Wellness

[teganslaw]

I did more checking, and stand corrected: this is a different Andre Johnson. "Magic" did have a son named Andre born in 1981, and a few links took me to Andre Johnson of the Colts. However, he was drafted by the NFL in 2003. The son of "Magic" worked as marketing director for MJ Enterprises as of 2005, therefore it couldn't be the same person. Still would have been interesting if it were true.

[gardenman]

What do you know? Twenty four whole hours have passed without the Eagles making another big move. On a serious note, Philadelphia had a police officer get shot and killed recently and Chip Kelly went to the viewing yesterday with a signed football from the Eagle organization for the officer's nine year old son. There was no Eagle photographer there and Chip tried to sneak in and out without notice

[Spurt]

On 3/13/2015 teganslaw said:

I did more checking, and stand corrected: this is a different Andre Johnson. "Magic" did have a son named Andre born in 1981, and a few links took me to Andre Johnson of the Colts. However, he was drafted by the NFL in 2003. The son of "Magic" worked as marketing director for MJ Enterprises as of 2005, therefore it couldn't be the same person. Still would have been interesting if it were true.

Hey TEGAN ....well I do know an NBA/football father and son combo.....college football this time.....NBA Hall If Famer (and former Spur) David Robinson's son, Corey is a wide receiver, sophomore at Notre Dame....he's pretty good and of course his height is an asset! David's youngest son is going to play basketball at Duke.

I think the Redskin's picked up some solid free agent additions,
DL Stephen Paea, CB Chris Culliver, and NT "Pot Roast" Terrance Knighton (sorry Tegan)--we had an inside track with Knighton since he is a friend of Redskin Chris Baker and was in town to serve as best man at Baker's wedding....Baker said he deserves some compensation for helping to negotiate the deal..... And the friendship deal could pay off further for another sport since Knighton is also friends with NBAer Kevin Durant.....who could be headed into the free agent market soon and has been rumored he would like to play for his hometown team, the Wizards....

The Redskins also have a visit scheduled with former Seahawk SS Jeron Johnson....

Sad news since Orakpo signed with the Titans...he was one of the good guys and team leaders for the Redskins...but with his injury history the deal didn't happen...Good Luck Rak!

[Spurt]

On 3/14/2015 gardenman said:

What do you know? Twenty four whole hours have passed without the Eagles making another big move. On a serious note, Philadelphia had a police officer get shot and killed recently and Chip Kelly went to the viewing yesterday with a signed football from the Eagle organization for the officer's nine year old son. There was no Eagle photographer there and Chip tried to sneak in and out without notice

Well GARDENMAN

Gee not even an Eagle deal for a new punter or place kicker....I bet you wish the season would start tomorrow.....don't you . I love love love that you took Murray from the Cowboys . It should be a very interesting to see how all the new pieces fit for the Eagles and IF Bradford can stay healthy (I think that is the key here). When he first came out Bradford was very good....it was the injury bug that hurt him in more ways than one...And let's see if McFadden can produce in Dallas, he was an underachiever in Oakland...but again it's the Raiders.....although the Cowboys have a good oline, let's see if McFadden can hold up to the pounding because they need their running game to keep their defense off the field, although their D played better than expected they still have some weaknesses...And not a whole lot of confidence when Dez texts Michael Irvin when hearing the news Murray is visiting the Eagles and asks what are we doing.... Only Jerrah knows Dez...only Jerrah knows...

That was a very nice thing that Chip did for the slain officer's son......

And we will have to wait and see what happens with Mariota....I just hope to God the Redskins do NOT take him....he's another RGIII that needs lots of work to adopt to the NFL style of play....unless he goes to Chip's system which would make the transition easier and fit more with his style....

As for Palmer in AZ....he is up there in age and then the injuries.....so they definitely need a solid QB....which there seems to be shortage in both free agency and the draft....

