Alright folks, the draft is around the corner and it's time to fine tune those mocks, make any last minute changes and post them here. Those of you who don't know, before I became a boss I did this competition in the "Fanposts" section. I usually do this a week or two before the draft but decided to do a 48 hour entry period due to this being on the front page this time. More exposure = more entries. No need for an extended period of time. Also, this gives us a chance to enter our most up-to-date mocks.

Last year, our winner was andyreidswaistline who correctly predicted the selections of Danny Watkins, Alex Henery, Jaiquawn Jarrett, and Brian Rolle. You can see the results here. He called a repeat this year so who's going to prove him wrong? Everyone who has posted mocks in the fanposts already, just post those here as well.

Entry Period: 12 pm EST 4/24/2012(Today) - 12 pm EST 4/26/2012(Thursday)

Explanation, rules, and instructions after the jump.

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It's a sad day.

The Lord has blessed me to play in the NFL for 16 years. I would like to thank the Eagles & the Broncos 4 ... tmi.me/oOdDW

— Brian Dawkins (@BrianDawkins) April 23, 2012

Brian Dawkins has announced his retirement after 15 seasons in the NFL. Drafted in the second round in 1996 by the Eagles, he played for Philadelphia until 2009 when he signed with the Denver Broncos as a free agent. He will be finishing his career as one of the greatest safeties to ever play the game. 1146 total tackles, 26 sacks, 37 interceptions, 36 forced fumbles, 9x Pro-Bowler, 6x All-Pro, NFC Champion, and the tenth member of the 20/20 club. Yeah, I would say it's a Hall of Fame career. Stats and accolades aside, nobody was a better leader, teammate, and probably person in my opinion to wear an NFL jersey. He epitomized how a football player should be on and off the field. He was universally liked and deserved to be.

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According to Jeff McLane of The Inquirer via an NFL source, the Eagles are set to hire Todd Bowles as secondary coach. Juan Castillo will also be retained as Defensive Coordinator. The team will meet with Bowles today and Andy Reid will hold his first press conference tomorrow since the win against the Redskins on January 1^st. Bowles would be replacing Johnnie Lynn who was fired earlier this month. The Eagles also tried to interview Bowles for the open Defensive Coordinator position last off-season but Miami blocked it.

If hired, he will be bringing 22 years of NFL experience with him. Eight of those years as a player. He had coaching stints with the Jets(DB coach), Browns(Defensive Nickel Package Coach/Secondary), Cowboys(Secondary), and the Dolphins(Secondary/Interim Head coach). He was named interim head coach of the Dolphins on December 18, 2011 for their final three games. He finished 2-1 with the lone loss coming against the Patriots. After the season, Bowles interviewed with the Dolphins and Raiders for their head coaching positions but the offers instead went to Joe Philbin and Dennis Allen respectively. He will now be expected to significantly improve the Eagles secondary which seriously under-performed this past season.

As for Castillo, Reid obviously felt Castillo and the defense improved over the course of the season which earned him at least another year as Defensive Coordinator. According to Reuben Frank, Andy Reid never seriously considered replacing Juan Castillo. I guess all the expectations and speculations were all for naught.

More on this story later as it gets officially announced.

Update by Route36 [January 30, 2012 4:06 PM] It's official. Andy Reid will meet the media tomorrow at noon.

Most of the "Fire Andy, Keep Andy" debates have already taken place after the Seahawks loss but I wanted to wait until the Eagles were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention before writing my thoughts. Since that loss, the Eagles followed up with three straight convincing victories. Naturally, after those wins some people felt that maybe this team just took a while to gel and Reid earned another year as head coach. I’m not one of those people. However you want to spin it, this season has been a disaster. Make no mistake about that. Eagles are 7-8. Seven and frickin’ eight. The team that we the fans, the media, and Vegas thought would be playing in the Superbowl could not even make the playoffs. If the NFC East wasn’t so bad this year, it would’ve been a lot worse. Now, I want to state that I don’t think he will be fired after the season and that I believe he will be back for at least another year. He will be brought back for various reasons but for me, the reasons to fire him are greater than the ones to retain him.

