Did you enjoy watching the Senior Bowl on NFLN/ESPN on Saturday? I sure did. It sure beat shoveling snow…er, chopping ice. We will update the prospects who stood out in Mobile and yet are also in the draft range of the Eagles after a short break here.
An interesting bit of information about the Senior Bowl came to me via Bruce Cunningham, a veteran sports reporter in the region who used to work in the Mobile, Alabama market and covered a bunch of Senior Bowl weeks while stationed there. He said each team has its own motel for the event, and “every cute miniskirt within 300 miles of Mobile descends upon the team motels” making for some very entertaining stories you won’t read about in the media. Cunningham said he can’t tell us the names involved in some legendary hanky-panky lest he be sued for libel. Boys will be boys, and those Southern girls love it!
The funniest part of Cunningham’s revelations is how he would also cover baseball spring training in Florida a month later, and he would bump into the same bunch of pretty girls mobbing the major league camps.
But back to the Eagles beat…
The Birds continue to lock up key players, signing offensive tackle Lane Johnson to a six-year contract Friday. Johnson’s deal runs through 2021. Sources told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Caplan that it’s worth $63 million, with $35.5 million guaranteed.
Former Eagles GM Joe Banner has stated he thinks it’s a great move by the team to make these kind of long-term extensions, pointing to the fact that the NFL is expanding the league’s salary cap by up to $20 million over these next two seasons, and that you will be seeing the average value of player contracts increasing by about 20 percent over the next few years.
That’s high praise coming from Joe Banner, who you’d reasonably expect to have some bitterness in his heart remaining from his ouster from the Eagles front office a few years ago.
Lane Johnson, 25, started 43 games at right tackle. He started two games at left tackle in 2015 because of injuries to Jason Peters. The Eagles’ plan all along has been to move Johnson to left tackle when Peters, who turned 34 last week, is gone.
“I think that’s what they drafted me for,” Johnson said. “Jason Peters is probably the best tackle of all time — one of them. He’s taught me so much. I’m just going to continue to do that until that time comes.”
“It’s definitely a fair deal,” Johnson said. “I’ll be the highest-paid right tackle. If it comes to left [tackle], I think it’s a fair deal. Wherever I’m playing, I’m going to give 110 percent and give them their money’s worth.”
Speaking of prudent personnel decisions and planning for the future, Steelers’ chairman Art Rooney II told reporters at the Senior Bowl that the Eagles have requested permission to interview Brandon Hunt for the currently vacant V.P. of Player Personnel position. Hunt is Pittburgh’s pro scouting coordinator.
The last time the Eagles hired a director of football operations from the Steelers’ organization was back in 1998 when they signed Tom Modrak. That eventually worked out quite well for Andy Reid’s successful early run as he and Modrak built a championship contender.
Ironically former Steelers executive Tom Donahoe is also involved in the recommendation of Brandon Hunt for the Eagles job—a job which by implication means Hunt would have to report to Howie Roseman, something about which Donahoe could give a few helpful tips.
In other words, Howie Roseman is going to be running the draft and free agency— but Hunt would be doing the heavy lifting in terms of grading players.
The Steelers are by consensus one of the most stable organizations in the NFL. Front-office infighting and volatile coaching changes are not their thing. Someone like Brandon Hunt could bring a mix of football personnel expertise and organizational compatibility to the Eagles—just as Tom Modrak did in 1998 as the Ray Rhodes/Bob Ackles/Joe Banner triumvirate had imploded.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Welp, whom did you like most as an Eagles prospect at the Senior Bowl?
The defensive fronts for both the South and North squads were dominant during the Reese’s Senior Bowl practice week, so it’s no surprise one of them keyed a victory in Saturday’s annual all-star game at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama.
The South defense sacked North quarterbacks three times in the first half to help the South to a 27-16 win.
Baylor’s Shawn Oakman came up with two of those sacks, one of which forced a fumble, and Eastern Kentucky’s Noah Spence had another. The South pass rush also served to assist a secondary that got two pass breakups each from cornerbacks Cyrus Jones and Jalen Mills as four North quarterbacks combined for just 220 passing yards, much of it in the fourth quarter with the game already in hand. Virginia Tech’s Dadi Nicolas and South Carolina State’s Javon Hargrave combine on a second-half sack for the South, as well.
Quarterbacks Dak Prescott (Mississippi State) and Brandon Allen (Arkansas) each completed 7 of 10 passes for the South, and Prescott delivered a touchdown pass late in the first half to open a 17-3 lead that eventually proved to be the game-winning points. Prescott was selected as the Senior Bowl Most Outstanding Player.
North Dakota State QB Carson Wentz, one of the top prospects in the game, played only the first quarter and completed 6 of 10 passes for 50 yards, with two of his incompletions coming as a result of drops by Ohio State’s Braxton Miller and Cincinnati’s Chris Moore. Each team played four quarterbacks, resulting in roughly only a quarter of playing time for each.
North defensive tackles Sheldon Day (Notre Dame) and Vernon Butler (Louisiana Tech) recorded a sack each also, maintaining a narrative from the practice week that saw offensive linemen from both squads struggle to consistently block a deep and talented group of defensive linemen.
Alabama RB Kenyan Drake put the game out of reach with a short touchdown run on a sweep left late in the fourth quarter.
I will wait for GK Brizer‘s notes on whom the Eagles might target at #13 in the draft based upon what he saw in Saturday’s exhibition.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Well, predictably our Chairman of the Bored is succinct and somewhat elusive in his take on the top prospects coming out of the Senior Bowl.
GK Brizer is looking at 10 guys out of the 100 players who put it all on the line at Mobile and will be courted by Eagles scouts…and feels that number will be whittled down to 8 by the time the Combine and the actual Draft come around…
But due to the fact that “Spies Are Everywhere”, Brizer hesitates to name names…
At the risk of espionage charges being brought against me, I am guessing these are the 10 guys Brizer likes:
Braxton Miller, WR, Ohio State
Kenneth Dixon, Running Back, Louisiana Tech
Austin Blythe, Center, Iowa
Noah Spence, Defensive End, Eastern Kentucky
Carson Wentz, Quarterback, NDSU
Jason Spriggs, Offensive Tackle, Indiana
Jacoby Brissett, Quarterback, NC State
Jeremy Cash, Safety, Duke
Bryce Williams, Tight End, ECU
Tavon Young, Cornerback, Temple
All of these guys fit into the #13 template based upon the draft rounds in which they will be chosen… so they are in play for the Eagles… and none of them had a horrible outing in Mobile. So let the speculation begin…
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
