SB Nation User Blog: yophillybro

JasonB quoted by ESPN - Ultimate Standings 2009

yophillybro — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:30:43 -0000

Our very own, JasonB was just quoted on ESPN.com in the article about Ultimate Standings 2009. Very interesting story about how the Eagles. Its a must read.

Last Year's Rank: 66
Title Track: 68
Ownership: 69
Coaching: 53
Players: 32
Fan Relations: 45
Affordability: 80
Stadium Experience: 74
Bang for the Buck: 39

Thanks to Cole Hamels & Co., Philly no longer anticipates losing. Great for Philly; not so much for the Eagles. Even after eviscerating the Cowboys 44-6 to make the playoffs, then sending the Vikes and Giants home, the Eagles still didn't get as much brotherly love (up 22 places) as you might have expected. Sheesh, tough crowd. What gives? Well, for one, the Linc has grown stale. "When it opened there were big open concourses near each end zone that were a great place to hang out, have a drink, commune with fans and still have a great view," says JasonB of Bleeding Green Nation. "However, two years ago they started selling standing room only tickets. Now the concourse is mobbed because people camp out there for a good spot the moment the stadium opens." Not stale are the crab fries ($7), which are still are a must. And bird fans find the sight lines of the city and field much more impressive than Andy Reid's decisionmaking (cough, benching McNabb, cough). Plain and simple: The way to please these fans is to win, damn it. Because we now know ties (13-13 against the Bengals) don't cut it.

Whats the best football movie ever?

yophillybro — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:47:25 -0000

I must admit, I have been extremely bored lately. And there hasn't been any significant Eagles news for some time. This is a really rough time of the seasons, and I have notice that this site has gotten significantly less responses to posts. Probrably because the everything is sooo slow. So lets pick up the pace a little and have some fun. Lets talk about whats the best football movie you have ever seen? Something that made you want to strap on the pads and run outside ready to know over the first street lamp you saw.

Lets have fun with this one guys.

Per Eskin, Eagles never offered Brown for Boldin, Rather it was vice versa!

yophillybro — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:20:25 -0000

Yes, Howard said that no one should believe the hype we are reading in all of the blogs. He said on Friday that the Eagles never offered Brown. And that those reports are not accurate. He said, per a source close to the team that the story is partially correct. Philadelphia offered picks only to Arizona for WR Anquan Boldin, but he said that Arizona was not interested. Rather they inquired on Sheldon Brown, and the Eagles refused the trade.

That means that we could have gotten Boldin for Brown, and kept our pick. Wow, we kept a disgruntled CB while having an opportunity to get a stud WR. I think Sheldon has a legitimate change of getting his deal redone, if he shuts his mouth and plays well next year. He may be our most solid CB and he's a heck of a leader. Why would we keep him unless we knew we could make him happy. Imagine, they turned down Boldin for him.

That speaks volumes as to how the Eagles feel about Brown. I think that the Eagles don't like to get bullied publicly about contracts. As that opens up a Pandora's Box of problems with other players asking for new deals. But in this case, we had a chance to upgrade our team and move Brown in the same move. I think the Eagles can still save face by rewarding Brown with a slightly better deal at the end of the year. They will come off as a more personable team that looks out for their players. After all, Westbrook was public about his beef, and still got his deal done. You have to be able to produce, and be a good person, and the Eagles will meet you half way if you shut your pie hole.

I think Sheldon is getting a new deal eventually with the Eagles.

Is the UFL the future NFL developmental league?

yophillybro — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:21:46 -0000

I have to admit, I am really intruiged by the concept of the UFL. It is pioneered by ex NFL executives. It already has major NFL ex coaches: Dennis Green, Jim Haslet, Jim Fassel.

The concept behind the league is awsome. It will play its game during fall, simultaneous to the NFL season, it will feature undrated guys, and it will try to lure players from the NFL who don't want to ride the pine. It give the the opportunity to showcase their skills and try to move up the NFL roster depth chart.

If they can maintain a strong level of competition, it will be respected and viewed. Lets look at what when wrong with other former Leagues.

