, because recency bias suggests the Hurts camp will argue Jalen (MVP runner up to Pat Mahomes) has more value than those guys, amping up the $ further.  Fortunately, Hebert and Burrough work with slower moving organizations reluctant to spend easily on contracts.  With L Jackson, it’ll depend on whether an NFL team will meet his demands (fully guaranteed deal like Desean Watson) AND then also pay the Ravens 2 first round picks. I say unlikely!


Howie Roseman said it all, basically that the one thing worse than having to pay the big money to a deserving QB is not having that deserving QB.  Hurts wants shorter term since cap is going up!  Howie wants to lock him up thru his age 30 season.  The deal will get done, this author expecting 4-6 years at $50 mil per year.


Monday 3/13 is “legal tampering day” in the NFL when, for a couple days, teams can talk to other teams pending free agents to negotiate new deals.  This is when the initial high profile deals get done, so by Wednesday the announcements are anti-climactic.  At OL, Saftey, 3 technique DT and Lb there are 4 pairs of players the Eagles can lose, and I think they will in each case try to retain one of those 2 players:
… Starting Defensive Tackles Javon Hargrave vs. Fletcher Cox? The Eagle defensive interior currently consists of Jordan Davis, Milton Williams, Marlon Tuipulotu and Noah Ellis.  Sean Desai’s evaluations of interior defensive linemen will be new and critical input here to how there might be changes to Philly’s view of these and other players.  While of the 4 pairs below this is the one most likely to return 0 players, I still think one of these two could be back as a rotational player in 2023-24.  The jkey is to recognize both these guys, if brought back, are part-timers in a rotation.  Neither can stand up to 40+ snaps anymore.

… Offensive Linemen Jason Kelce vs. Isaac Seumalo?  If Kelce retires, O think the Eagles make a push for Seumalo.  But I think Kelce will be back for his age 35 season, just like Eagle Hall-Of-Famer Chuck Bednarik came back at Center for his age 35 season.  And Bednarik won a Super Bowl…

Safeties CJ Gardner Johnson vs. Marcus Epps?  More on this below.  Will someone break the bank for CJG?  Dunno, not as slam dunk as it appears, and I think the Eagles would prefer to keep him, but they like Epps too, and he may be almost as good a fit with Reed Blankenship.
Linebackers TJ Edwards vs. Kyzir White.  Similar to the Johnson/Epps comparison in value and play, Edwards is a very good player, while White is OK.  But again, it’ll come down to bang for the buck.  I do think the Eagles will retain one of the two, and it’s fifty/fifty right now regarding the returnee.
It is likely the Eagles will lose a plethora of free agents, at least half the above players, and other good ones, including Mikes Sandwrs, Ndamukong Suh, Linval Joseph and Andre Dillard.

Here was some Free Agent banter with a friend of mine (Doug) as the final day to apply franchise tags passed early this week with no Eagle tags applied:

Doug: Why didn’t the Eagles franchise tag somebody? If they thought Hargrove, Bradbury or Gardner would have been too expensive, how about Sanders for 10 to 11 million? Howie-what’s your play?

Me:
1- Tag money cannot be played with and shifted, across years, a flexibility Howie prioritizes. In a FA tag scenario, the GM must fit the years hi salary in the current year.  Eagles are 2023 constrained…

2- Eagles currently <4 million fr/the cap, so no immediate space to tag anyone.
3- Players HATE the tag. Breeds animosity and discontent w/player.
4- Non-teammates see the franchises willingness to tag & so it makes it harder to get 1-year prove it guys.  Eagles will try for 1 or 2 of these in FA.  Players will come to a place that optimizes their future revenue based on the situation. A franchise tag is NOT what they’re looking for.
5- Team mates don’t like seeing team mates tagged.  Keep the locker room happy, & the Eagles an attractive destination.
6- Howie has a compensatory pick plan.  He will sign some of his FA, but not others, maximizing the compensatory pick formula.
7- new DC Desai has his own thoughts on each FA and their fit in his projected D.  Howie will certainly be prioritizing this in his planning!

