EAGLES CONTINUE STOCKPILING TALENT, TY WARREN TO BRONCOS, RAIDERS LOSE ANOTHER IMPACT PLAYER & SOME PRESEASON REALITY
Since the free agency frenzy began, the Philadelphia Eagles have been the biggest player. Having already signed all-pro cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, 2010 pro bowl defensive end Jason Babin, defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins, traded Kevin Kolb for cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie & quarterback Vince Young before adding safety Jarrad Page, right tackle Ryan Harris & running back Ronnie Brown yesterday. They have signed more quality impact players than any other team & Andy Reid's Eagles made the playoffs last season. Philly was already a serious contender. They are the most hyped team since the lockout was lifted. Philadelphia is already being crowned without ever playing a game. Can you say "Miami Heat?" I won't argue the Eagles' "all in" strategy over the past ten days. I like their aggressiveness, I appreciate the way they've boosted the overall talent level of their team on both sides of the ball. I buy into the hype enough to say the Eagles will win the NFC Eastern Division. But before we go any further down the road, let's examine a few of these transactions.
Beginning at the top, signing Nnamdi Asomugha was a coup, it was a shocker. He is the definition of "impact player." I expect Ryan Harris to start opening day at right tackle, lefty Michael Vick's blindside, but Harris has missed 14 games over the past two seasons with injuries, that has to be taken into account. Jenkins is a solid defensive lineman with durability, production & versatility, but coming from the Packers where their line rotation was far superior to the one the Eagles will employ must be considered before putting him in the pro bowl. Babin went from team to team, six in all, before having a career season in Tennessee with 12.5 sacks. I've never believed Babin to be a top-notch defensive end, he's a good spot starter & rotational player on passing downs, that's it. Rogers-Cromartie is an effective starter at corner, overall I even prefer him to Assante Samuel.Samuel is too much of a gambler, he makes a lot of plays with is superior ball skills, but he gets burned too often & hates contact. His run support is almost non-existent. Rodgers-Cromartie a more complete player down after down. Jarrad Page is no longer an impact player, he is just what Todd Haley & Romeo Crennell thought he was, a decent special teams player with little value in the secondary. That leaves Vince Young & Ronnie Brown. Since both are backups, their impact should be minimal compared to what it was with previous teams. They could be excellent backups, but they're still just backups unless Vick or LeSean McCoy are injured. Problems remain with DeSean Jackson, the wide receiver who's holding out & Jeremy Maclin's mysterious viral episode that's left him weak & unable to fully participate in camp practices. Bottom line as I see it is the Eagles are much improved talent-wise. How that translates to game performance remains to be seen, it's a lot of new parts that have to be sorted out with very little time to accomplish everything. I like the Eagles, maybe even a lot, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, the playoffs don't begin right after the free agency period, there's a little matter of 20 football games between now & then.
Ty Warren came to St. Joseph to meet with Scott Pioli, Todd Haley & Romeo Crennell yesterday. Not long after his departure, the Denver Broncos announced he was signing a 2-year, $10 million deal. Since I am not an orthopedist or a defensive coordinator, I can't responsibly comment on this transaction. I know it looks like the Chiefs let another potential defensive lineman with 3-4 experience, slip thru their fingers. I don't know if Warren's hip is repaired well enough to make it thru the regular season. As all of you know, I am not an apologist for Scott Pioli & the Chiefs, far from it. But here's my take on this signing. Denver is even more desperate for defensive linemen that the Chiefs. They're going to take more chances than other teams might. His contract only guarantees $2.5 million, which he'll most likely receive this season. So they are basically renting Warren for one season, if he stays healthy & plays well, maybe he'll be a Bronco again next year. This is essentially what the Chiefs did with Kelly Gregg, they rented him for one season. He too has had injury issues & is very near the end of a solid NFL career. For the negative emails I received this morning, this is my answer on Warren. My problem is & will continue to be the lack of any substantial effort to sign either Aubrayo Franklin or Cullen Jenkins. Both are in the in the prime of their careers, neither has had injury issues, both have experience in the 3-4 defense & both signed for far less than was anticipated. Especially Franklin, who signed a 1-year deal.
