June 02, 2015

Four wrong ideas/thoughts about the Eagles

By Jimmy Kempski
PhillyVoice Staff

Matt Slocum/AP

Mark Sanchez will have to be infinity percent better than Sam Bradford to win the Eagles' starting QB job this season.

It's June. Free agency is over. The draft is over. News is slow. Slow news breeds boredom and over-imaginative ideas. And so, here are four June things that have been bandied about recently that are simply false.

1) The Eagles should move Mychal Kendricks to safety

No they shouldn't. I do get the thought process, which goes something like this:

• The Eagles have a gaping hole at safety opposite Malcolm Jenkins.

• They have an overabundance of linebackers.

• Mychal Kendricks is a very athletic, undersized linebacker.

• Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor is a very big safety and he's a beast, so why can't an athletic guy like Kendricks be a beast safety too?

Kendricks would get lit up like a Christmas tree if he played safety. He's not covering slot receivers man-to-man, and he's not playing deep in single-high looks. That's what the Eagles require of their safeties, and it ain't happening with Kendricks. But beyond that, remember Kendricks' first season and a half at linebacker? He was lost. And now you're going to move him to an entirely new position in the final year of his contract, when he may not even be with the team in 2016?

2) If Tim Tebow makes the team, he could be active in favor of Mark Sanchez on game day because he can do other things

That's not happening. First of all, Tebow is a long shot to make the team, in my opinion. But even if he does beat out Matt Barkley for the No. 3 QB spot, the Eagles are not going to make Mark Sanchez inactive on game day. Remember the Texans game last year when Nick Foles got hurt in the first quarter and Sanchez guided the Eagles to a win? Are they winning that game with Tim Tebow? The backup quarterback is simply too important a position to leave inactive in favor of guy who can be a "two point specialist" or jump pass gadget play guy on the punt protection team.

3) There is a 'true QB competition' in Philly

Please. The Eagles traded a Nick Foles, a second-round pick, and draft position in the 2015 draft for Sam Bradford, who they're paying $13 million this season. If Bradford is hurt, can Sanchez win the starting job? Obviously, yes. But if Bradford is healthy and ready to go for training camp, Sanchez will have to look like the second coming of Joe Montana and Bradford the second coming of Mike Kafka for Sanchez to win the job. Bradford-Sanchez ain't Foles-Vick.