I had my own nuts and bolts moment last Saturday…I was cruising down Route 1 to visit wifey in our new house in Milton, Delaware on a sunny Saturday morning when my right front tire on the 2001 Jeep Cherokee blew out. I was lucky the weather was mild and there was plenty of daylight. I was also lucky the blown tire was on the right side. They don’t give you much room to change a tire on the right side of Route 1, but if you have to do it, the right side of the highway shoulder is the only way to go. With traffic zooming by at 65 MPH, I can only imagine my angst trying to change a tire on the left side of the vehicle. Even so, there was some stress involved. I had to consult the Jeep manual buried inside the glove box to even find where the emergency jack was hidden. Under the back seat, as it turned out…Then I had to trust the “convenience tire” replacement. Turns out this little hunk of tubeless rubber has to be inflated to 60 PSI. Luckily I always carry an air compressor which feeds off the cigarette lighter outlet. Never dreaming I would have to use it, I managed to inflate the spare tire from 20 PSI to 60 PSI, and I escaped—ultimately finding a “Mr. Tire” retail outlet in Lewes, Delaware which came through with a groovy and timely replacement of the original blown tire.
The analogy here is— with all the unexpected injuries and setbacks to the “tires” of the Eagles in the initial weeks of the season, there are fixes in place. With luck similar to what I experienced on Route 1, we can get through this.
I won’t belabor the injury situation. You all know who is hurting and out of commission for the time being. But here are the “emergency spare tire” adjustments:
The Philadelphia Eagles are having a reunion tour first with Jordan Matthews and potentially Jeremy Maclin. Next up is Josh Andrews.
According to NFL Agent Brett Tessler, the Eagles are going to re-sign Andrews next week and place him on the practice squad. The Eagles will then promote Andrews to the active roster.
Andrews spent his rookie season on the Eagles practice squad as an undrafted free agent out of Oregon State, before earning a 53-man roster spot in 2015 and 2016. He played just three games in 2016 and was inactive for 13 of them, playing just one offensive snap and 12 special teams snaps. Andrews was cut by the Eagles last September, but re-signed to the practice squad days later…spending the remainder of the 2017 season there.
Andrews signed with the Vikings in the offseason, but was cut on 53-man roster cutdown day.
If the Eagles are bringing Andrews back to the 53-man roster, which player will be moved? The logical answer is Chance Warmack, whom the Eagles tried to trade last month.
Warmack, a six-year veteran, is a developed player and proven backup who won’t be starting on the Eagles in 2018. A free agent at the end of the season, the Eagles would save $1,656,250 if they were to trade Warmack, who is earning $2,031,250 in 2018. The Eagles are $11.4 million under the salary cap and would be approximately $13 million under with a trade of Warmack.
The Eagles appear ready to move on from Warmack, who can only play one position on the offensive line at left guard. Warmack doesn’t have the versatility of Isaac Seumalo and Matt Pryor, as the two can play multiple positions on the offensive line. Seumalo played left tackle, left guard and center for the Eagles in Thursday’s preseason game against the Cleveland Browns and has played right guard and right tackle in the past.
“Honestly, man, I don’t know what’s going on,” Warmack said last month (via Les Bowen of Philly.com).
As for Josh Gordon becoming an “emergency tire” for the Birds? The Philadelphia Eagles had an interest in Josh Gordon, but ultimately decided to pass on the talented, but troubled wide receiver. Philadelphia decided to go with a familiar option in Jordan Matthews and reportedly have a workout scheduled with Jeremy Maclin next week.
JMatt’s rubber will hit the road against the Colts this weekend. As for Maclin, I would say “pass”… I watched him quit on the Ravens last year when he felt he wasn’t getting enough quality targets. I don’t like receivers who quit on routes or blocking assignments. It doesn’t suit us.
NFL Insider Adam Caplan revealed to SportsRadio 94 WIP why the Eagles decided to pass on Gordon, which had more to do with timing and actual availability.