Former Ram & Raven quarterback, Marc Bulger, announced his retirement yesterday. He was touted as a solid backup candidate in multiple locations. No more, he said he wants to spend more time working with his foundation that aids military families. For that I say God Bless.
The Indianapolis Colts made an excellent decision yesterday when they signed former Chicago pro bowl defensive tackle Tommie Harris. He fits to a "T" the defensive philosophy of the Colts, quickness & penetration by their D-linemen. Harris wore out his welcome in Chicago with numerous minor injuries & questionable effort at times. We'll know very early on if he's back to his old self & if he is, Indy made a major improvement to their defense.
Another team receiving a lot of off-season hoopla is the Oakland Raiders. Al Davis' gang went undefeated in the AFC West last season, which is a major part of the hype. This team continues to look for an offensive line combination that works, they lost their best blocker when Robert Gallery went to Seattle in free agency. Now, just days after Nnamdi Asomugha fled east to play for the Eagles, tight end Zach Miller signed with Seattle last night. At 25, Miller is in the prime of his career, he could ascend to the top of the tight end heap in this league, he led the Raiders in receiving in 2010 & now he's gone. Best defender, best blocker & best receiver all gone & that to me is just too much to ignore. The Raiders have signed 4 offensive linemen that include underachievers & overrated guys. But since Oakland is desperate for O-line help, they've begun taking chances with some of their signings. Yes they have some excellent players, but losing three starters that are arguably the best three on their roster is going to be a factor. Miller, like Gallery, was coaxed to play in Seattle by the Seahawks' new offensive line coach, former Raider boss Tom Cable. I thought firing him was a bad decision when it happened & now he's cherry picking some of Oakland's best players. Bad decision by Al Davis in a series of many, many bad decisions.
Another team flirting with disaster is the Chicago Bears. They chose not to resign center Olin Krueutz, a 6-time pro bowl performer. Kreutz, along with Brian Urlacher, has been the heart of this Bears' team. His teammates are extremely unhappy & have voiced their opinions in the press. Screwing with team chemistry can be a volatile experiment that can end very badly. Kreutz claims negotiations fell apart over $400,000. If that is in fact true, the Bears are truly flirting with disaster. On a team that has a starting quarterback who's somewhat fragile emotionally, making a choice like this can potentially wreck everything they gained last season.
Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora has been given the O.K. to find a team willing to acquire him in a trade. New York demanded a 1st round draft pick for his services, but by last night, that had been downgraded to a 2nd round pick. Now Bill Belichick is sniffing around, he needs a pass rusher & tho Umenyiora has always played with his hand in the dirt, the acquisition of Albert Haynesworth tells me the Pats will play a lot of 4-3 this season. The 8-year veteran has a burst off the edge & is just the type of player Belichick loves to snag & refit into his scheme. New England has also been looking at Matt Roth, who can play standing up in a 3-4 or down in a conventional 4-3. I think it's a real possibility the Patriots will eventually make this deal, they always shuffle draft picks to put themselves into just this type of situation, getting real value on proven players.
Time for a little preseason reality.
1. Without any mini camps, OTA's or off-season conditioning, many players, maybe as much as 50-60% will not be close to being in proper shape to play next week. For that matter I doubt many will be ready in 2-3 weeks. The lack of conditioning will result in more injuries. Playing stamina league-wide will suffer. The "ease back into it" solution negotiated in the CBA allows less contact & more time off in training camp. It could also make some players a little softer, which can be a problem.
2. Without the above team activities, new schemes, rookie playbook knowledge & team chemistry league-wide will suffer. The amount of offensive plays that can be installed during the off-season is staggering, without that time together, it's very limited.
3. With this ridiculous stipulation in the new CBA that keeps newly signed free agents from participating in training camp until tomorrow afternoon will cause nothing but trouble. There's not a way newly signed free agents will be turned loose to play at full speed in next week's preseason games, they're simply not ready. This retards progress on both sides of the ball. Not every starter will play, their subs aren't up to par & the entire units continuity will suffer because of it. This will carry over into the second & third weeks of the preseason. Since starters very seldom play more than one series in the final preseason game, I think we're going to see a lot of sorry football well into September.
4. With the extended free agency period, we could see guys who've been sitting on the sidelines for months get signed well into the exhibition season, putting them weeks behind teammates.