Sanders- Foget about it.  Because of the % of carry’s Hurts gets, it’s just not worth it for the Eagles to franchise a RB for 10 mil.  Sanders might be worth half that to the Eagles.  He’s proven, over time, to be Injury prone.  The Eagles in the playoffs demonstrated he’s replaceable by current Gainwell/Scott/Sermon triumvirate (Gainwell had more carries & yards than Miles in the playoffs). Questionable if he was worth half the F-tag, and I think he’ll be replaced by in house backs PLUS a 2nd or 3rd round draft pick.

Hargrave is 30, just had his career year, been on IR 3 times & his D vs the run is poor.  He’s a great pass rusher, and at 13-14 mil might be worth it as a rotational DT.  But at 15-20 mil he’s not.

Bradberry- 30, just had his career year. Smart, but speed is declining, & his career has alternated between good- v good, with this his 1 great year.  Eagles need to get a top tier cb at pick 10, as rolling it back with 2 aging outside cbs (Slay is 32) is too risky! 

CJG- Good player, volatile personality.  Perhaps overrated (Pro Football focus has him ranked as the NFL’s 48th best Free Safety out of 130 safeties).  Only 25, I woulda considered the tag.  Here’s why: While CJG is a good, not excellent Safety, he provides additional value because he is an unusual, hybrid talent that can play multiple roles (slot corner), allowing the Eagles to hide him in deceptive coverage schemes.  Do they like Epps (homegrown) and Blankenship almost as much at a lesser price?  Don’t forget CJG’s post-Supe tweet admonishing “the coaches” (Gannon) for not putting the players in position to win.  This after a career year under Gannon!  How was that viewed around the league?

Doug- Agree that tag is not well received by the players. However they do realize the NFL is a business.

Me- NFL is a business, but keeping the employees happy, assuring they will be permitted to get the best possible contract is a good way to get attractive mercenaries, keep morale high, & squeeze max effort before & during the season.  So do onto others…

Looking ahead to the Draft

With all the athletic testing that goes on at the combine, their are other actually more critical elements that occurred their last week, since the athletic measurables are otherwise available:

1- Medical evaluations- This is the #1 critical factor for a lot of teams. Potential intermediate or long term Medical deficiencies are an anathema.
2- Interview- Getting into the football intellect of a player, his leadership qualities, whether he’s a self-starter. And most important his passion for the game.  This is actually more important than the data point in March of the athletic measurables.
3- Weight/height/body part size affirmation: Teams have minimum “types” for various positions. This is the opportunity to affirm these appraisals within “accepted ranges.”
4- Athletic Measurables- Finally, the Forty times, Bench Press, cone drills, etc, while otherwise typically available, do serve as a baseline, a data point if you will, to confirm or question what has already been typically demonstrated on tape, and perhaps effect the importance of specific college Pro days, where these athletes will affirm or supersede both their tape game day performances, and / or their combine performance (or lack there of).


Jalen Carter, Will Anderson and Tyree Wilson Ste are 3 defensive linemen at the top of the draft expected to be gone at # 10.  If any of them drop to #10 this would alter the suspected Eagles thinking of getting a cornerback with their pick at #10.  It has been 21 years since the Eagles have taken a first round corner. But when when the Eagles drafted Devonta Smith a few years ago, although they were very pleased, their first 2 choices in that draft were cornerbacks JC Horn and Patrick Surtain.  Devonta was the last guy on their “must get by #12” list , and they had to trade up to #10 with Dallas to steal him from the Giants, who were waiting for Devonta at #11.


