April 14, 2024
I was on vacation this week, and was relatively unplugged from what the Philadelphia Eagles were doing, as well as what was going on around the rest of the league. I picked a good week, because not a lot happened. Thanks, Howie. Let's cover some of the minor things that did happen here.
Uzomah is entering his 10th NFL season. His career stats:
| C.J. Uzomah | Rec | Yards | YPC | TD |
| 2015 | 1 | 4 | 4.0 | 0 |
| 2016 | 25 | 234 | 9.4 | 1 |
| 2017 | 10 | 92 | 9.2 | 1 |
| 2018 | 43 | 439 | 10.2 | 3 |
| 2019 | 27 | 242 | 9.0 | 2 |
| 2020 | 8 | 87 | 10.9 | 1 |
| 2021 | 49 | 493 | 10.1 | 5 |
| 2022 | 21 | 232 | 11.0 | 2 |
| 2023 | 8 | 58 | 7.3 | 1 |
Those look a lot like backup tight end numbers, but Uzomah has been a starter for most of his career, as he has played in 106 games with 82 starts. So why was he a starter if he wasn't much of a threat as a receiver? Because he is one of the biggest tight ends in the league at 6'5, 271, and is a good run blocker. For example, in 2023 he finished fourth in PFF's run blocking grades behind George Kittle, Charlie Woerner, and Will Dissly.
The Eagles likely signed Uzomah for a role similar to the one Jack Stoll has had with the team over the last three seasons. He'll block, and get probably get very limited targets in the passing game if he makes the roster. But for now, he'd probably be penciled in as the No. 2 tight end behind Dallas Goedert, and ahead of other guys like Grant Calcaterra and Albert Okwuegbunam. Updated depth chart here.
The NFL is now allowing teams to wear a third helmet design.
The NFL informed clubs today it has revised the uniform policy to allow teams a third helmet design, per source.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) April 10, 2024
This expansion was offered to the teams that were going through the re-design process for the 2024 season and is now open to all clubs for the 2025 season. pic.twitter.com/8pXHLtZqjm
In 2022, when teams were (finally) allowed to wear an alternate helmet (with a base color that differed from their primary helmet), the Eagles would have gone with Kelly green helmets, however there were complications in color matching it to the team's satisfaction. So, instead of rolling out some bobo Kelly green version that didn't look quite right, they instead opted to wear black helmets as their alternate color that season.
In 2023, of course, the Eagles unveiled their Kelly greens for the first time in over a decade against the Dolphins and Bills, both wins. The formal announcement of the Kelly green helmets came from Jeffrey Lurie at the 2023 owners meetings. If I recall correctly (and I think this is OK to say now), Lurie informally expressed to the reporters in attendance after the presser was over that he hoped the NFL would allow for a third helmet so that the team could also wear the black ones on occasion. So, you know, if the Eagles haven't since thought of something cooler/better than the black helmet, that's what it will be.
From Tim McManus of ESPN:
The Eagles are making efforts behind the scenes to get something done with 25-year-old Smith. Contract talks are ongoing, sources familiar with negotiations said, and there's general optimism that a deal will materialize in the near future.
No surprise there. The Eagles were a little more under the gun to get a long-term deal done with starting LG Landon Dickerson (explanation why here) than they were with Smith, so Dickerson's deal got done first. And then when Jordan Mailata (or perhaps better stated, Jordan Mailata's representation) was willing to potentially leave a lot of earning potential on the table by doing an extension two years before its expiration, the Eagles jumped at the opportunity.
Smith is the next logical core player to work toward keeping in Philly for the long haul, and if they can't by the May 2 deadline for fifth-year options to be exercised, then the Eagles will almost certainly exercise that.
It was originally thought that the Eagles would play the Browns, an AFC team not in direction competition with the Eagles for playoff seeding. Instead, the Eagles will play a neutral-field "home game" against another NFC contender.
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