Upcoming Off-Season Thread

[ice grillin you]

grantlands 1 year later review of the eagles 2014 free agency...not sure how they could ignore the upgrades at special teams but anyway...

Philadelphia Eagles

Re-signed: Jeremy Maclin, Riley Cooper, Nate Allen

Arrived: Malcolm Jenkins, Mark Sanchez

Departed: DeSean Jackson, Patrick Chung, Jason Avant, Michael Vick

A year later, the decision to sign Cooper to a five-year, $22.5 million deal with $8 million guaranteed while cutting Jackson seems incomprehensible. Maclin, though, was a bargain on his one-year deal, while Jenkins surpassed what had been an impossibly low baseline for Eagles safeties. And given that the other options were the likes of Ryan Fitzpatrick and Tarvaris Jackson, coming away from the quarterback pool with Sanchez as the backup for $2.25 million wasn't all that bad.

Grade: C-plus

[BigEd76]

Mosher:

The buzz around corner Byron Maxwell and safety Devin McCourty is real, and sources familiar with the Eagles' free-agent strategy say the team will go hard after each one.

Maxwell changed agents this week, which potentially indicates that the early market for him wasn't what he had anticipated. Given this year's strong free-agent corner crop, the Eagles don't have to attack negotiations with Maxwell with a win-at-all-cost mentality.

One seemingly good fit for Kelly and coordinator Bill Davis, 49ers corner Chris Culliver (6-0, 199), can be scratched off the list. Culliver has endured some knucklehead moments off the field throughout his career and a source with knowledge of the situation said the Eagles have no plans to contact him.

Don't be surprised if the Eagles also address secondary depth in free agency. If they're not looking to move Boykin and Carroll from the sub packages, the Eagles need some versatile backups who can start if an outside guy goes down.

Keep an eye on veteran Brice McCain, who's coming off a good season with the Steelers after playing his first five seasons with Houston. McCain, 28, can play inside and outside and has started 19 games.

The Eagles have discussed him, according to another source. McCain is only 5-foot-9 and 187 pounds, not the vitals we've come to expect from Kelly corners, but even if their interest in him is mild, it illustrates their blueprint to rebuild the secondary from top to bottom through free agency.

[hbionic]

I disagree with the last line; it doesn't illustrate shtein! It's free agency. Every team looks to improve a weakness if it can through free agency. It's not the blueprint.

[SunMo]

background on McCourty...sounds like he'd be a good fit but I'm not sure why the Pats would let him go if he was that effective.

http://www.phillymag.com/birds247/2015/03/06/22-eagles-get-mccourty/

[ice grillin you]

i kinda think hes gonna end up back with the pats....i think that's why they didn't franchise him...he def wants to go back...he even said he would have been fine with getting franchised...not a lot of players do that

if the eagles want him they are gonna have to go crazy and blow him and the patriots offer away

[MDS]

one way or another i see watkins starting next year....or being given the chance to start

they are not spending big money on 3 players

[SD]

I'd think Carroll would get a chance over Watkins. Still think Watkins is better suited at safety

[MDS]

I'd think Carroll would get a chance over Watkins. Still think Watkins is better suited at safety

sure, yea

but they drafted watkins hoping he would be a starter. they signed carroll for depth. but the better man would win. or some low-tier vet they brought in on the cheap.

[ice grillin you]

for whatever reason I get the sense that they arent very high on carroll....what else could explain how little run he got last year with that debacle that was taking place at the cb position

watkins straight up sucks

[SD]

I'd think Carroll would get a chance over Watkins. Still think Watkins is better suited at safety

sure, yea

but they drafted watkins hoping he would be a starter. they signed carroll for depth. but the better man would win. or some low-tier vet they brought in on the cheap.

Generally teams don't draft a guy in the 4th hoping he'd be a starter.

[MDS]

for whatever reason I get the sense that they arent very high on carroll....what else could explain how little run he got last year with that debacle that was taking place at the cb position

watkins straight up sucks

the writers floated the idea of watkins playing safety, too. maybe im wrong, but the idea of spending big to moderate money on 3 parts of the secondary seems unlikely to me. 1 spot is going to have to come internally. and since obviously they are trading all their picks for MM....who's left but them 2.

Generally teams don't draft a guy in the 4th hoping he'd be a starter.

the expectations are lower, surely, on a 4th round pick. but they took watkins because they thought he could play. or maybe he was a howie pick and chip hates him? but they didnt sign carroll because he could develop into a starter...he's fully developed...he's a backup.

[SD]

They signed Carroll with expectations he could fill in if a starter went down...they drafted Watkins hoping he could do better than Curtis Marsh

[MDS]

bradley fletcher went down plenty of times

nolan carroll 3 never went in

if you cant start over that guy, you need to look in the mirror

[ice grillin you]

they took watkins cause he played corner and safety at florida and because they thought he could be a good special teamer...pretty sure their vision did not include him becoming a starting outside cb in the nfl and I would be astounded if he got a starting job next year....in fact theres more chance he gets cut

They signed Carroll with expectations he could fill in if a starter went down...they drafted Watkins hoping he could do better than Curtis Marsh

it wasn't even if someone went down....carroll started for miami in 2013....if you recall entering camp last year the three of carroll cary Williams and fletcher went in competing for the two spots

[ice grillin you]

but the idea of spending big to moderate money on 3 parts of the secondary seems unlikely to me.

could easily happen if they dont bring mack back and instead get a cheap wr that chip thinks the system will make good

50 million dollars to spend and mack isn't getting any of it?....the world is their oyster at that point