[Txblond]

Hi Spurt - FYI, I don't think "Jerrah" is running the whole show these days - he would have spent any amt. of money, probably, on DeMarco - It is widely believed that his son, Stephen, is now in charge of player personnel & doesn't make such rash moves as his Dad. The online news seems to be of the opinion that McFadden is a good pickup for us (who knows).

As for DeMarco, good riddance & may he fumble, fumble & fumble - LOL!

Hi Rosie & G-Man! I'm still alive & kickin'!

[Spurt]

On 3/14/2015 Txblond said:

Hi Spurt - FYI, I don't think "Jerrah" is running the whole show these days - he would have spent any amt. of money, probably, on DeMarco - It is widely believed that his son, Stephen, is now in charge of player personnel & doesn't make such rash moves as his Dad. The online news seems to be of the opinion that McFadden is a good pickup for us (who knows).

As for DeMarco, good riddance & may he fumble, fumble & fumble - LOL!

Hi Rosie & G-Man! I'm still alive & kickin'!

Hi TXBLOND-it sounds like the front offices of our respective teams finally wised up and decided to turn football operations to people that really know what they are doing?

And it just saddens me to think of last year's draft when Jerry had Johnny Manziel written on the card to bring up to the podium as the Cowboy's selection but higher minds prevailed and they took Zack Martin instead..OH WHAT COULD'VE BEEN!!!..And even the notion of the importance of building an offensive line first.....something that my team is still working on......SIGH!!!

And players from going from one NFC East team to another makes our Division VERY INTERESTING indeed! When the Cowboys play the Eagles I don't want you Boyz fans and Gardenman to get too wild now....

Have a good weekend!

PSSST GARDEMAN have the Eagles thought about getting some stick 'em for DeMarco...ya know to help with the fumbling....

[gardenman]

Hi Txblond! Nice to see you back! I'm pretty sure Jerry wasn't thrilled about losing DeMarco. Reportedly he wanted to go up to seven million a year in a counteroffer, but Stephen said no and he ended up agreeing and now DeMarco is in Philly. If Dallas implodes badly this year and DeMarco has a big year we might just see Jerry take back control.

SPURT. Stick-um is illegal and with the new gloves players use these days it's pretty much unnecessary. Some of those new gloves are better than stick-um. I saw a guy demonstrating a new glove material that put his hand down flat atop a football and then lift the ball with nothing but the adhesion between the glove and the ball surface. I'm not sure you couldn't climb walls using some of those new gloves. That's why we're seeing so many spectacular one handed grabs anymore. If the ball hits the glove, it pretty much sticks to the glove. Every back will fumble from time to time (McCoy had three fumbles last year) but an advantage to the Eagles system is there's usually a pretty good hole for the back to hit and that tends to limit fumbles.

Normally about this time of year I'll start rewatching last year's Eagle games that I keep on my DVR to get ready for the new season. It's weird this year though as hardly any of the guys you see on TV will be there. No Foles, no McCoy, no Maclin, no Cole, no Herremanns and the rumors are that Chip isn't done yet.

We've got three starting caliber inside linebackers now in DeMeco Ryans (coming off a torn Achilles) Kiko Alonzo coming off a torn ACL, and Mychal Kendricks coming off a few smaller injuries. Only two can start and there are now whispers that some of the Eagles defensive coaches aren't as impressed by Kendricks as the rest of the league is. We've got a couple of good young guys in Travis Long and Najee Goode who were both injured early last year too. If Chip Kelly needs a big chip to throw in on another trade, expect to see Mychal Kendricks be that chip. We could use a safety, offensive lineman, or wide receiver, so if Chip can move Kendricks to fill one of those voids with a player or draft pick, we could see another big trade come down.

The Eagles were smart to put Chip Kelly in charge of personnel moves this year. If Howie Roseman was doing these moves they'd swear he was trying to sabotage Chip. There's no way the media would believe Chip Kelly approved of these moves no matter how many times he stood up there and swore he did. Now it's all on Chip and so far, it's looking pretty good. Owners of sporting goods stores are dying a thousand deaths as their shelves are full of Maclin, McCoy, Foles, Cole, jerseys that they can't give away now, but the rest of the region seems to be coming over to Chip's side.

