December 18, 2020
In our Eagles chat on Wednesday, 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, as well as some commonly asked questions on Twitter and via email.
Question from Taco J: Give me your Eagles top 5 draft needs as of right now.
As mentioned in our "blow it up" piece, it's never great when there's a decent argument to draft any position in the first round, aside from running back, tight end, kicker, punter, and long snapper.
And if you consider that the Eagles could use another running back or tight end (if Zach Ertz is gone) later in the draft, then there's an argument to be made that literally every position (specialists aside) is a need.
Their weakest positions relative to the rest of the league, in my view, are LB, WR, and CB, in that order. However, factoring in importance, I'd list them like so:
• Cornerback: The Eagles are close to where they were in 2017 at CB, when it was crystal clear that they had to draft multiple corners. I don't know that they have to get at least two in this draft, but they sure as hell have to get at least one, seeing as Darius Slay is aging (and he has no INTs this season), and Avonte Maddox proved this season that he is not an outside corner.
• Wide receiver: It's still far from fixed. The Eagles obviously don't believe in Travis Fulgham, or he'd be playing over a cooked Alshon Jeffery, and Jalen Reagor is only a "maybe." Meanwhile, Greg Ward is leading the team in snaps these days, and there's even a good argument that the Eagles should find a way to upgrade on him with a more explosive player.
• Linebacker: The Eagles (rightfully, in my opinion) don't value the linebacker position as much as other teams, however, they've gone too far with it.
• Safety: More specifically, they need a centerfielder type to eventually replace Rodney McLeod, who oh by the way now also has his second ACL tear in three seasons.
• Defensive tackle: I know this one sounds crazy, seeing as the Eagles spend more on their interior DL than any other team in the NFL, but Fletcher Cox is now 30, Malik Jackson will turn 31 in January, and Javon Hargrave has been a disappointment in his first season here (though he has turned it on a bit of late). In my view, the Eagles should be looking for opportunities to get out of their contracts with Cox and Jackson as soon as they can (with Cox maybe being trade bait at the deadline if the team stinks again in 2021), and it'll be easier to move on if they have some young players coming up behind them.
Once the offseason gets underway, we'll rank their positional needs from top to bottom.
Question from DB: You seem to think Carson Wentz is salvageable. I'm curious why. This isn't the first season he's played hero ball and made bad decisions.
He's big, he's strong, he has a good arm, he can still make plays with his legs (though he does look less spry than when he was a rookie), he's smart, his teammates have had his back, he's competitive, and he didn't miss a single snap this season due to injury even after taking 50 sacks.
There are plenty of examples of quarterbacks who have struggled, found their footing again, and became productive. I like Wentz's chances of being a good quarterback again at some point, or at least I like his chances better than I would if we were talking about a quarterback that simply wasn't talented, and he obviously has talent.
Question from KimmyJempski: Do you see Josh Sweat becoming a starter with 10+ sacks per year? He is only 23, so still room to improve?
Sweat turns 24 in March, and he has three years of experience under his belt. I think that what is encouraging about his career trajectory is that we have seen steady progression from him each year as a pro. What Sweat has always had is very impressive athleticism:
As his technique has improved, he has transformed from just an athletic guy into a legitimate NFL pass rusher. He has only played 46.3 percent of the team's defensive snaps this season, and he has 6 sacks and 3 forced fumbles. Looking back at those six sacks, there are no cheapies. He's dusting left tackles, and some pretty good ones, too.
For example, against Jonah Williams Week 3, he's able to club Williams' outside arm, and finish with the dip and rip:
Or last Sunday against 2018 and 2019 Pro Bowl OT Terron Armstead, Sweat goes with a speed-to-power move. He executes the initial long arm stab with his left arm, keeping his chest clean, then with his right hand he pushes Armstead's outside arm up in the air, and Armstead has nothing left to block with. Awesome pass rush here.
I think the question going forward is whether Sweat can be a guy who plays a Brandon Graham-like workload. Over the last four years, Graham has been around the 70 percent neighborhood in defensive snaps played. Of course, Graham is an elite run defender, so that makes sense.
Sweat has an extensive injury history, so there's some debate over whether giving him that kind of workload is even a good idea. Is he a guy who can flourish with an increased snap count, or is he better when he can come in fresh and be something of a change-of-pace rusher who beats offensive tackles with speed? I don't know the answer to that, but in order to be a consistent 10-sack guy, he's going to have to play a lot of snaps.
