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NFL Offseason Thread 2015 |OT2| Home of Baseball, Anime, Cricket, and Magic Johnson

So no rings? Damn.

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ampere

Member
I'm starting to think 538 is a bullshit site. I can't read their stuff without thinking that they believe they are smarter than they actually are. A load of horse shit statistics that seem to be related to the topic. Their analysis of Foles seems weak. Also, who gives a shit about where someone was drafted and college performance when they have been in the league for awhile.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/...dman-and-must-be-stopped-or-hes-a-mad-genius/

Will be drinking your salty tears when Foles has a good year on the Rams and the Eagles miss the playoffs
 

Pepiope

Member
Will be drinking your salty tears when Foles has a good year on the Rams and the Eagles miss the playoffs
Foles is good, but he is going to have a worse line and no offensive weapons. I wanted him here, but he isn't going to amount to much in STL.

We also just took away more than 1/3 of Dallas' offense in Murray. We're winning the division.
 

Farooq

Banned
Foles is good, but he is going to have a worse line and no offensive weapons. I wanted him here, but he isn't going to amount to much in STL.

We also just took away more than 1/3 of Dallas' offense in Murray. We're winning the division.

The Cowboys can find a foundation back in rounds 1, 2, 3, and maybe even in round 4 of the draft. It is a pretty deep RB class. Eagles didn't take shit.
 

Godslay

Banned
I completely disagree with you. First of all, the key to success in both McCoy and Murray's games has been the offensive lines they played behind. Unless the Eagles get rid of Mathis and replace him with no one nothing has changed for them on that front. They've basically got the best left tackle, the best right tackle, and the best center in the league. Mathis had been the best guard up until last season where he was injured, and could bounce back from that (he basically had by the end of the year). You can put an average back behind that offensive line and they'd look great.

That offensive line, when healthy in 2013, basically gave RBs 3.5 yards before contact. That's higher than some RBs yards per carry. The reason Murray is an upgrade over McCoy in one regard is he will run after the blockers, not try to run around and get into space, which is what caused McCoy to LOSE more yards than any other running back. Sure, once he got into open space he more than made up for it, but that's not necessarily the scheme you want to go with. McCoy was useless if you needed a short yardage gain to convert, Murray will do exactly that and do it well. It's an upgrade at RB in terms of scheme fit no matter how you cut it. You've also got Sproles and Mathews to share snaps with him so they won't need to use him nearly as hard as he was used by Dallas.

In the process you upgraded the defense of the team by getting Alonso, giving the Eagles what could be a pair of the best inside linebackers in the league with Alonso and Kendricks. You're talking about a front seven that is Fletcher Cox, Benny Logan, Cedric Thornton up front, then backed by Brandon Graham, Kiko Alonso, Mychal Kendricks, and Connor Barwin. That is a contender for the best front seven on a defense in the entire league. Kiko Alonso was the last big piece to add to make it completely dominant. They also spent a lot on addressing the secondary in the offseason, partly with the money they saved on McCoy, by adding Maxwell and Thurmond. With Malcolm Jenkins at safety you are one more safety away from completely remaking the secondary of the Eagles, which was by far the weakest unit on the team. I am really thinking they are banking on Jerome Couplin being that guy, but they may address it in the draft. Couplin has everything you'd want in terms of physical attributes in a safety.

Honestly, the only questionable move they have made in the offseason is the Foles for Bradford trade, and the only issue I have with that is they overpaid.

Nobody was knocking down doors to sign Murray, and he's less valued then McCoy. Not just by me but pretty much the entire league. Murray is not as good as McCoy, no matter which line they run behind. Matthews is habitually hurt as well.

You are basing Alonso's potential on what is essentially production over a year ago and before injury. Nobody knows what he is at this point. So to call him one of the best ILBs is a stretch.

As far as the rest of the squad, looks good on paper. I think you are jumping the gun abit and wearing the green tinted glasses though.
 

rokkerkory

Member
If Bradford can come through for the Eagles, they gonna be a real threat again.

Big IF however... they have most of the pieces now, cept secondary.
 

Pepiope

Member
McCoy is an elite back, and typically very healthy. There are probably two other guys in his tier, and personally I think you don't trade them away. I understand most people say that the RB position is devalued these days. Not so for the upper echelon game changing guys like AD, Lynch, and McCoy.