“The reality is the information they had is they probably shouldn’t have got him. I don’t think they trusted the situation,” Caplan said. “What they want was someone they knew could play right away and they could depend on.”
Enter Jordan Matthews, who led the NFL with 2,389 yards from the slot in his three NFL seasons with the Eagles, having 225 catches for 2,673 yards and 19 touchdowns with the team.
The Eagles plan to put Matthews in the slot, the position he occupied prior to being dealt last year. Matthews led the NFL with 2,389 yards from the slot in his three NFL seasons with the Eagles, which lead the Eagles to put him back in his comfort zone as he gets acclimated back into the offense.
“I don’t get into slot, inside, outside. The only reason I say that is because we move our guys around so much,” head coach Doug Pederson said. “You see Nelson (Agholor) inside, you see Nelson outside, and that could be by formation, just matchups and different things. His career he’s primarily been an inside receiver. We understand that. We’ll see where he is at and see how he fits into the game plan this week.
“Jordan has (familiarity) with the coaching staff. We have familiarity with him. He knows our offense. It’s only been, what, a year really (since) he left? A lot of similarity there. It’s just a matter of catching him up.”
JMatt is no speedster, but he has a knack for finding dead spots in a zone defense. He has drop-rate issues (5.1%), but if he catches 95% of the rest of his targets in key situations, who cares?
More nuts and bolts stuff:
DE Michael Bennett ain’t talkin’ to you or me no more…he wasn’t happy coming off the field against the Bucs on a 3rd and long when he was caught on TV with his arms raised to DL coach Chris Wilson. He wants more playing time. Until he gets it, SHUT UP in advance!
Any way that DC Jim Schwartz is going to let Jalen Mills cover T.Y. Hilton this Sunday right ? Hopefully not? Mills will get some matchups against T.Y. It’s somewhat unavoidable.
Moving Spartacus Agholor to the outside? It’s a “convenience spare tire” emergency situation. “He’ll be fine on the outside. I don’t think he suddenly became a better player because he got put in the slot. He, along with the coaching staff, have attributed his better play to more confidence. However. I do think he is a force in the slot, and the Eagles’ best scenario is surround him with two good WRs on the outside.”—Jimmy Kempski
Are they really going to start Kamar Aiken at WR on Sunday? “I feel like we’d be better off with Foles out there.”—Kempski fan poster. I kinda agree with that poster!
Foles was hit a ton last Sunday in Tampa. I might be exaggerating, but for the entire first half it felt like the Bucs were living in our backfield. The O-line seemed to turn it around in the 2nd half. Is the O-line living up to expectations? Under-prepared? Needing more time to gel after the preseason? I know Foles wasn’t timely with his throws, but the pressure seemed to get there way too fast in the 1st half of both the Atlanta and the Tampa games.
Kempski says Foles held onto the ball for too long a time on a number of occasions, which allowed the pass rush to get there. He doesn’t think Foles played very well, if he’s being honest.
Sidney Jones was a bright spot in a secondary that otherwise got torched on Sunday against Tampa bay. At some point, if Mills keeps playing the way he’s playing, they have to consider moving Jones into Mills’ position.
Off-season signings NOT working out well. Would you agree? Wallace hurt, Bennett lackluster, Haloti Ngata MIA…
“Bennett has been good when he’s been in there. I have no problem with his production so far. Ngata has indeed been MIA. Wallace got open deep a few times but Foles couldn’t hit him. That’s not on Wallace, IMO. I would have liked to have seen him with Wentz. I do agree that the Eagles’ veteran offseason acquisitions the last few years have been way better than this year’s crop.” —Kempski
Does Clement get leaned on heavily this week or does Smallwood mix in?
Clement is not being used enough, citing that he has only played 30% of the snaps so far. OC Groh disagrees, saying that Clement is seeing the field enough, which baffles many of us.
“That’s Duce’s department. He rotates the backs. I have no idea why Smallwood is playing over Clement in any scenario, as Smallwood does literally nothing better than Clement. It’s odd.”— Kempski
Is Goedert in the dog house?
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