A great question posed this past Monday 3/6 by Jody McDonald on the podcast “Birds 365-“ With the top 4 QBs now ranked so highly based on prior reputation plus excellent combine performances, would the Eagles prefer to have all 4 gone by pick 10, pushing the best possible non-QBs taken in those top 9?  Or would they prefer 1 of those terrific QB candidates still be available at pick 10, allowing Howie Roseman do his best imitation of “Let’s Make a Deal” at that selection (move down a bit in the draft whilst acquiring additional draft assets)?  This draft is not an “elite talent” kind of draft, so a greater emphasis and volume is on “B+” talent.  The dearth of elite talent (only about 6-8 non-quarterbacks in this draft are considered “elite”) means somewhere around pick 10 the talent will drop into that 2nd tier.  Still, especially given the likelihood of 3, if not all 4 of the best QBs going in the top 9, there should be an opportunity for the Eagles to get a top 5 or 6 non-QB in this draft. 

So this author is a bit concerned Howie could trade himself out of an elite player to get additional draft picks.  I would prefer Jalen Carter or an elite corner at #10 and that the Eagles trade back for draft assets at pick 30, moving back into a top 2nd round pick and additionally netting mid-tier draft assets as well at that time.  The risk is the end of the B+ defensive line talent may disappear around pick 30.  So Howie may be faced with that dilemma of taking a “30th in the draft” kind of player rather than trading back. The Eagles had success doing this (trading back from the end of the 1st round early into the 2nd round) in 2018 when the traded back from pick #32 into the 2nd round and got TE Dallas Goedert plus an additional 2nd round pick.

Back to my dialog with friend Doug-

Doug- The secondary is not going to be happy with the new DC, they wanted their positions coach “Wilson”? I agree a CB should be a 1st round pick and a DE or DT. Might go with the DE/DT at 10 as they always go off the board faster.

Me: Wilson was popular.  But there were issues with him too.  Clearly neither Gannon nor Sirianni wanted him as a DC.  That’s a flag!  Plus the decision for him to depart from his current DB coach spot… Was it really “mutual?”  Sirianni certainly did not kiss his ass to stay.  And at least half the starting secondary will be gone (Bradberry & either CJG or Epps), eliminating the majority of that issue.  And don’t underestimate Desai.


Picks are 10, 30, 63 and 85.  Need 2DL, a Cb and an rb in those picks, with a likely trade back into rnd 2 from pick 30.  Pick 10 must be a difference maker.  There are 6-8 elite guys in this draft, none are QBs.  Since 3 if not 4 of the QBs will float up to the first 9 we should be good.  Likelihood is the Eagles get 1 of the top 2 corners at 10.  I don’t think an elite DL will drop unless, in a Warren-Sapp like scenario, DT Jalen Carter falls to 10.  Unlikely, but if he does because of his current legal issues I grab him like Polish Spring in the Sahara!

Eagles are unlikely to make Supe next year.  While they’ll be Super Bowl contenders, I just think Roster construction says this is a 1 year step back as an NFC playoff team, w/more likely Supe contention in ‘24, when their cap will look a bit better and they’ll have a large number of draft picks to play with (no 4, 5 or 6 this year). 

Doug- What are the rules for comp picks?

Me- Complex!  Basically, u award them based on the NET diff in a teams FA activity.  Eagles will lose big-timers to long term deals, and sign a couple prove-it guys to 1-year deals.

Teams max out at 4 comp picks to a single draft.  And highest comp pick is a 3rd rounder.  I think Howie may be shooting for as many as 3 of those (CJG, Hargrave, Seumalo). He will get other comps though for guys like Dillard, Sanders and whomever he loses at LB.  Perhaps hoping for 2 threes, & 2 fours?  We’ll see!  Relatively new rule… Comp picks can be traded (HOWIE’s wheel house, of course).

Like I said, complex!  HOWIE’s wheelhouse!

What is the state of the Team?

Doug- The only thing for sure is the team will look very different this year compared to last 

Me- They are (aiming to) getting younger, which is why I think this will be good.  Howie knows he F’d up post-2017 success by being too loyal to his vets.  He is trying to lock and reload!  He won’t be completely against signing some guys (Brandon Graham in the Chris Long role).  But he’ll be more careful about just being consistent to value and letting guys walk.  I like it, but it’ll require excellent drafting (gulp) and trading (HOWIE’s wheel house).


