@gardenman wrote:
@Spurt Picking up former Eagles, especially former Eagle safeties, is a very wise strategy. Those guys always seem to excel once they leave Philly. Quinton Demps, our 2008 draft pick is the starting safety for the Texans. Kurt Coleman, the Panthers starting safety was a 2010 draft pick. Patrick Chung, the Patriots starting safety was with the Eagles for one whole year before we cut him loose.
In fact fully half of the Patriots defensive backfield are recent Eagles with Eric Rowe, our 2015 second round pick now their starting cornerback.
You could make a pretty good team out of former Eagle players who are now in the playoffs and still playing. There's Demps, Chung, Rowe, Coleman, then there's Dion Lewis the Patriots runningback, Byron Maxwell the Dolphins Cornerback and Kiko Alonzo the Dolphins linebacker, Denzel Rice a corner for the Texans, Alejandro Villanueva the starting offensive tackle for the Steelers, Jeremy Maclin, the wide receiver for the Chiefs and Nick Foles the backup QB for the Chiefs, Nate Allen the Raiders safety, Austin Howard, the Raiders offensive tackle, Joique Bell, the Lions runningback, Clay Harbor, the Lions tight end, Mark Sanchez, the Cowboys backup QB, Cedric Thornton the Cowboys defensive tackle, Dominique Rodgers Cromartie, the Giants corner, Brad Wing the Giants punter and Danny Amendola, the Patriots Wide receiver.
And those are just the guys who are still in the playoffs. Include the former Eagles who were cast off, but missed the playoffs and you could make a pretty solid team. Our weakness this past season was our secondary, but then you look around the league at guys we cut who are excelling at those positions and you start to wonder about our talent evaluators.
The Eagles have quite a history of letting good players go, so if you have to pick up a player from another team, look to former Eagles first. We find lots of really good football players, but then we cut them loose and someone else benefits from them. I think the Jets, Bengals and Saints are the only three teams in the league without a former Eagle player on their rosters.
Put a DeSean Jackson, and Jeremy Maclin at wide receiver, put LeSean McCoy in the backfield spelled by Dion Lewis, and combine them with Carson Wentz, and that would be a scary offense. Our defense could use nearly any combination of the safeties/corners we've cut and have been better than what we fielded this year. You could make a team that's arguably better than the current Eagles team, from the guys we've cut or let leave. That's probably a sign that your personnel people aren't the best at what they do.
All summer from the first OTA's on, we kept hearing certain names as players who were standing out in the OTA's and training camp. They played great in the preseason games also. Then the season started and they were either cut, on the practice squad, or on the bench. It's the same thing every year. We get rid of guys who go on to great careers while we're still looking for guys to fill that role. It can drive you a little crazy as a fan.
@gardenman
It's a bit funny how a player discarded by one team can turn into a solid player or even a star with another.....and it's always fun when rival teams sign players from each other.....and when they meet up there's always that extra ooomph and edge that comes from playing a team that player was cut by, or told he wasn't worth the money the player wanted.....It does drive you crazy....especially when you wanted your team to re-sign that player but the organization didn't listen to the fans ....who sometimes seem to have a bit more sense then the front office ...
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