[yellowrose]

Hey Blondie, nice to see ya. Hope everything is OK. I didn't check in every week last season, so I probably kept missing you. I don't have an opinion on McFadden because I know nothing about him other than he comes from Oakland, a team that I don't have much interest in. I hear that he is as accident prone as Murray, so we'll see how this works out. I think Dallas made the right move in sticking to their plan on Murray. We got one huge year out of 4 with him, so it will be interesting to see if he can have back to back successful seasons. Personally I think the Eagles overpaid, but what do I know? He's gone, so outta sight, outta mind. Yes, it's pretty obvious Stephen is making the decisions. So far I'm liking what I'm seeing. Now if SOMEBODY would just get this team some new pants. A shade that actually matches the jerseys would be nice. There's been talk, so I know I'm not the only fan bothered by this.

[gardenman]

If it's any help, I also think the Eagles overpaid for Murray a bit based on the raw numbers, but he took less than he was offered by Jacksonville and Oakland and he really wanted to come to Philly, so I don't really mind overpaying him a tick. For the record LeSean McCoy had a cap hit of around $12.05 million (or so) this year and DeMarco Murray, Byron Maxwell, Ryan Maxwell and Kiko Alonzo combine for a slightly smaller cap hit. When you can get four players for the price of one and not lose much, if any, production, it's a good thing. I suspect DeMarco Murray won't see most of the money on the back half of that contract. Most free agents only hang around for two to three years before they're jettisoned for a younger/cheaper option, so the big contract numbers don't really mean a whole lot. They look impressive when the guy signs, but when he's cut a few years later, much of that money gets left behind.

[gardenman]

Well, that was an interesting first five days to free agency. Everyone's sort of settling back a bit now and catching their breath before moving on to the second tier free agents. Many of those guys won't even get signed until after the draft and the best undrafted college players get signed. There's no real sense in wasting money on a lesser pro if you can get a kid out of college on the cheap who may perform as well.

Many teams are now turning their attention to the draft and lining up the visits from college prospects. Each team is allowed to bring in 30 or 32 kids for one on one visits and those tend to be important. Some teams use those visits as a ploy and don't end up drafting the kid, but try to make other teams think they're interested, but the Eagles have in recent years had pre-draft visits with pretty much everyone they then drafted. (Josh Huff was the exception, but Chip Kelly knew him well from Oregon and wouldn't have learned anything new in the pre-draft visit.) The first guy reported coming to Philly is USC wide receiver Nelson Algholor. We could use wide receiver help and he's reportedly a pretty good one. Sports agents will be leaking news of where their clients are going to the press for the next few weeks in hopes of it helping their client move up the draft board.

I'm still thinking we'll see Marcus Mariota slip in the draft, but the question is how far will he slip? Word out of NY is that the Jets aren't taking him. The Rams don't need him now that they've got Foles. He could fall pretty close to the Eagles at twenty, but I'm guessing there will be a team below the Eagles looking to sneak up just ahead of the Eagles to grab Mariota. (Much like the Dolphins jumped up to get Dion Jordan a pick ahead of the Eagles two years ago.) I think Chip learned a valuable lesson then. If there's a guy you want and he's in easy reach, make the move to get him. If Mariota gets to fifteen or so, Chip may just hop up five spots to grab him if the price isn't too high.

I'm not sure Chip's master plan isn't to use Bradford as the quarterback guru for the kid this year, let him learn the NFL and the new system Chip has in place, but face little to no real pressure as the third string guy. (Josh Huff was shocked at how much the system had changed from what he knew from Oregon, so there will be an adjustment period for Mariota.) Then if/when Bradford excels and leaves to get a huge free agent contract next year, slide Mariota in as the starter, assuming he picks up the system and looks good in practice. If Chip doesn't get Mariota and Bradford excels then the Eagles can always keep Bradford.