Question from SallyForth: Hey Jimmy, a thought or two about Prince Tega Wanogho? Hard to believe that he's still dealing with an injury. He was viewed as such a steal in the draft, and yet...
Wanogho had a bunch of leg injuries at Auburn, the latest of which was a meniscus tear, which was operated on, and caused him to miss the Senior Bowl, Combine, his pro day, etc. I imagine it was still slowing him down in training camp, which caused him not to make the 53-man roster.
But just on talent, yes, the idea was that he could be a steal, as many had him projected as a late Day 2 or early Day 3 guy. Drafting him in the sixth round felt like good value on a kid with some upside if he could get past the injuries, but he was never really thought of as a guy who would contribute this season. The question is whether any of his assorted injuries will affect him long-term. I don't have the answer to that one.
That said, I think he'll dress for game day this week. The Eagles are now without Lane Johnson, Andre Dillard, Jason Peters, and Jack Driscoll, so they protected Wanogho earlier this week, and the bet here is that he'll be temporarily elevated on Saturday.
Question from Jawny Football: I still can't wrap my mind around Doug's decision to continue to play Alshon over Fulgham. It almost seems like Doug is trolling the fan base. I don't have any other rationale for why else he'd be doing this. I guess this wasn't really a question.
Alshon is cooked, and he isn't going to be on the team next year. As such, it makes no sense whatsoever to play him at all, much less in favor of a young receiver who actually showed something earlier this season. This is well-covered ground, of course.
What's funny to me is that Pederson initially seemed surprised by the line of questioning about Jeffery and Fulgham, which... 🤯. More recently, he has gotten irritated whenever he has been asked about Jeffery. Just for fun, here's a recent history of Jeffery press conference questions for Pederson:
11/23/20
Q. Why is WR Alshon Jeffery even being active? Why is he on the team?
Doug: Why is he on the team?
Q. You have younger players, WR John Hightower’s only got one snap. What's the point of playing Alshon Jeffery at this point when he's not even going to be here next year, or unlikely to be? I think a lot of fans are wondering what are you doing with Alshon Jeffery?
Doug: Well, right now he is a part of the offense. He's a part of what we've done and the success we've had here. He is coming off injury, and we do have to get him in the game a little bit more. You know, that's, again, on me to get him in the football game, and also Hightower at the same time. So you also knew that J.J. was not available in this football game and Quez was down, so Alshon was up and active for this game.
11/30/20
Q. There was a four-game stretch this season where WR Travis Fulgham was the leading receiver in the NFL. Since the bye, it doesn't seem like he's been a big part of the game plan. What have you seen from WR Alshon Jeffery that had him on the field more than Fulgham tonight?
Doug: Well, I think, Travis he's still a part of the offense and he knows he's got to continue to work hard each week and play well. And Alshon is improving and getting healthier. We have to be able to use both of those guys, they are two big targets for Carson. We've just got to continue to work and make sure that both guys are ready to go.
12/6/20
Q: Alshon now has 2 catches for 15 yards in 4 games. Meanwhile, Travis Fulgham has been the most productive receiver on the team this year. Why is Alshon playing more than Fulgham?
Doug: I've kinda been through this before. We game plan for both guys. We've got to improve as an offense. We've got to improve at all positions. The receiver position is one. I've got to improve. We try to get as many people in the game. We have five receivers that are active on game day and we try to use them all.
12/16/20
Q. Over the past few weeks, we've asked you a few times about WR Travis Fulgham, but the playing time has declined to the point where it doesn't seem like a rotation with him anymore. What's the reason why he's not on the field that often and what needs to be done to get him on there?
Doug: I mean listen, you guys ask me a lot of questions about running back rotations, receiver rotations, who's our right tackle, left tackle and all this stuff and we still game plan for Travis. I'll tell you this, Alshon is getting heathier and is playing better and we game plan for him. There are certain plays, specific plays that Travis is going to be in on and there's specific plays that Alshon is going to be in on. It's the same with Jalen Reagor versus Hightower or Quez or somebody like that. It's just a matter of how we as coaches see the game plan going and getting everybody involved. Again, same kind of answer is, it's not about the one guy, right? It's about the entire team and that's what helps us win.
Question from Steffan: Cheesesteaks or pizza?
That's not even a debate. I like cheesesteaks, but pizza is the best meal there is. If I didn't write about football, I would consider touring New Jersey and reviewing pizza places for a living.
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