All 87 Eagles players eligible to attend this week’s mandatory minicamp reported on Monday, including defensive tackle Fletcher Cox and running back Darren Sproles, who skipped all three weeks of voluntary organized team activity practices.
That’s cool! Cue the “We Are Family” soundtrack!
This offseason, new Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson said he believed the team could contend for the NFC East title in his first season.
The team has more talent than the team Andy Reid inherited in 1999, Pederson said. That’s why he believed his first season could be better than Reid’s first season, when the Eagles went 5-11.
The return to NFL orthodoxy is going to be good for everyone. It has been compelling to hear players like Lane Johnson, Jordan Matthews and Nelson Agholor talk enthusiastically about the way Pederson’s offense will operate. It will be entertaining as a fan to observe the difference in the manner in which the Eagles offense will operate with more than 8 scripted plays and an occasional change-up in cadence and snap-count. [Shot at Chip Kelly intended…]
Tommy Lawlor at Igglesblitz.com had a great take on why he’s happy that Fletcher Cox did “hold out” from voluntary OTA’s:
“Cox didn’t miss a lot. He will primarily be the 3-tech DT (or the Under Tackle) in the new scheme. His job is to attack up the field. Over and over and over. Sure, it would have been good for him to work with the new DL coach on some technique stuff and to shake off the rust, but Cox can get up to speed in a hurry.”
“I agree with Les Bowen that the Eagles actually benefited from Cox’s absence.
“In the meantime, Cox’s absence has helped the Eagles get a better feel for their depth at defensive tackle, one of the positions most affected by the switch from 3-4 to 4-3. Beau Allen, drafted in 2014 as a gap-filling nose tackle, has pared his body-fat percentage in an attempt to be more viable in a 4-3.
“Asked about spring standouts on Friday, Pederson spoke of “some defensive linemen in there that have really shown flashes of giving us depth at that position.”
“Center Jason Kelce, asked Friday who has impressed him, said: “Mike Martin . . . has given tremendous effort, each and every day. I would be doing him a disservice if I didn’t point out how much he has stood out in these OTAs, the effort level he has brought.”
“Martin, 6-1, 298, the Titans’ third-round pick in 2012, signed a one-year deal with the Eagles in free agency. He’d played nose tackle in a 3-4 in Tennessee and thought his quickness and aggressiveness might be more suited to a 4-3.
“To have an opportunity to play in a defense like this, that I feel fits my playing style very well, is a huge opportunity for me,” Martin said. “I just want to make sure I capitalize on it as best I can.”
See, that’s the beauty of the unknown at this stage of the offseason. Guys who are considered understudies in February get a chance to step up in May and June.
Who knows how it all will shake out by September? You just try to stay positive through the process.
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