I want to start by saying I genuinely do love Andy Reid. I think he’s a "heckuva" football coach and person. He turned this franchise around into a powerhouse for most of the past decade. He grew as a coach(and not just around the waistline) as I grew into my teenage years. I started watching the Eagles at about 8 or 9 years old in Ray Rhodes’ final season here (3-13). I remember that season clearly because the Eagles had three quarterbacks starting throughout the year. Bobby Hoying was the worst QB I’ve ever seen play, next to Mark Sanchez(half-joking). The defense however, had some damn good players and played well. I didn’t fully understand the game then and didn’t go through years of mediocrity like some of you have but I still knew what a truly terrible team looked like. Out went Rhodes, in came Reid and I haven't seen a terrible Eagles team since.

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"It ain’t over till it’s over" as the great Yogi Berra once said. As long as the Eagles are not mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, I am still going to hold out hope that the Eagles will make the playoffs. To be honest, I thought it was over after the loss to the Niners that dropped the Eagles to 1-3 and started thinking about our next head coach. I thought it was even more over after the loss to the Bills and was certain Reid will be gone after the season. Then I looked around the NFC East and the entire NFC. Other than the Packers, Lions and Saints, who else look like top notch teams? The Giants, Bucs, Bears, Atlanta and the Eagles included, all embarrassed themselves this past week. It’s pretty much a given that one of the wild card spots is going to a team in the NFC North(Lions or Packers). That leaves the division and one wild card spot up for grabs between seven teams. I believe those teams are the Redskins(3-1), Giants(3-2), Bucs(3-2), Cowboys(2-2), Falcons(2-3), Bears(2-3), and the Eagles(1-4). Why the Eagles and not the Seahawks(2-3) or any of the other 1-4 teams you ask? Well…the Eagles have something the rest of them don’t and that’s elite talent up and down the roster.

Seriously, this has to be the most talented 1-4 team in the history of football. It’s mostly mistakes and poor coaching that put the Eagles in this position. Mistakes (drops, missed tackles, and turnovers) can be reduced and coaching can get better (Both Castillo and Reid). The Eagles have dug such a deep hole for themselves that it’s going to take badger-like digging ability to get out of it. The odds are extremely against them. Since the current playoff format was adopted, 110 teams have opened the season 1-4. Only five of them made the playoffs with the Packers being the most recent back in 2004. That’s a 4.5 percent success rate. Also, the 2008 Chargers made the playoffs after recovering from a 4-8 hole to win the division at 8-8. At this point, the Eagles have to be dependent on other teams’ failures in addition to turning their own ship around.

Analysis of the NFC and poll after the jump….

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A day after Vick made his frustrations about late hits known after Sunday's game, he backtracks on his comments and vows not to complain about getting hit again.

"The refs have to do their jobs, and they have tons of things to look over," Vick said Monday. "I was kind of out of character and being too candid in that aspect. Ultimately, I have respect for the referees and their decision to make calls. You won't hear me complaining about it no more."

Vick's comments have been widely talked about in the media and it's still questionable whether or not other quarterbacks get more calls than he does. Honestly, I didn't have a problem with what he said. He was rightfully emotional after a tough loss and didn't say anything too harsh. Even though I think he didn't say anything wrong, it's still commendable that he retracted the statement and showed respect. He let the league know his thoughts and will be moving forward. 

The Eagles did what was expected of them (well…by us fans at least) and pummeled the Rams last Sunday. However, the game did raise a bit of concern over the run defense. The Rams finished the game with 154 rushing yards including a 47 yard Steven Jackson TD. They only rushed twice for 11 yards in the 4^th quarter because of the large deficit so most of the damage was done in the first three. When watching the game live, I thought our run defense the entire game was terrible and I was blaming Casey Matthews for most of it. Matthews didn’t have a good game and is still not looking to be starting material but he was not the only reason for the struggles. After reviewing the game tape, things weren’t as bad as they first seemed. For this breakdown, I compiled the clips for every running play that the Rams ran against the Eagles. I will be focusing mostly on the linebackers because in this Wide-9 scheme, they are the primary run defenders. Just in case you missed it, here is the one I did on Todd Herremans a couple weeks ago(who did a fine job at RT for his first start). I’ll try to do one of these every week.