#1 XFL - This league was a joke from day one, that whole WWE approuch did not translate well to a good league. The level of competition was poor and the games were played in the spring

#2 AFL- Scoring is way tooo high, it like watching a basket ball game. Very little defensive matchups and strategy is not showcased like the NFL. I will never watch an AFL game, because its hard to root for a TD when you have like 9 in a game.

#3 World League, NFL Europa - Never televised consistantly, decent level of competition, but did not receive support overseas. I actually liked this league and don't understand why it failed. We were never able to follow the teams too well, and games were broadcasted in the spring. Another No No.

This league has an interesting concept, teams will actually honor unofficially the NFL. Teams can only use players from designated NFL divisions. Example, if you want to sign a player from the NFL, a team like Orlando will have to select players from the NFC south.

Will NFL players jump ship? If so, who? I can imagine Kolb may want to sign with a team in this league. Gives him a chance to prove that he should start.

Will the NFL adopt this league as an official developmental league? I hope so.

The most important question, do you want a Philadelphia franchise?

Will you watch and support this league?

Poll

Will you watch this league?

yes

49 votes

No

27 votes

76 votes | Poll has closed

Mac and Jack, starting game 1?

yophillybro — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:31:07 -0000

I read a post on GCobb.com that got me thinking. Is Curtis going to be ready before the begining of the season? I highly doubt it, if thats the case, who starts along side DJax? Will it be Reggie Brown, or does he get traded or cut before then? Will it be Slot specialist Jason Avant? I think he's not well suited for the outside? I'm not sure if Hank Basket makes the team, Brandon Gibson is supposed to be a really good receiver. Wouldn't surprise me to see Hank get cut. Than that leaves us with all-world rookie Jeremy Maclin. The word is that the coaches have been riding Maclin, making sure he is ready to play. Maybe they expect him to start along side DJax game 1. If so, Curtis is gonna have to play the slot coming back. I think he is cut next year because of his contract.

All time underated 53 roster.

yophillybro — Mon, 04 May 2009 14:52:11 -0000

In luie of the post of the list of the schfiffty three. Of course we know what he meant by that title. That list compiled all time Eagles stiffs. I had fun on that list, thinking of some real stiffs. While thinking of bad players, I cam to remember some great guys. I thought it would be fun to think of some of the all time most underated players roster. Of course, you don't need to do an actually 53 man roster. But just help to compile who would be the all time most underated players for the Eagles. At the end I will compile a 53 man roster of these names.

Lets try to keep it oldschool, but if we can't find any one, we will use a current player who is underrated.

I'll start with a few names.

QB- Jim McMahon,

RB- Charlie Garner, Vaughn Hebron, Anthony Toney

FB- Kevin Turner

WR- Calvin Williams, Fred Barnett

TE- Chad Lewis,

OL- Lester Holmes, Joe Panos, David Alexander, Jermaine Mayberry,

DL- William Fuller, Andy Harmon, Keith Millard, Clyde Simmons

LB- Mike Caldwell, William Thomas, Ike Reese, Frank Lamaster

S- Michael Zordich, Tim Hauck, Quinten Mikell,

CB- Mark Mcmillian

Under consideration
Sheldon Brown, Bobby Taylor?

(Did they play too much, where they recognized?)

K- Roger Ruzek,

Under conisideration

Chris Boniol?

P- Jeff Feagels.

KR/PR- Vai Sikahema

[Updates are made in italic, Suggestions are made via comments, and updates are made to our roster]

*If you disagree with a player on this roster, please tell me why we should remove them from the roster. And I will remove them if you provide reason why they should be cut from our team. I will be updating the article regularly with these request.

Kevin Curtis, not our future slot receiver.

yophillybro — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:43:26 -0000

I know many people get excited thinking of the prospect of Maclin becoming our number 1 reciever. With Jackson being a solid number 2, and Curtis and Avant in the slot.