While you are correct, the defense will be very different, I think they will try to run it back again with pretty much the same offense.


Doug- Yes - hopefully the offense changes little (ie Kelce, Johnson). Next year could be a bit more offense focus in the draft. 


Me- I think Kelce and Johnson will both be back playing at a high level. We’ll see if the Eagles surprise us with an early pick at Offensive Line or Running back.  Regarding the former, I have to trust Jeff Stoutland.  His track record is just too strong.  The RB?  I strongly doubt anything before round 3, where I am good with a pick there.

I think Howie is a great GM, I trust him.

Doug- He’s good.  Let’s see if he can role it back after a Super Bowl appearance.  That would be a “prove it” kinda performance to begin to talk about great.

 

This’n’that:

Don’t know how the Eagles can ever trust Quez Watkins in a big moment again. I give Watkins credit for being a stand-up guy and taking accountability for his costly drop in the Super Bowl and other mishaps this year. But think about the second half of the season. His fumble probably cost the Eagles a win vs. the Commanders in November, his soft play against the Cowboys turned into two Gardner Minshew interceptions and may have cost the Eagles a win vs. the Cowboys in December and then he had a horrible drop that potentially could have cost the Eagles a win in the Super Bowl. The Eagles only lost four games all year, and Watkins had major negative plays in three of them. After an impressive season in 2021, he took a massive step backwards this year. I’m happy to bring him back for training camp, but the Eagles need to upgrade that third receiver spot because Watkins this year hurt the Eagles way more than he helped them.

The NFL appears to be leaning on eliminating “The Tush Push,” I.e. the Eagles go to on 4th and 1 to get Hurts and co. To move the pile.  Reportedly “an optics issue,” the fans don’t like it?  BS!  Eagle fans like it!  It’s the 31 other teams that didn’t because they didn’t have the best O-line in football along with a QB that can squat 600 lbs.  Screw your optics and stop legislating against the Eagles… what’s next, penalties when we play the Rocky theme? Latest is the vote to eliminate may not garner enough votes!

While this piece was critical of Jonathan Gannon’s Super Bowl performance, it should again be noted the Eagles offered him more $ to stay as the D coordinator than the Cardinals will pay him to be head coach.  This underscores how the Triumvirate of Sirianni, Roseman & especially Laurie feel about Gannon.  #2 defense (by 16 total yards), #1 vs the pass and 3rd all time in sacks.  It’ll be interesting to see what Gannon does in Arizona.

The Eagles are linked to a lot of names for coordinator positions, but it was clear Eagles QB coach Brian Johnson had a clear path to the OC spot (does not Do him any harm that he has a life long relationship with Jalen Hurts) while, although DB coach Denmark Wilson appeared to have the inside track to the DC position, there were seriously legit candidates being interviewed for that role.  Why the delta?  Several reasons…. First, this author believes the defense & offense of ‘22 were clear successes, but the defense failed to seal the deal in the Supe.  Some adjustments might be good.  Second, it can be debated endlessly, but while I thought Denard Wilson would be the guy, seeking out alternate candidates and approaches will always make the Eagles smarter long term.  New ideas can, even if just subtly, influence next years defensive philosophies.  Third, the opportunity to question, if not grill, leading eligible defensive minds is an advantage to not only get better yourself by looking in the mirror through external eyes and ideas, but also to “know thy enemy” a bit down the road when the Eagles face these guys.  Fourth, these interviewees have their own protégés!  Maybe sniff out eligible candidates to fill the LB coach (he moved to ARI to join Gannon as their DC) and DB coach vacancies on the Eagles!  Finally, who knows where and why paths and opportunities will cross again?  Get to know these guys a bit in case you can recruit them for a future role.


Eagle Lessons- We saw it last season.  The off season is about patience and being prepared to strike when value is available in different ways, and at different points in time (Hasan Reddick, Nakobe Dean, Reed Blankenship, CJ Gardner Johnson, Linvale Joseph).  These 5 players (and others) were acquired at different times in different ways.  Give Howie a chance to do what he does!


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