Snap-by-snap analysis after the jump…

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After six seasons of playing a vast majority of his snaps at left guard, big Todd has been moved to right tackle. A lot of people (including me) speculated the move but I honestly didn't think Mudd would go through with it. On the bright side, it allows him to put his most athletic and arguably most talented front five on the field together. It also comes at a price of breaking up the best LT/LG combination in the NFL. Evan Mathis has been called upon to take his place and I’m confident he will do very well there. That’s his natural position and he did a good job whenever called upon. According to Pro Football Focus, Mathis played a total of 762 snaps(648 of them in ‘09) at LG the last two seasons which included 7 starts. In that period, he gave up just 5 QB hits, 4 pressures, and 0 sacks. He graded even better at run blocking. The Bengals are one of the worst run organizations in football so not surprised that they didn’t see the potential in him. Now, we know Mathis can play at guard but the question is can Herremans play a full season at right tackle?

First off, if you’ve ever seen Todd in person or even in games, you’ll wonder why he hasn’t been a tackle. This past training camp, I stood about 20 feet away from him when he came over to meet some of his family in a tent in front of me. Dude is built like a thick 6’6 tight end. He has the frame, arms and athletic ability of a tackle. His last two experiences at tackle were against the Chargers where he started in place of an injured Peters and against the Falcons when he slid to LT for an injured Peters mid-game. I was originally going to do a film breakdown of the entire Chargers game but then decided to just edit the first half due to time constraints. FYI, if you’ve never tried cutting a two hour video into a 10 minute clip, it’s a bitch! I do however, talk about his performance in the second half and the Falcons game as well. Just a reminder that this is a small sample size and it’s just to show that Herremans has the ability to play tackle. Whether or not he can do it on the right side and for a full season is still pretty much unknown.

Film and snap-by-snap analysis after the jump...

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The loss against the Steelers was a tough one to watch even though it was just a pre-season game. Andy Reid is only one of five active coaches to have a losing pre-season record. At 19-31, he has the worst but we all know it’s a different story when the games count. You don’t try to win these games but with a totally revamped defense lead by a new defensive staff, you need to see your players execute on the field. In one half of play, the starters gave up 262 yards (169 passing/93 rushing), 21 points, 16 first downs including 9-12 third downs conversions and displayed poor performance in the redzone allowing the Steelers to go 2-2 with both touchdowns coming on 20 yard passes. Just an all-around horrible performance.

Offensively, it wasn’t any better but they were going against the Steelers after all. Their defense came to play after the atrocious showing against the Redskins where they gave up 452 yards to Rex Grossman and Co. The offense ended the half with just 71 total yards(43 passing/28 rushing), 0 points, only 5 first downs, 1-3 on third down, possessed the ball for just under 7 minutes and didn’t even sniff the redzone. I can’t remember a worse pre-season first half in Andy Reid’s tenure. Anyway, it’s time to move forward and look towards a better performance versus the Browns on Thursday night. I’m going to highlight the players I believe struggled against the Steelers and players that performed very well and need to maintain that level of play.

Step Your Game Up! (OFFENSE)     

QB Michael Vick – Stats – 5/12 – 47 yards – 3.9 avg – 0 TD – 3 INT – 13.5 QB Rating

After a fantastic series against the Ravens, Vick did his best Eli Manning impersonation for an entire half versus the Steelers. His three interceptions were just plain bad. His first one where he tried a downfield pass to Riley Cooper, it seemed like he didn’t look at anyone except Cooper. Got the snap, saw Cooper beat his man and just let it go. Forget looking off the safety, he didn’t even bother to acknowledge him. His second INT was on a throw that was behind Hall and into an area with four Steelers around him. It was a 3 man rush from the Steelers and Vick had all day to throw the ball. There was plenty of grass to his right. He could have rolled out, draw a linebacker, and then pass it. He could have just rushed to his right and pick up a few yards. He could also have checked down to Schmitt. Instead, he made the worst decision possible in that situation. His third INT occurred when Clark came on a safety blitz. Vick did a good job evading it, bought some time, and made another poor throw towards Celek which was tipped by Woodley and dropped right into Polamalu’s hands. He didn’t get enough air under the ball. There were two other near picks which were both headed towards Polamalu’s direction. That guy is always around the ball. Vick needs to have a good showing against Cleveland and I believe he will. 