Well Eagles fan, don't get too used to it. I just looked at Kevins contract. And it spells trouble for him after next year. See for your self:

Year	Cap Value	Base Salary	Proration	Other Bonus	Dead $ If Cut
2007	6,336,453	1,000,000	333,333	5,003,120	0
2008	3,833,333	1,900,000	333,333	1,600,000	1,666,666
2009	2,333,333	1,900,000	333,333	100,000	1,333,333
2010	4,833,333	3,400,000	333,333	1,100,000	1,000,000
2011	5,726,453	4,000,000	333,333	1,393,120	666,666
2012	7,341,453	6,000,000	333,333	1,008,120	333,333
Signed as a free agent for 6 years, $26,700,000 in the 2007 offseason. The deal included a 2M signing bonus, a 5M roster bonus in 2007, a 1.5M roster bonus in 2008, a 1M roster bonus each year from 2010-2012, a 100K workout bonus each year from 2008-2010, and a 385K LTBE incentive in 2011.

Pay special attention to year 2010 and up, I put it in bold to make it easier to find. Also, notice how little prorated guaranteed money he is due, I put that in italics.

Basically, unless Kevin reworks his deal, I doubt we keep a 5 million dollar slot receiver for 2010.

Maybe the Eagles had that in mind when they drafted Maclin. If you recall, Andy praised Crabtree and Harvin, and Tom Heckard warned us that we would draft a RB past the first. My guess is, if Maclin wasn't there, they were going to take Harvin to replace Curtis past this year. But since Maclin slipped, it made it an easier pick for them.

There is no way Kevin stays for that kind fo money, also consider, his money is not guaranteed.

The Greatest trade never made

yophillybro — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:43:52 -0000

Thank goodness our front office doesn’t listen us average fans. I recall last year we were all banging down the door for a trade with Detroit for WR Roy Williams. Yes, I will admit, I thought that would be a good idea at the time. But the Eagles kept their ground, and went into the season with Jackson as a starter.

Let’s examine what the Dallas Cowboys gave up for Roy Williams:

1st round #20, 20th overall: Detroit selected TE Brandon Pettigrew.

ESPN grade 93, ranked 16th best player in the draft.

3rd round #18, 82nd overall: Detroit selected WR Derrick Williams.

ESPN grade 82, ranked 56th best player in the draft.

If you disagree with pick, you had other players available that could have been selected:

(WR Ramses Bardem, TE Jared Cook, TE Chase Coffman, LB Kaluka Maiava, S Rashad Johnson, etc)

6th round #19, 192nd overall: Detroit selected RB Aaron Brown

ESPN grade 44, ranked 184th best player in the draft.

Dallas also included a 7th round pick for the 2010 draft, just to top things off.

That is a lot to give up for a marginally decent WR don’t you think.

If we had made that trade, It would have cost us:

1st round pick (WR Jeremy Maclin or LT Jason Peters)

3rd round pick (traded for next year 3rd rounder, we’ll wait and see who they select then)

We could have selected,

(WR Ramses Bardem, TE Jared Cook, TE Chase Coffman, LB Kaluka Maiava, S Rashad Johnson, etc)

6th round pick (WR Brandon Gibson)

For the sake of argument, could you imagine us trading away Jeremy Maclin or Jason Peters, Chase Coffman, and Brand Gibson for Roy Williams. We would have been asking for Andy’s head right now.

Again I repeat this, Thank goodness he doesn’t listen to us. We as fans are often wrong.

Draft breakdown.

yophillybro — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:34:58 -0000

The Eagles have done something that we are all guilty of. What’s that you might ask? Shop discount! But I mean that in the best of ways.

Have you ever wanted that pair of Ralph Lauren slacks, but just figured you didn’t want to drop $75.00 on it. So what do you do? You take a ride over to Ross or Marshals, and you riffle through the isles. Then all of the sudden, just out the corner of your eyes you spot it, those very same slacks. Only now you only have to pay $19.99, same slacks, just way cheaper. Is it bad that you paid less? Or is it prudent?

This weeks draft showed me that the Eagles are very prudent on how they draft. Let’s talk value for a minute.

Lets use the ESPN grading system to review each picks.

1st round pick, Pick 19, WR Jeremy Maclin.

