October 06, 2017
In our weekly Eagles chat on Thursday, there were a lot of questions that we could not get to in time, or other questions we did answer but could use more color. And so, let's do a mailbag post to answer some of the overflow.
Question from Bill: The three teams the Eagles have beaten have a combined record of 2-8. So that means they’re good? They'd be 2-2 if the kicker didn't hit a 61-yard field goal. I don't see it.
I'm not sure what the Eagles are yet. We're only one-quarter of the way through the season and they're 3-1, like they were at this time last year. So a lot has to play out the rest of the season.
That said, minimizing the Eagles' wins by framing the teams they've beaten as crappy opponents is entirely unfair.
• The Redskins look like a legitimate playoff contender. They obliterated a very good Raiders team, and are responsible for the Rams' only loss on the season. They also hung in with the Chiefs for 60 minutes, in Kansas City, as the Chiefs took the lead with a field goal with under a minute to play.
• The Giants were 11-5 last year. While they probably overachieved last year, they are obviously a lot better than their 0-4 record would indicate. And even if they are a bad football team, it's still a divisional opponent that knows the Eagles inside and out.
• The Chargers aren't a good team, but they are still a dangerous opponent because they have a good quarterback and an outside pass rusher duo.
Meanwhile...
And yet, the team has overcome all of that and found ways to win. I don't think they have to apologize for who they have played so far, at all.
Question from Vinny Bag of Donuts: What’s up with Rodney McLeod? His highlights show him flying all over the field. Is it just that the defense uses him differently? At this point, does his signing look like a mistake?
For the first 11 games last year, McLeod was really good. In fact, Jeff McLane of the Inquirer polled the entire locker room last year over the course of two weeks (he got to about half the players one week, half the next week) on which one player was most deserving of making the Pro Bowl. After the first week of collecting votes, McLeod was way out in front of the rest of the team with the most votes. However, the next week was the Bengals game, his worst game of the year by far, and those votes quickly dried up in the second week of McLane’s poll.
In that Bengals game, he took the really bad angle on one play and the Bengals' back scored. On another play, which probably looked a lot worse than it was, McLeod didn’t hit a Bengals back who was diving into the end zone. That game happened at the end of the year, obviously, and I think that left a bad taste in some fans’ mouths.
This year, he missed time with the pulled hamstring and may have rushed back because the Eagles had so many other injuries in their secondary. I think McLeod is a good player and will get back to the way he played early in the season last year.
Question from GermanEagle: Since Wendell Smallwood is again not practicing Thursday, his knee injury may be worse than initially thought. How would the Eagles replace him against the Cardinals on Sunday?
With Sproles out, Smallwood became by far the best receiving option in the Eagles’ backfield. That’s simply not a strength for LeGarrette Blount, Corey Clement, or Kenjon Barner. I also believe that Smallwood is the Eagles’ most explosive runner, in terms of speed getting through the hole.
The Eagles have used variety from the running back position the last two weeks, which served them well. Not having Smallwood for Sunday’s game could limit some of the things they like to do offensively.
We’ll see on Friday afternoon if Smallwood is out there. If not, he almost certainly won’t play.
Question from Virgile: Brandon Graham has been very quiet on the field this season, which is quite disappointing. Any idea why? Is Fletcher’s injury impacting him more than we thought?
I couldn’t disagree more there, my friend. In Week 1, Graham completely wrecked the game. He was a monster. In Week 2 he, along with the rest of the Eagles’ defensive line, battered Alex Smith all day. In Week 3, the Giants schemed against the Eagles’ pass rush, getting the ball out, on average in under two seconds. He did his job that day before he even stepped on the field.
There’s no reason whatsoever to be disappointed in Brandon Graham this season.
Question from Buck: Is there anyone currently on the practice squad the Eagles are hoping doesn’t get poached?
Just like on the regular roster, salaries of players on the practice squad vary, and I think you can tell how much they value each guy by how much they make. Here are the Eagles’ practice squad guys and their salaries, via OverTheCap.com:
| Player | Salary |
| Nate Sudfeld | $540,005 |
| Nate Gerry | $432,295 |
| Billy Brown | $340,000 |
| Josh Andrews | $340,000 |
| Byron Marshall | $340,000 |
| Dillon Gordon | $187,000 |
| DeVante Bausby | $160,000 |
| Greg Ward | $127,500 |
| D.J. Killings | $93,600 |
In other words, if your name is Nate, the Eagles place a high priority on you on the practice squad.
Nate Sudfeld was signed away from Washington before Week 1, any many immediately made the connection that the Eagles only grabbed him to get inside information about the Redskins. While I’m sure they had a sit-down with him to obtain all the info they could get, his signing was clearly more than that, based on his pay.
And then Nate Gerry's value to the team is fairly obvious, as he was a fifth-round pick in 2017.
*OverTheCap did not have Rashard Davis' salary, as he was just added to the practice squad this week.
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