Dak Prescott steals the spotlight from Eagles’ Fletcher Cox at NCAA Women’s Finals

I was rooting for the Mississippi State women to prevail over South Carolina in the NCAA finals in Dallas on Sunday. It didn’t happen, as the Lady Bulldogs fell 67-55 in the championship game against South Carolina. It was the third time this season the Lady Bulldogs lost to South Carolina, so no big whoop. But what galled me as an Eagles fan was the Mississippi State fan base was represented with a ton of face time on camera by the Dallas Cowboys’ QB Dak Prescott.  Where was the Eagles’ biggest Mississippi State alumnus Fletcher Cox in that picture?

That was the only genuine Eagles news slant I could find on a weekend which was frankly dominated by NCAA men’s and women’s basketball. I had to chuckle a bit as Eagles bloggers scrambled for anything remotely newsworthy, including the crazy non-story speculation about the Eagles trying to trade veteran tackle Jason Peters to the Broncos for a 2nd or 3rd round pick in the draft. Seriously?

If things are quiet on the Eagles front right now, maybe that’s a good thing. Organizational stability is rarely newsworthy.

Somewhat comforting was the news cornerback Ron Brooks has agreed to a pay cut, according to ESPN’s Field Yates. His salary for the upcoming season will be reduced from $1.85 million to $1 million. Additionally, the 2018 year in his contract is now an option year. I don’t mean I’m happy Ron Brooks is making less money in 2017 than he was hoping for, I’m just happy he’s back with the team for another shot. I think he deserves another shot.

There was some uncertainty about Brooks’ future with the team. He suffered a significant injury in Week 7 this past season, rupturing the quadriceps tendon in his right leg against the Minnesota Vikings. Brooks is still on the mend. But the Eagles are extremely thin at the corner position at the moment, and this appears to be a sign that the team intends on keeping him around for now.

Brooks signed a three-year, $5.5 million deal with the Eagles last offseason after spending the first four years of his career with the Buffalo Bills. Reunited with defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, Brooks mainly manned the nickel role and was part of a unit that started the 2017 season off strong. Brooks’ injury weakened the secondary, one of many factors that played into the defense’s decline down the stretch.

Meanwhile the Drafttek picture just got a little foggier for the Eagles and our Eagles draft analyst ~BROZ:

Round 1 for the first 15 positions has been revised:

Corey Davis

Leonard Fournette

Myles Garrett

How you liking them apples?

Here’s ~BROZ’ reasoning, although I think he would agree he was backed into a corner on this one:

14

Philadelphia

Jonathan Allen Alabama DL3T     Reach/Value:     +2

Height: 6’3″ Weight: 291

Original CMD#10 Pick: Jourdan Lewis

“After spending big bucks to acquire Carson Wentz a true #1 WR in Ashlon Jeffery, the Eagles’ biggest need heading towards the draft shifts from finding Wentz help, to finding a legit superstar at any position. It would be nice if that player happened to be a CB. However in my opinion, the draft is shaping up in a way from a value-perspective where you either want to get Marshon Lattimore at the top of the draft, or wait until the 2nd through 4th rounds to load up on CBs.

“In this week’s CMD, the Eagles resist the urge to reach for a CB in RD1 and instead take the best player available in defensive lineman Jonathan Allen. There are some concerns whether Allen can be an elite defensive end from a pass rushing perspective, and despite averaging 11 sacks in the last two years, those concerns may be warranted. However as a defensive tackle in Jim Schwartz’s wide-9 defense, he has all the pass rushing skills you need and more. He’s also a straight up beast in run defense (expect him to beef up to 300 lbs pretty quickly). With the Eagles, he’d pair up with Fletcher Cox to perhaps form the best DT duo in the league, and slide out to defensive end on short yardage and goal line situations. The shoulder arthritis issues will need to be monitored, however these are things you obsess over if you’re picking in the top 5; if you’re picking at 14, you run to the podium and take this man. ~Broz, Eagles Analyst”

I kinda get it….and I like the idea of drafting a bookend for Fletcher Cox. Besides, I was waiting for Fletcher Cox to get mentioned somewhere or anywhere this past weekend when all the cameras were on Dak Prescott.