If it was me I personally wouldn't have traded for Alonso, especially when you flipped McCoy into 3 guys who McCoy happens to have more healthy seasons than all three combined. I also think McCoy is more talented then possibly all three of them.

I understand you spread the risk out with additional cheaper RBs. That's smart, but the same thing could have been achieved with the squad you had and supplementing it with late round RBs if you truly feel the RB position is devalued.

In reality only one guy can have the ball at a time, and I want the most talented guy of the group (and reliable) to get those touches. McCoy was that guy. Murray and Matthews might be able to the do same thing, but they'll cost just as much as McCoy does now. So you got three injury riddled less talented players (judging by the past), for minimal cap relief (judging by the newly established contracts), with the upside of spreading some risk out at the RB (which could have been done anyways).

Personally, that's a net loss in my mind. If you asked me if I could have McCoy or Murray and Matthews in the backfield I'd take McCoy everyday. Sweeten the deal with Alonso and I think I'd stay put especially with a guy coming off an ACL.

Like I said before, I could be proven completely wrong this season but that's just my opinion on it.
If you want to extend the life of your RB, then you don't give him all of those touches. Sure, Murray was run into the ground last season, but he still has 600 fewer carries than McCoy in his career and they are the same age. If you know McCoy, then you know he isn't the RB you want in the game on 3rd and short, or anywhere near the red zone. His touches were given to Chris Polk in the RZ near the end of last season because McCoy just couldn't get it done (Polk had 3 rushing TDs in the last 3 weeks of the season). Is he talented? Yes, but you're fooling yourself if you are putting him in the same category as Lynch and AP. A top tier RB can get you those yards on 3rd and short when you need them most*. Instead, we're subbing him out or just passing the ball. McCoy is a highlight reel, he'll give you those 3-4 runs you see on ESPN, but you're missing the other 15+ carries where's his getting stuffed and missing holes because he's dancing around in the backfield trying to hit homeruns with positive yards are there for the taking.

Maybe it's because you aren't an Eagle fan, but McCoy looked like he lost a step last season. He was nowhere near as explosive as he was in 2013, and at times even had defenders catch up to him where seasons prior he would take runs to the house. Maybe it was some undisclosed injury that was nagging him last season (some say it was a turf toe), but we don't know. You do not pay a running back 11M+ per while you can't even trust him in short goal line situations. McCoy has had the benefit of working with two great offensive minded coaches in his career, so it'll be interesting to see Murray's progression now that he has a better coach in Philly.

Looking at Murray, he's only missed two games the last 2 years, it's not like he's some fragile player. He'll be fine as long as we don't run him the same way DAL did last year, which is obviously the plan. That is why Ryan Matthews is here. Having them share the load both extends their playing careers, and keeps them healthy. Sports Science was actually one of the reasons why Matthews was interested in playing for Philly.

In reality, this is a team sport unlike the NBA. We're filling out an entire roster, and there is no point in paying a RB so much money when he isn't even an ideal fit for your offensive system (N/S runner). Chip runs a no huddle up-tempo offense, there are times when McCoy isn't even in the game for an entire series of plays. As much as Philly runs the ball, we're going to need more than 1 capable RB to do it, and when Sproles has much more value as a return man and hybrid WR, you need to find someone else to carry the rock when the starter is getting a rest. We saved about 800K by getting rid of McCoy. In return we got the reigning NFL rushing champ, a good RB to spell Murray when need be (if he stays healthy, but it helps that he won't get as many carries here as he did in SD per game), WT3 (Walter Thurmond III) who is going to challenge Carroll and Boykin for the CB2 job as far as I know, and a potential cornerstone player on defense in Kiko Alonso.


*Lynch may not belong here, it's clear his coach rather have Wilson pass the ball.

The Cowboys can find a foundation back in rounds 1, 2, 3, and maybe even in round 4 of the draft. It is a pretty deep RB class. Eagles didn't take shit.

Murray accounted for almost 2300 yards on offense for Dallas. We definitely took something.
 
All I thought about at work today was killing myself. Even wrote a story about driving into the center divider on a free way While I was bored.
 
I just don't know why I'm so down lately. Things have been going pretty well lately for me, but I've just felt so negative. Under appreciated, lonely. Not sure why.
 
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