July 10, 2015
The Eagles passed on all seven of the players eligible to be selected in the supplemental draft, most notably Clemson OT Isaiah Battle. We covered Battle and his potential fit with the Eagles a few weeks ago. Instead, it was the St. Louis Rams, who have used a staggering eight picks (eight more than the Eagles) on offensive linemen the last two years, listed below (sorted by round):
| Year | Player | Pos | Round | Overall |
| 2014 | Greg Robinson | OT | 1 | 2 |
| 2015 | Rob Havenstein | OT | 2 | 57 |
| 2015 | Jamon Brown | OG | 3 | 72 |
| 2015 | Andrew Donnal | OT | 4 | 119 |
| 2015 (supp) | Isaiah Battle | OT | 5 | (supplemental) |
| 2015 | Cody Wichmann | OG | 6 | 215 |
| 2014 | Mitchell Van Dyk | OT | 7 | 226 |
| 2014 | Demetrius Rhaney | C | 7 | 250 |
In other words, the Rams basically used an entire year's worth of draft picks the last two years to fix their offensive line. The OL-needy Eagles could be keeping a close eye on the Rams to see which players shake free at 53-man cutdowns.
With the passing of former Raiders QB Kenny Stabler, ProFootballReference.com tweeted the all-time NFL leaders in completion percentage as of 1979, Stabler's final season in Oakland:
Through 1979, Kenny Stabler was the only QB in history to have completed 60% of his career PA: http://t.co/v8K3gsa0nh pic.twitter.com/Noiv0FQuKs
— ProFootballReference (@pfref) July 10, 2015
It's crazy to think that as of 1979, only one QB in NFL history had a career completion percentage of over 60%. During the 2015 season, 25 QBs had a completion percentage higher than Stabler's career percentage in 1979.
And then there's this tweet from Michael David Smith, who notes how low NFL QB ratings were back in the 70's.
Ken Stabler had a 103.4 passer rating in 1976, when the league average was 63.6.
— Michael David Smith (@MichaelDavSmith) July 10, 2015
The league average was 63.6? Tim Tebow played in the wrong era.
According to Jordan Raanan of NJ.com, the Giants are going to keep JPP around for the 2015 season. The Giants basically have two options here: Keep him, or rescind the franchise tag and let him become an unrestricted free agent. The Giants were reportedly working toward a long-term extension with JPP before he damaged his hand, but that is now off the table. As Raanan points out in his piece via a league executive, this reeks of a GM and head coach looking for short-term results because their jobs are on the line:
"Send a message. Save the money," one NFL executive said of what he would do in this situation. "But it's a typical case of long-term interest of team versus short-term interest of [general manager Jerry Reese and coach Tom Coughlin], who need to win games now."
Instead, it appears the Giants are going to pay almost $15 million to a player who (A) may not be in their long-term plans, (B) will not be able to participate in training camp and possibly into the season, and (C) might not be as effective without the use of all five fingers.
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