Howie, you beautiful bastard.... Eagles acquired WR Dorial Green-Beckham from the Titans in exchange for G/T Dennis Kelly. Green-Beckham had clearly fallen out of favor with the Titans' coaching staff, but it is still stunning they decided to trade a 2015 second-round pick for an at best swing lineman. Despite his struggles, Green-Beckham probably has the most natural talent of any receiver on the Eagles' roster and should push for a role behind Jordan Matthews. That said, he struggled to earn snaps in a similarly lackluster receiver corps in Tennessee. While this trade certainly breathes life in DGB's fantasy outlook, he is still nothing more than a flier at this point. Fellow disappointment Nelson Agholor could be on his way out of the starting lineup.
Not a terrible start, aside from Nelson causing a Bradford pick. Defense held firm when backed up by the turnover. Driving here on the 2nd possession.
This is going pretty swimmingly. DGB touchdown on the fade. Bradford looking sharp. Shades of Green Bay last preseason though.
Bradford to Vikings for 2017 1st and additional pick in 2018. That is what I'm seeing, but waiting for confirmation on that
Now that we actually have a first in 2017, totally fine with letting Chase play for the first month or so and then gradually handing it over to Carson
Been busy and may have missed it. Did he hire a player personnel guy that actually knows football yet?
A source told NFL Network's Mike Garafolo that Chase Daniel is "not happy" the Eagles plan to start Carson Wentz (ribs) when healthy. Despite barely playing in the preseason, the Eagles want to go with Wentz once he's recovered from his ribs injury, which could be as soon as Week 1. While we understand Daniel's frustration, he did nothing to help himself in August by turning in poor preseason performance after poor preseason performance. A career backup, Daniel will resume his usual role when Wentz gets back. Chase
Spoiler Thoughts on Eagles and Vikings Trade of Sam Bradford Posted on September 3, 2016 by Jason Fitzgerald Following a devastating injury to Teddy Bridgewater the Vikings turned around a traded a 1st and 4th round draft pick to the Eagles for Sam Bradford. It’s an interesting trade. One it reinforces the desperation that teams have for a QB. Secondly the Eagles paid $11 million for Bradford this year and he will never take a snap for the team, essentially paying an extra $11 million for a draft pick. It is, in my opinion, the first trade that starts to really put into focus how much a team truly values a draft pick versus cap room and putting into focus the Eagles unique philosophy regarding contracts and team building. I think most would agree that Bradford, at best, has been an average quarterback in the NFL. He’s found himself in a pretty unique situation though from a financial standpoint. He earned pretty much every penny of a $78 million contract he earned by being a first round draft pick. Id argue that most would have considered Bradford a bust, but Bradford’s injury history and various offenses he had to deal with seemed to make a built in excuse that most top draft picks don’t have. Bradford was able to use that to his advantage to sign a two year contract that contained $22 million fully guaranteed upon signing and another $4 million guaranteed for injury. While some have speculated that this trade indicated that the Vikings are also worried about Bridgewater’s 2017 season, more likely it is a move geared towards short term need. If the Vikings primary concern was 2017 there would have been more options next year for them. They certainly would not have had to give up a 1st round pick for Bradford, who really had no place in Philadelphia the minute they drafted Carson Wentz. A 1st round pick is pretty much an indication that they saw little hope on the horizon with a “passable” player behind center. For a team with some veteran talent and a 30+ year old running back it is understandable. The Vikings are certainly taking a risk on Bradford. Bradford has only played 16 games twice in a six year career. They will take on $4 million in guaranteed salary in 2017 and another $4 million in injury protected salary. I don’t usually view injury guarantees as worth much but in Bradford’s case I see that as being more worthwhile. To give up a first round pick and potentially $15 million for less than 16 games would be a steep price. The Eagles really played this situation perfectly. Once they made the move to trade up in the draft, Bradford’s future was sealed. Bradford demanded a trade. He wanted out. The Eagles said no. They insisted he was an important part of the future. He was there to help the team win this year and then they would see the following season. Bradford returned and the Eagles had to hope this situation presented itself. He would have been sold for pennies on the dollar had they traded him in June. Now they will get back a first round