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In the 2010-11 season, there were a few Eagles that enjoyed their breakout seasons. Unfortunately, those of you that have read my post on this subject last year, I didn’t do a great job predicting who those players would be. My candidates last year were Jeremy Maclin, Lesean McCoy, Kevin Kolb, Max Jean-Gilles and Durant Brooks. Hey, going 2 for 5 is still very good……..in baseball. A couple of Eagles(Brent Celek and Winston Justice) who had breakout seasons in 2009, regressed and incurred down years in 2010. What exactly is a breakout player? My definition below…

Breakout Player:

A non-rookie(typically young) that had his best season by an overwhelming margin compared to his previous year/s in the league.

The following players’ performance fit the criteria…

• Jeremy Maclin: In 2010, he caught 14 more balls, had 191 more yards, 6 more touchdowns and 11 more first down catches. He was our best receiver in the redzone which is an area the Eagles seriously struggled the previous year. His 11 red-zone catches were tied for 9^th best in the NFL. Seven of his 10 touchdowns occurred in the red-zone. Some people believe he is already our best pure WR or will be in the near future. At the rate Jeremy is progressing, it might not take that long to make the distinction. 

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Last night, the Eagles continued their free agent frenzy but this time it was out of necessity. With injuries to Mike Patterson(AVM), Trevor Laws (hip flexor or boo boo), Victor Abiamiri(unspecified, probably a paper cut. Update: Eskin says torn ACL. Update 2: McLane confirms it's Achilles tendon, not ACL) and now Antonio Dixon(mild knee sprain), defensive tackle is very thin for the Eagles. It is so thin that Cedric Thornton is the only DT practicing with Jenkins not being able to practice until the new league year starts after 4 pm today. The Eagles replenished the position by signing defensive tackles Anthony Hargrove and Derek Landri to one year deals.

Hargrove, 28, has played in 87 games(25 starts) for the Rams, Bills, and Saints. In his career so far, he racked up 155 tackles and 16.5 sacks. He has played snaps at both defensive tackle and end. He was suspended the entire 2008 season due to repeated substance abuse violations but is now supposedly a changed man. Hargrove can play well as he proved with the 2009 world champion Saints. That year, he played in all 16 games(started six), accumulated 42 tackles and 5 sacks. He is a solid run defender that can pressure the quarterback and could be a good fit with Washburn.

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Some terrible news coming out of Lehigh today. Mike Patterson, 27, collapsed into a seizure yesterday in yesterday morning's practice not due to the heat but a brain AVM (arteriovenous malformation). Team officials say this generally requires surgery or radiation. Some research at this medical website reveal the following information on AVM. 

An AVM is a tangle of abnormal and poorly formed blood vessels (arteries and veins). They have a higher rate of bleeding than normal vessels. AVMs can occur anywhere in the body.The cause is not known. AVMs are thought to be due to abnormal development of blood vessels in utero and may be present since birth. They are very rare and occur in less than 1% of the general population. 

They can occur in people of all races and sexes in almost equal proportions. The typical time of discovery is between the ages of 20 and 40 years.

Treatment is offered is to try to prevent bleeding from the AVM. Bleeding may injure the surrounding brain resulting in a stroke , with possible permanent disability or even death. The risk of bleeding is 4% per year, which means that 4 out of every 100 people with an AVM will have a bleed (hemorrhage) during any one year. Symptoms are seizures, headeaches, stroke-like behavior, and bleeding(the most severe). Thankfully, Rick Burholder said Wednesday that tests reveal no bleeding to the brain. 

We still don't when or even if he'll be cleared to return to the Eagles. Patterson, our 1st round pick out of USC back in 2005, played in 95 games(84 starts) and has been a consistent run stopping force in the middle for the past six seasons. Reports state he lost about 20 pounds and was looking great in camp.  We can only hope and pray for his quick recovery. 

Update: Team Serbia has brought to my attention the following statement by Mike Patterson's agent.

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