5. Don't expect to see much scoring between now & say week three of the regular season, offenses will be way behind defenses, especially those with new coaches or coordinators.
Just like the Chiefs refusal to come clean on the Justin Houston holdout, the Philadelphia Eagles are stonewalling the media regarding Jeremy Maclin's illness. Andy Reid said this morning, "not all the tests are in." He's been ill since early May, they just now started doing tests? I have the feeling he's headed for the PUP list, making him ineligible to play until after week six of the regular season. DeSean Jackson was supposed to end his holdout but has not returned to camp. Can you say Randy Moss? Just a thought.
Beginning at the top, signing Nnamdi Asomugha was a coup, it was a shocker. He is the definition of "impact player." I expect Ryan Harris to start opening day at right tackle, lefty Michael Vick's blindside, but Harris has missed 14 games over the past two seasons with injuries, that has to be taken into account. Jenkins is a solid defensive lineman with durability, production & versatility, but coming from the Packers where their line rotation was far superior to the one the Eagles will employ must be considered before putting him in the pro bowl. Babin went from team to team, six in all, before having a career season in Tennessee with 12.5 sacks. I've never believed Babin to be a top-notch defensive end, he's a good spot starter & rotational player on passing downs, that's it. Rogers-Cromartie is an effective starter at corner, overall I even prefer him to Assante Samuel.Samuel is too much of a gambler, he makes a lot of plays with is superior ball skills, but he gets burned too often & hates contact. His run support is almost non-existent. Rodgers-Cromartie a more complete player down after down. Jarrad Page is no longer an impact player, he is just what Todd Haley & Romeo Crennell thought he was, a decent special teams player with little value in the secondary. That leaves Vince Young & Ronnie Brown. Since both are backups, their impact should be minimal compared to what it was with previous teams. They could be excellent backups, but they're still just backups unless Vick or LeSean McCoy are injured. Problems remain with DeSean Jackson, the wide receiver who's holding out & Jeremy Maclin's mysterious viral episode that's left him weak & unable to fully participate in camp practices. Bottom line as I see it is the Eagles are much improved talent-wise. How that translates to game performance remains to be seen, it's a lot of new parts that have to be sorted out with very little time to accomplish everything. I like the Eagles, maybe even a lot, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, the playoffs don't begin right after the free agency period, there's a little matter of 20 football games between now & then.
Ty Warren came to St. Joseph to meet with Scott Pioli, Todd Haley & Romeo Crennell yesterday. Not long after his departure, the Denver Broncos announced he was signing a 2-year, $10 million deal. Since I am not an orthopedist or a defensive coordinator, I can't responsibly comment on this transaction. I know it looks like the Chiefs let another potential defensive lineman with 3-4 experience, slip thru their fingers. I don't know if Warren's hip is repaired well enough to make it thru the regular season. As all of you know, I am not an apologist for Scott Pioli & the Chiefs, far from it. But here's my take on this signing. Denver is even more desperate for defensive linemen that the Chiefs. They're going to take more chances than other teams might. His contract only guarantees $2.5 million, which he'll most likely receive this season. So they are basically renting Warren for one season, if he stays healthy & plays well, maybe he'll be a Bronco again next year. This is essentially what the Chiefs did with Kelly Gregg, they rented him for one season. He too has had injury issues & is very near the end of a solid NFL career. For the negative emails I received this morning, this is my answer on Warren. My problem is & will continue to be the lack of any substantial effort to sign either Aubrayo Franklin or Cullen Jenkins. Both are in the in the prime of their careers, neither has had injury issues, both have experience in the 3-4 defense & both signed for far less than was anticipated. Especially Franklin, who signed a 1-year deal.
Former Ram & Raven quarterback, Marc Bulger, announced his retirement yesterday. He was touted as a solid backup candidate in multiple locations. No more, he said he wants to spend more time working with his foundation that aids military families. For that I say God Bless.
The Indianapolis Colts made an excellent decision yesterday when they signed former Chicago pro bowl defensive tackle Tommie Harris. He fits to a "T" the defensive philosophy of the Colts, quickness & penetration by their D-linemen. Harris wore out his welcome in Chicago with numerous minor injuries & questionable effort at times. We'll know very early on if he's back to his old self & if he is, Indy made a major improvement to their defense.