pick, recovering some of the draft capital lost in the Wentz trade. The Eagles essentially traded $11 million in cash and cap space for a 1st and 4th rounder. Most of that value we would allocate to the first round pick. We had a discussion about this on Football Perspective last year which was very interesting. The concept proposed there was, during free agency, to trade cap and cash via sign and trade agreements. This is a bit different because the Eagles did not sign Bradford with a deal on the table so there is a bit of a sunk cost aspect to this as well. If the trade was made right off the bat I’d probably consider this to be a slight overpay. On a four year rookie contract we would probably allocate $2.5 million a year as added cost to the rookie contract. In our look at the true value of a draft pick, most first round picks are underpriced by about $2 million a season. So sight unseen the Eagles would need to get a slightly better than average draft selection to make the financials work out. But there is more to the trade than just the $11 million. The Eagles were also on the hook for an additional $11 million in salary if he remained on the team, and possibly $15 million if injured. This would all be for a player they really did not want on the team. So The Eagles transferred all of that to the Vikings. In essence its a net 0. The Vikings offset the Eagles initial $11 million cost by providing them $11 million in cap and cash relief plus a 1st round draft pick. In that respect this is highway robbery by the Eagles. The trade also indicates why teams should be more flexibile in their contract structures. The Eagles have been incredibly active in free agency and the trade market. They paid Byron Maxwell and DeMarco Murray $11 million in bonus money last season but guaranteed them millions more in base salary. It was those guarantees that got the deals done. Bradford received $11 million as a signing bonus. The Eagles turned around and traded those players, trades that would not have been possible had they used large signing bonuses or perhaps appealing enough if they used an all cash strategy. Its a perfect blend of allocation to be able to deal with the moves on your salary cap while also teasing another team with some prepayment on a contract to convice them they are getting a bargain. The Eagles are brining to light a strategy that more and more teams should follow in the future. Free agency is a risky and expensive gamble. Many times the contracts do not work out. Yet teams still chase the dollars already paid to a player and keep their fingers crossed that the next year will somehow be better than the first. In reality the front office is just counting down the days until they can cut the player and deal with it on the cap. In the interim the team suffers. The Eagles see these players, financially, as assets. Bonuses and prior salary are sunk costs. Sometimes the deals are a mistake. I think most saw these three players as mistake signings when they happened. The trio will cost the Eagles $19.8 million in dead money over the next two seasons and $33.5 million in cash for a grand total of 30 games played on these new contracts. These are huge numbers, but the Eagles are admitting the mistakes. Most teams would just continue to chase these contracts. The trades allowed the Eagles to escape an additional $31.5 million in cap and cash charges. That is too often lost when trading. The Eagles owed Bradford another $11 million. They owed Maxwell another $11.5 million. They owed Murray $9 million. It is entirely realistic to view these trades as the Eagles trading away $33.5 million in cash paid for $31.5 million in cash plus the firepower to draft Carson Wentz and get a 1st round pick in 2017. When you put it in that perspective these are steals for the Eagles. The money saved is more than covering the additional costs of the draft pick as well. What would you, as a fan or front office executive, rather have? The optimism of Wentz and another 1st rounder or Bradford, Maxwell, and Murray and a 7-9 season filled with complaints about the future of the eagles for the next two seasons? Most teams opt for the latter and it makes no sense. The Eagles didnt need to eat an extra penny (unless there was a tweak on the Bradford deal not yet reported) to move these players off the team. They simply convinced those teams they are getting a bargain because they prepaid a portion of the contract. And maybe those teams will be getting a bargain as a bad fit on one team can be a great one on another. It may not work out for them but its giving them a fighting chance to compete rather than rolling over and playing dead for two years. They are turning mistakes into the possibilities and not really costing themselves much in the long term. More teams should be studying what is going on in Philadelphia and being proactive for their future. Lengthy but good article from overthecap.
