Teams Philadelphia Eagles - The Gold Standard

[Southerntakeover]

Can you please go follow Lesean/Desean and go support another team.

Quality post. Right on par with your usual level of contribution.

 

[Southerntakeover]

Ew, MLBs and knee injuries...tread with care....Lee, Hightower, Thomas Davis(x3), Cushing, Bowman, Mayo....and it's Alonso's second knee in last 5 years. Was terrific in his rookie season though.

From an Eagles perspective, Stewart Bradley brings back memories.

 

[rumply]

And there’s no question analytics were at work here, too. McCoy is only 26, but he has 1,761 touches in six years, and history is not kind to running backs once they’re 2,000 carries into their career.

Upon further review, LeSean McCoy trade makes sense
http://www.csnphilly.com/football-p...y-trade-makes-sense-kiko-alonso-buffalo-bills

I wanted to be outraged but I couldn’t be. I wanted to be furious but I wasn’t able to muster it up. I wanted to write a column that Chip Kelly has lost his mind, but the more I thought about it, the more I decided he hasn’t.

Let me start out by saying LeSean McCoy is one of my favorite guys. I love the passion he plays with. I love the swagger he brings to the locker room and the field. I love that he wants to be the best running back in the NFL and isn’t shy about talking about it.

But the bottom line is something has to change with this football team, and Jeff Lurie brought Chip Kelly here to change it.

And that’s what he’s doing.

And nobody ever said the process wasn’t going to be painful or uncomfortable or difficult.

McCoy isn’t even 27 yet, and he’s already the Eagles’ all-time leading rusher. But the one stat that kind of supplants that is that all those yards and touchdowns and big plays haven’t led to anything.

The Eagles have now gone six years without a playoff win. They’re one of only 13 NFL teams without a postseason victory since 2009.

Right there with teams like the Buccaneers, Bengals, Bills, Browns, Lions and Redskins.

Yeah, they win lots of regular-season games – 10 in each of Kelly’s first two years – but where has it led?

It’s tough to accept, but the Eagles haven’t been an upper-echeleon team in a decade. From 2000 through 2004, they were, but that’s a long time ago. The last 10 years have produced three playoff wins. One with Jeff Garcia in 2006 and two with Donovan McNabb in 2008.

And that’s it for a decade.

So why keep the status quo? Kelly understands that for change to be effective it has to be dramatic and substantive. His first two years, he kept most of the Andy Reid roster together and tried to win by tweaking here and there, and although it led to regular-season success, it didn’t lead to anything else.

It’s time to try something different.

Why can’t McCoy be part of the new-look Eagles? He could. Shady actually had a terrific season last year considering the offensive line injuries. The second half of the year, he was as productive as any back in the league, including DeMarco Murray.

But think about what Kelly gains by shipping him to Buffalo: A talented 24-year-old inside linebacker, $7 ½ million in cap space for what is promising to be a blockbuster free agency period and the opportunity to get younger at a position he values tremendously.

And there’s no question analytics were at work here, too. McCoy is only 26, but he has 1,761 touches in six years, and history is not kind to running backs once they’re 2,000 carries into their career.

When the Eagles were at their most successful, the first half of the 2000s, they were extremely successful in unloading players right when their production was about to decline. Which is right when their value is the greatest.

It’s no fun for fans seeing guys like Troy Vincent, Bobby Taylor, Duce Staley and Hugh Douglas shown the door, but if you can time it just right – and make the right call drafting their replacements – you can have tremendous success. Once Andy Reid stopped having success replacing those guys, the Eagles drifted down toward NFL mediocrity.

And they’re still there.

This is a tremendous running back draft, so the timing is right. Kelly will have the opportunity to replace McCoy with a younger, healthier version with nearly 2,000 fewer touches.

Will he draft the right guy? Will he replace Trent Cole and Todd Herremans and Brandon Graham and whatever other veterans he sheds in the next few weeks with the right guy?

It all comes back to how successful Kelly is as a GM.

And my gut feeling is that he’s going to be pretty good at this.

You don’t have the success Kelly has had – 46-7 at Oregon, 20-12 with the Eagles – without knowing personnel.

The Eagles have been treading water for too long now. That run in 2008 is now seven years in the past. Kelly has a vision for this football team, and he’s aggressively chasing that vision by shedding veterans and creating a tremendous amount of cap space. And a unique, aggressive vision is the only way this franchise will ever have a chance to achieve greatness.

How are the Eagles better today without LeSean McCoy on the roster?

It’s tough to accept. I’ll miss him in the locker room, I’ll miss him on the field, I’ll miss his humor and personality and those hilarious quotes and those explosive long runs at the end of games, more than any other back in history.

I'll miss after one of his monster games, when he'd find me in the locker room and flash that big smile and say something like, "Roob, how many yards I pick up on A.P.?" Or "What stats you got for me?"

So it's a sad day and a tough day. But a year or two from now, we’ll all see why such a difficult decision made perfect sense.


Tags:
LeSean Mccoy, Chip Kelly, kiko alonso, Philadelphia Eagles, Reuben Frank



E-mail Reuben Frank at rfrank@comcastsportsnet.com.

 

[Chadwiko]

Whilst facing teams completely selling out to stop the run.

So many people seem to fail to understand this; you had the absolute best down-field stretching wide receiver in the league completely opening up the field for you. With DeSean Jackson on the field, opposing defences basically have to keep deep safety coverage or it's good night Charlie.

It was very evident that once he left, teams were prepared to let the Eagles receiving corps of Maclin, Cooper and Matthews beat them in the air, and instead concentrated on containing the clear #1 offensive weapon on your roster; LeSean McCoy.