ESPN grade 95

ESPN rank 7th best player

Notes: Maclin was the lowest draft player with a 95 rating. Next lowest pick was Brian Orakpo (rated 95, went 13). Maclin should have left no later than 9. A steal at 19!

2nd round pick, Pick 53, RB Lesean McCoy

ESPN grade 88

ESPN rank 34th best player

Notes: Although not as complete a RB as Knowshon Moreno, due to Moreno’s blocking skills (grade 95), but certainly as good, if not better runner. Donald Brown was graded an 89, he was a first rounder. McCoy was graded 88, should have been a late first rounder or early second.

There would have been no complaints if we would have drafted Donald Brown @ 21 or even McCoy at that same spot. Yet we got him in the second @ 53. Another steal!

5th round pick, pick 153, TE Cornelius Ingram

ESPN grade 86

ESPN rank 40th best player

Notes: ESPNs 2nd highest ranked TE, Brandon Pettigrew rated 93, Jared Cook rated 83, Chase Coffman rated 74. It's a surprise he was selected so low. I know mockingthedraft has Cook and Coffman above him, but ESPN had Ingram as a 2nd rounder (factoring in the injury). This may be the steal of the draft. He was by far the lowest drafted player with a 86 rating. Next closest 86 rated player drafted was Rashad Johnson S drafted by the Cardinals @ 95. This is a Lexus car, purchased at Pontiac price. Andy should have got arrested for that one.

5th round pick, pick 157, CB/S Victor Harris

ESPN grade 66

ESPN rank 107th best player

Notes: His hit tape calls him a shut down CB, and says that he was projected as a first rounder, but should slip to the second. Also mockingthedraft has him projected as a second rounder as well. ESPN disagrees a little with those reports, ESPN rated him as a 4th rounder. But still in many peoples opinion, a good pick for value here.

We also drafted Brandon Gibson, who Todd McShay said was the steal of the 6th round. Mockingthedraft had him ranked higher that a 6th rounder, his grade with ESPN was 60, not that grade a grade but he was rank 120th best player, and a projected as a 4th rounder. Then we have Fenuki Tupou, we was graded 62 by ESPN, and ranked 119, also projected a 4th rounder. Finally I will review Moises Fokou, he was graded 44 by ESPN, (not good by any stretch of the imagination) but still was ranked 183rd best player, and was projected as an early 6th rounder. I was not impressed by the pick of Paul Fanaika, he was drafted around where he was projected, he only bench pressed 24. He will likely not make the team.

Expect Tupou and Gibson to compete with Justice and Basket respectively.

We did a good job of not over drafting as well. We did not just pick a player because we had a pick. This would have caused many players to get cut, rather we traded a ton of picks to help out next year. Great job Andy, great job.

This may be the year to trade down, again!

yophillybro — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:49:03 -0000

I know that most Eagles fans don’t want to hear that. Trade down, are you crazy? Again? Are we ever going to draft a first rounder? But this year it may make more sense than ever.

Let’s look at some of the positions of need for this team going into the draft.

RB, TE, S, WR, SLB, C

Now lets say that they love Moreno, if he goes higher than 15, then we know that they are OK with Donald Brown. But you won’t draft Donald Brown @ 21. There is no S, TE, WR SLB, C worth drafting at 21. If you believe that you can’t correct that Sheldon Brown ordeal, you may consider Sean Smith CB from Utah at 21. But other than that, there are no other players that make sense here.

That is why the Eagles may trade down, to the early first round, and use what ever additional picks received in that trade to move up that # 53 pick to a high to mid/high second round pick.

In essence, you can trade # 21 & #53 for something like # 36 and #40. Of course, this would require 2 trades. We must first trade #21 for a pick like #36, and whatever we got for #21 we can use that to package it with #53 to get to #40.

You can get Donald Brown, and Luis Delmas/ William Moore (or maybe Vontae Davis if he slips that far) or basically anyone else you like as a high second rounder.

Sure beats drafting Donald Brown and Chase Coffman. Although, I must say, I love Chase Coffman. The point is that you get the same guy you are targeting in the first round, and you are afforded the opportunity to move higher in the second round, giving you a better player.

Basically, if Moreno goes, expect us to move out Again.