Another team receiving a lot of off-season hoopla is the Oakland Raiders. Al Davis' gang went undefeated in the AFC West last season, which is a major part of the hype. This team continues to look for an offensive line combination that works, they lost their best blocker when Robert Gallery went to Seattle in free agency. Now, just days after Nnamdi Asomugha fled east to play for the Eagles, tight end Zach Miller signed with Seattle last night. At 25, Miller is in the prime of his career, he could ascend to the top of the tight end heap in this league, he led the Raiders in receiving in 2010 & now he's gone. Best defender, best blocker & best receiver all gone & that to me is just too much to ignore. The Raiders have signed 4 offensive linemen that include underachievers & overrated guys. But since Oakland is desperate for O-line help, they've begun taking chances with some of their signings. Yes they have some excellent players, but losing three starters that are arguably the best three on their roster is going to be a factor. Miller, like Gallery, was coaxed to play in Seattle by the Seahawks' new offensive line coach, former Raider boss Tom Cable. I thought firing him was a bad decision when it happened & now he's cherry picking some of Oakland's best players. Bad decision by Al Davis in a series of many, many bad decisions.
Another team flirting with disaster is the Chicago Bears. They chose not to resign center Olin Krueutz, a 6-time pro bowl performer. Kreutz, along with Brian Urlacher, has been the heart of this Bears' team. His teammates are extremely unhappy & have voiced their opinions in the press. Screwing with team chemistry can be a volatile experiment that can end very badly. Kreutz claims negotiations fell apart over $400,000. If that is in fact true, the Bears are truly flirting with disaster. On a team that has a starting quarterback who's somewhat fragile emotionally, making a choice like this can potentially wreck everything they gained last season.
Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora has been given the O.K. to find a team willing to acquire him in a trade. New York demanded a 1st round draft pick for his services, but by last night, that had been downgraded to a 2nd round pick. Now Bill Belichick is sniffing around, he needs a pass rusher & tho Umenyiora has always played with his hand in the dirt, the acquisition of Albert Haynesworth tells me the Pats will play a lot of 4-3 this season. The 8-year veteran has a burst off the edge & is just the type of player Belichick loves to snag & refit into his scheme. New England has also been looking at Matt Roth, who can play standing up in a 3-4 or down in a conventional 4-3. I think it's a real possibility the Patriots will eventually make this deal, they always shuffle draft picks to put themselves into just this type of situation, getting real value on proven players.
Time for a little preseason reality.
1. Without any mini camps, OTA's or off-season conditioning, many players, maybe as much as 50-60% will not be close to being in proper shape to play next week. For that matter I doubt many will be ready in 2-3 weeks. The lack of conditioning will result in more injuries. Playing stamina league-wide will suffer. The "ease back into it" solution negotiated in the CBA allows less contact & more time off in training camp. It could also make some players a little softer, which can be a problem.
2. Without the above team activities, new schemes, rookie playbook knowledge & team chemistry league-wide will suffer. The amount of offensive plays that can be installed during the off-season is staggering, without that time together, it's very limited.
3. With this ridiculous stipulation in the new CBA that keeps newly signed free agents from participating in training camp until tomorrow afternoon will cause nothing but trouble. There's not a way newly signed free agents will be turned loose to play at full speed in next week's preseason games, they're simply not ready. This retards progress on both sides of the ball. Not every starter will play, their subs aren't up to par & the entire units continuity will suffer because of it. This will carry over into the second & third weeks of the preseason. Since starters very seldom play more than one series in the final preseason game, I think we're going to see a lot of sorry football well into September.
4. With the extended free agency period, we could see guys who've been sitting on the sidelines for months get signed well into the exhibition season, putting them weeks behind teammates.
5. Don't expect to see much scoring between now & say week three of the regular season, offenses will be way behind defenses, especially those with new coaches or coordinators.
Just like the Chiefs refusal to come clean on the Justin Houston holdout, the Philadelphia Eagles are stonewalling the media regarding Jeremy Maclin's illness. Andy Reid said this morning, "not all the tests are in." He's been ill since early May, they just now started doing tests? I have the feeling he's headed for the PUP list, making him ineligible to play until after week six of the regular season. DeSean Jackson was supposed to end his holdout but has not returned to camp. Can you say Randy Moss? Just a thought.
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