What I take away from the San Francisco 49ers' breakthrough to SB 47 is hope for the Eagles… 3 seasons ago the 49ers were a 4-12 team.
They changed head coach…they amped up their defense big-time, especially at linebacker…and they committed to a more fluid and less predictable scheme on offense. And they decided to invest more heavily in the trenches.
This is exactly the evolutionary challenge that now faces the Eagles. Time to adapt to a new NFL environment and learn to thrive in it…
Defensively speaking, the Eagles must get bigger on the front seven like the 49ers. 280-pound DE's playing as pseudo-DT's will no longer cut it. Smallish linebackers trying to fill the gaps are passe.
Andy Reid favored smaller fast guys over big lane cloggers. That trend has run its course.
Mychal Kendricks (OLB) is a case in point— all the talent in the world, but frequently found out of position or overwhelmed physically in key play situations.
All Chip Kelly wants and has promised is that his front-seven defense will attack, force the issue and the pace.
"It's going to be a group of people who dictates the tempo of the game," he said. "What that spacing is in terms of if it's a 4-3 spacing or 3-4 spacing, I think it's, again, looking at our roster and understanding whom I have the opportunity to bring here."
"I can't tell you that we're going to be this or going to be that, but I know the style of football that we're going to play and I know the style of players that I want to have out there. We're going to play fast, we're going to play hard, and we're going to finish plays."
Not until Kelly decides on what D-system the Eagles will run will they be able to go about figuring their exact needs for linebacker and defensive line.
But based on the play they've received from their linebackers in general over the last 10 seasons, one thing is for sure: They will need more…and bigger.
Even if they remain in a 4-3, they likely don't have enough defensive size or talent yet to have a true championship-caliber defense.
Toward the end of this past season, when it became evident that head coach Andy Reid and his staff were being sacked and possibly replaced by a staff that wants to run a 3-4, middle linebacker DeMeco Ryans bristled at the suggestions that he would not fit that kind of scheme.
"I'd be fine in the 3-4," he said.
He pointed out how he still started at Houston after the Texans switched to a 3-4 under then new defensive coordinator Wade Phillips. It was just that his overall snaps were reduced because of exotic personnel packages that included more defensive backs on most passing downs.
With his new team, the Eagles, in 2012, Ryans never left the field. He produced accordingly, finishing with a team-high 148 tackles, including 16 for losses — most in franchise history since that started being tracked by the Eagles in 1999.
Ryans also is a student of the game and is never unprepared. However, his contract calls for a $6.6-million salary in 2013, something the Eagles might like to reduce. The subject left Ryans on edge and unwilling to talk about as the 2012 season drew to a close.
In a 3-4, he obviously would be on the inside. Yet even his status for 2013 is uncertain, which tells you about all the rest of the linebackers still under contract.
That includes Mychal Kendricks, who was switched from the strong side to the weak side in the Eagles' 4-3 and might not even project to play outside in a 3-4, where the linebackers often are required to rush the passer. Kendricks has great pursuit speed, which allowed him to rank third on the team with 88 tackles. However, he had only one sack.
One intangible that should keep Kendricks in the Eagles' plans no matter what is his drive. "You can tell by the questions he asks that he wants to be the best player he can be," Ryans said. "He's always picking my brain about something."
While Kendricks played the strong side, veteran Akeem Jordan manned the weak side. Jordan, a proven special-teams player and part-time starter, interestingly was the only one of 17 players whose contracts expired after the 2010 season the Eagles chose to bring back under the new collective bargaining agreement of 2011.
Jordan has started all three spots in the 4-3 since catching on with this team as an undrafted free agent in 2007.
Before suffering a knee injury late in the 2009 season, after settling in as a starter on the weak side, he might have been their best linebacker. He finished with career bests of 82 tackles, two interceptions and six knockdowns that season, despite being limited to just 10 starts (and 12 games total).
He's made just 17 starts in the 45 games he's played since, and none since Kendricks moved over to the weak side. How he would fit into a 3-4 remains a mystery.
The same goes for Jamar Chaney, who took over on the strong side after Kendricks moved over. "I don't know what their plan is for me next year," Chaney said just before the Eagles' season finale. "I just come in and work hard every day and let everything take care of itself."
Casey Matthews' stock could rise if only because of the trust level he developed with Kelly when he played for him at Oregon. Matthews, as a rookie in 2011, started his first three games in the middle but has started just one game since.
If the Eagles go to a 3-4, chances are that current starting ends Brandon Graham and Trent Cole will be considered for outside linebacker spots.
The Eagles are widely considered to need more quality linebackers if they intend to build a true championship contender in 2013, especially if they switch to a 3-4, which is a strong probability under new head coach Chip Kelly. Here's a list of the top linebackers who will be available in the NFL Draft and where they project to line up at this level:
1. Jarvis Jones, OLB, Georgia. 6-2, 245.
2. Barkevious Mingo, OLB, LSU. 6-4, 240.
3. Manti Te'o, ILB, Notre Dame. 6-2, 255.
4. Kevin Minter, ILB, LSU. 6-1, 245.
5. Khaseem Greene, OLB, Rutgers. 6-1, 235.
6. John Simon, OLB, Ohio State. 6-2, 260.
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