Now that McCoy is gone, unless you make a bold move that adds another star-calibre weapon to the offense from somewhere, opposing defences now really have no one to worry about.

 

[Zealbee]

So many people seem to fail to understand this; you had the absolute best down-field stretching wide receiver in the league completely opening up the field for you. With DeSean Jackson on the field, opposing defences basically have to keep deep safety coverage or it's good night Charlie.

It was very evident that once he left, teams were prepared to let the Eagles receiving corps of Maclin, Cooper and Matthews beat them in the air, and instead concentrated on containing the clear #1 offensive weapon on your roster; LeSean McCoy.

Now that McCoy is gone, unless you make a bold move that adds another star-calibre weapon to the offense from somewhere, opposing defences now really have no one to worry about.

If they draft Mariota they will though. Will be very interesting to see what the Eagles do in FA. Hopefully Chip has something big planned.

 

[Dagless]

And herein lies the inherent issue, that apparently we can purely ascribe 'star calibre weapon' to someone like Mariota.

Even if you're espousing that as a result of being with Kelly again, isn't the entire point that 'anyone can do it'?

 

[Zealbee]

And herein lies the inherent issue, that apparently we can purely ascribe 'star calibre weapon' to someone like Mariota.

Even if you're espousing that as a result of being with Kelly again, isn't the entire point that 'anyone can do it'?

I meant an offensive weapon, not a star calibre weapon. If they had Mariota teams would be selling out to stop him running which would open up favourable match ups for the rest of the offence IMO.

I'm not sold either way on which route the Eagles go at this point. Chip doesn't give anything away. He either thinks they are a few pieces away from being a Super Bowl team or they are way off and he's starting again.

 

[Dagless]

The point was McCoy forced teams to focus on the run. A first year rookie without much in the receiving department (ATM) isn't going to do much to actually challenge the defence. And to think Mariota can do what very few QBs are capable of in regards to running it is a fallacious hope. They're setting him up for failure despite his potential.

 

[Zealbee]

The point was McCoy forced teams to focus on the run. A first year rookie without much in the receiving department (ATM) isn't going to do much to actually challenge the defence. And to think Mariota can do what very few QBs are capable of in regards to running it is a fallacious hope. They're setting him up for failure despite his potential.

I think you're underestimating the offence a little bit.

 

[Dagless]

I'm laughing at the fact that people consider Mariota a legitimate offensive threat atm.

And I'm really really not. The system is exceedingly effective in regards to quick scoring but that's not really the discussion being had.

 

[Southerntakeover]

I think you're underestimating the offence a little bit.

How is he overestimating the offense?

Let's presume that we draft mariota. At current, we have:

Mariota, ??? (Polk), Cooper, Mathews, Huff? , Celek

On the field. That's the stuff nightmares are made of. My nightmares.

Of course, we won't give Ertz enough snaps to be a legit weapon because we want some quality blocking out of the TE. Equally, we will keep starting a sub par WR for his blocking. Unfortunately, it's not entirely clear who they'll be blocking for.

Let's make an undersized QB the focus of our attack through rushing. Nothing could go wrong. It's not like we tried this a few times with Vick in the last few years.

 

[kaiserchief13]

In the end this decision will show Kelly is much smarter than everyone else or he will be back in college in 1-2 years.

 

[Blacky]

At least if this is the wrong decision it will be a spectacular failure

 

[Zealbee]

How is he overestimating the offense?

Let's presume that we draft mariota. At current, we have:

Mariota, ??? (Polk), Cooper, Mathews, Huff? , Celek

On the field. That's the stuff nightmares are made of. My nightmares.

Of course, we won't give Ertz enough snaps to be a legit weapon because we want some quality blocking out of the TE. Equally, we will keep starting a sub par WR for his blocking. Unfortunately, it's not entirely clear who they'll be blocking for.

Let's make an undersized QB the focus of our attack through rushing. Nothing could go wrong. It's not like we tried this a few times with Vick in the last few years.

It all depends on free agency and the draft. At this point it's conjecture.

 

[Southerntakeover]

It all depends on free agency and the draft. At this point it's conjecture.

The 'it'll all work because chip spinkles his chip dust all over the offense' is conjecture.

That we currently have no star skill players under contract is fact.

 

[kaiserchief13]

I think Demaryius Thomas will become an Eagle. CJ Spiller too.

 

[Blacky]

Wash your mouth out

 

[Blacky]

Demaryius is tagged btw

 

[Zealbee]

The 'it'll all work because chip spinkles his chip dust all over the offense' is conjecture.

That we currently have no star skill players under contract is fact.

Noted. I'll wait till after free agency and the draft before giving up on the team.

 

[Southerntakeover]

Demaryius is tagged btw

Is it exclusive, or non exclusive tag?

 

[Blacky]

Non exclusive.

You don't have 2 firsts though from the sounds of things

 

[Southerntakeover]

Non exclusive.

You don't have 2 firsts though from the sounds of things

Pffft, if we can trade up to the #1 pick we can get two firsts.

 

[kaiserchief13]

Pffft, if we can trade up to the #1 pick we can get two firsts.

If the Eagles do try and get the #1 pick for Mariota Foles will obviously be traded but what would he be worth?

 

[sblack]

I would back Howie if he still had the power to get a 2nd at least. He got a 2nd for Kolb and McNabb

 

[kaiserchief13]

I would back Howie if he still had the power to get a 2nd at least. He got a 2nd for Kolb and McNabb

I think Arizona, Houston, Buffalo, NYJ, Cleveland, Tennessee, Denver (if Peyton retires), Tampa Bay and St Louis would all be in Foles if he were available. I think Eagles should be able to get at least 1st + 2nd round pick, if not 2 firsts.