Smart Guys: How the Eagles Are Trying to Get Ahead of the Curve
Ever wondered what it’s like to be the smartest man in the room?
Imagine walking into a classroom full of your peers who are scrambling through textbooks and notes in efforts to get one last study in for an exam that you seamlessly have all the answers to.
While it certainly isn’t that easy for Howie Roseman and the rest of the Philadelphia Eagles brass. The moves the team has made during the offseason suggest the team is trending in a direction a lot of teams in the league aren’t.
To many people it has been a questionable offseason for the Eagles to say the least.
Yet despite a general consensus of disapproval between some fans and media personnel, Roseman seemed to be caught off guard by the amount of backlash received in particularly the Jalen Hurts selection.
The one thing, I think it’s okay to question me, it’s okay to question our thought process; and we’ll get through that a little bit here; but I don’t want to get lost in the fact that Jalen Hurts is an Eagle. And, he’s ours. And this is one of the great college football players of the past four years. This is one of the great character guys, in this draft. This is one of the great leaders, in this draft. This is an asset to any football team. And, I want our fans to take a minute and just watch that guy, and see that this is a talented guy that we added to our football team. It’s okay, you can be upset at me and the round resources, but let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater.”
Yet, what if there was a method behind all of Roseman’s madness after all? The thought process behind this methodology may have included the being “Wentz-proof” to an extent. Not to say the Eagles don’t trust Wentz but with the way, last season ended it’s safe to say that no one wants a repeat should the Eagles be in the same predicament. However what if I told you that Wentz’s health wasn’t the driving force behind this selection and that the Eagles hinted that they were headed in this direction long before Jalen Hurts heard his name called at pick 52?
You see Eagles quarterback coach Press Taylor mentioned how the NFL was trending towards having multiple passers on the field at one time back in June 2019.
“I do think at some point, one of the big things will be having multiple people on the field who can throw the ball,” he said. “You’ve seen the ‘Philly Special,’ all the different versions of double passes. At some point, I could see something like that coming into play. I’m not saying we’re doing anything like that, but I do think it’s something that could happen with pushing the envelope.”
What Taylor said next is where things start to become intriguing.
” … You’ve got these guys coming out of college that are dual-threat quarterbacks and transitioning to receivers, different things like that. Those guys get on the field and just to be able to get your best players on the field and threaten the defense in the most ways possible. It’ll be fun to see.”
Despite Taylor brushing the statement under the rug at the time, he seemed to be forecasting what was to come in Philadelphia. It could be a coincidence but it wouldn’t come as a surprise if Taylor has played a role in the decision as he recently saw a promotion of sorts having passing game coordinator added to his title.
Philadelphia wouldn’t be the first team to experiment with multiple quarterback sets as just last season the Ravens implemented the “Heisman” package — a formation including Lamar Jackson, Robert Griffin III, and Mark Ingram simultaneously in the backfield. While Sean Payton has pretty much created a position so that Taysom Hill can stay on the field. Yet despite the notion of how the Eagles will use Hurts, multiple people have commented on how Hurts is a quarterback and will/should be used as such from Doug Pederson to most recently Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley.
That said, the Eagles wouldn’t use a second-round selection on a player that wouldn’t be a key piece of the offense down the road. Yet it’s hard to see the Eagles parting ways with Wentz after handing him a huge extension. So it will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Photo: Jeff Fusco
You see that’s just one side of the ball. The Philadelphia Eagles did what could be considered an overhaul of the secondary during the offseason as well. With Jalen Mills announcing the move to safety, along with the acquisitions of Will Parks and K’Von Wallace, the Eagles seemed to be setting a trend. It looks as if the goal was to acquire multiple players with familiarities at positions along backend. The team may even use a guy like Parks in the place of a linebacker or give Avonte Maddox the chance to line up at cornerback, nickel back, or even the safety position that he saw success at as a rookie. Thus giving the team the ability to match up across the board with almost any offense.
You’ve seen teams use versatile players such as Tyrann Mathieu, Derwin James, and most recently Isaiah Simmons. However we’ve never seen a team try to create a defense based solely on position-less players. It seems as if Roseman and Jim Schwartz understand that replacing Malcolm Jenkins would have to become a collaborative effort.
Roseman discussed the importance of versatile players earlier this offseason.
“You have to match up with these guys, being able to get as many guys who can cover different body types is important to us as we try to put it together.”
It seems Philadelphia is attempting to put together a defense built to stop each of the top tier offenses in the NFL. Speed is the direction the league it trending in and the Eagles added a lot of it this offseason.
With the team now having a legitimate number one cornerback, after trading for Darius Slay, the team now has someone to match up against the top receivers in the league. This will allow Schwartz to put the rest to the hybrid secondary in positions all over the field to succeed, while the defensive line (which could be considered the best unit in the league) looks to continue its dominance. If all goes according to plan this defense will have the ability to rival the vaunted unit of 2017.
“You also try to figure out where the next wave is coming where maybe something is undervalued right now and two or three years from now we’ll be ahead of it because this is a trendsetting league and you want to be out in front of the trends,” said Roseman. “Those are the things that make our jobs interesting and also challenge us.” – Howie Roseman
In this instance we would once again celebrate the tradition of #HowieSZN as Roseman would have surely silenced his critics. That however is an entire football season away. As for now this offseason could be considered boom or bust for Howie Roseman.
That’s the life of an NFL general manager, figuring out how to be the smartest guy in the room.
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