Excellently written and articulated. Exactly how I have viewed things. Not enough teams are willing to throw their hands up and say, "okay maybe we fucked up." They just act stubborn and sit on awful contracts for players that fail to live up to said contracts.
Adam Schefter Eagles are trading CB Eric Rowe to Patriots for OL Josh Kline and a draft pick, league sources tell @MikeReiss and me. Draft pick looks to be a 2018 4th rounder with the chance to become a 3rd rounder. Word is we are already looking to deal Kline.
I now can be excited about a season for the first time in a while. Just fun watching Wentz and hopefully seeing him develop.
Not much to be disappointed with. Handled a team they should be able to handle and Wentz looked good.
Hey now, this team looks pretty good. Loved Pederson's creativity tonight with play calling. Carson looked really good once again, despite some balls that should have been caught by his receivers and some poor penalties that took back a couple other nice plays. Defense looking strong once again after they settled in. Think there is a decent shot we can handle PIT next week and go 3-0 into the bye, which would be amazing. Wentz seems like he's going to be the real deal.
It's only two games and bad teams but Carson looks really good. Don't want to get to excited but what if he is the real deal?
Long winded Carson gushing Spoiler I was resigned to a maybe 6-10 season at best, with Wentz hopefully showing improvement as it progressed. That way I could actually look to the future with a glimmer of hope. Granted we have played scrubs, but some of the things he has shown over these first two games have already sold me on the fact this kid is a legit franchise quarterback with the potential to become really special. The situation isn't too big for him, coming from a smaller school to the NFL in week 1 and he doesn't seemed phased a bit. He just exudes a certain coolness under pressure. Some of the throws are just absurd. He has been throwing receivers open as opposed to leading them into crushing hits or sailing them into the hands of a safety. He has stepped up and delivered big passes down the field knowing he was about to get wrecked by a d-lineman. He has been extremely accurate on deep balls thus far (we just need to find someone to catch them on a more consistent basis). Add in the ability to pick up first downs with his feet and we really have a stew going. The only thing that worries me is taking unnecessary punishment when scrambling but I think he will learn to avoid those situations more going forward. You have to give Doug his props as well, he has played to Carson's strengths and put him in a position to succeed.
I really like how Pederson is handling Wentz: simple offense, quick, manageable throws, taking a long shot periodically. Only thing I don't like is Wentz' feeling like Superman and deciding to lower the shoulder instead of slide.
if he wins his appeal his suspension is dropped, if he loses he's suspended 10 games. he's probably gonna lose.
He's definitely going to lose. You were right on your call to hold off on burying Agholor. Pederson has done a really good job using his skill set to make him at least productive. I don't think he'll be a star but at least he's not getting cut. This team could really use DeSean's skill set. I hope they bring him back this offseason. He'd be absolutely perfect for what Wentz has shown to do well. 10 yard out patterns and sluggos for days. I know he'll be 31, but he hasn't lost a step. He was torching the Cowboys on Sunday, Cousins is just terrible.
Too much to like to complain about anything on my end. That arm, that throw against his body over the middle and finally the touch on that throw in the open field to Jordan. You just know that Sam would have sailed that fucker. Spoiler I have that impending feeling of doom. My mind is revolting against all the positive feelings.
only complaint on Wentz is try to take a less hits. He'll never make a full season getting tossed like he did last night.
Just an observation from a random Patriots fan who happened to watch some of the game last night: I was a little surprised by how quick just about the entire Eagles roster looked, the offensive skill players and the defensive line especially. That a scheme change deal? They just cutting guys loose now?
the talent on the d-line was already there and Jim Schwartz is one of the best in the league at coaching that group.