year left. i'll draft some depth behind him. but he is one of the very very few who earned his $$$$ on defense last year.

cox, no doubt.

so that's 2 on defense.

desean on offense. not too many players who force you to gameplan in the league. if i have a player (despite his limitations) who can dictate coverage, i'm keeping him. he needs a big body opposite him, though.

shady.

we up to 4.

peters. i know he's coming off achilles (2, actually). this is high risk/reward. but dude was THE best LT in football before he went down. i'll take that gamble and get depth / avg starter quality behind him.

so that's 5 ppl.

fuck maclin, tho. ole, i might catch it i might not ass ni&&a. i might play like a number 1, i might fade into bolivion ass ni&&a. at a decent contract he could do work as the #3 (make him a slot receiver in effect, but run him and desean out of twins a lot to put the secondary in a bind).

so we got 5 must keeps between offense and defense:

DEF: ryans, cox
OFF: shady, djax, peters

next tier are the folks who are above nfl avg and justify a good salary, but that you aren't really building a team around at this point. solid pieces you'd like to keep that are better than most alternatives in the league or that you're likely to pick up w/o drafting high:

DEF: graham, cole, kendricks, boykin, thornton.

graham is young and coming into his own. he was legitimately good this year. might be a flash in the pan, but he had lots of potential coming in from the draft so i'm inclined to believe he's sustainable.

kendricks wasn't as good as he could have been and showed flashes. wildly inconsistent. i think our LB coaching and overall def coaching was so ass that it retarded his development. if his ceiling is a michael boley type, i'm good w/ that.

boykin actually played VERY well as a slot corner, rookie or no. was not out of position much. and got *barely* beaten for most completions on him (ie, he was draped over a guy and the qb and receiver just executed very well). he's the only secondary guy that really needs to come back.

thornton is a value dude. you still can upgrade the other DT position opposite cox, but you don't *have* too. and that's key, since we have to replace an entire secondary.


OFF:

vick. not at no 15 mil. if he doesn't renegotiate, it may be a moot point. is he the game changer that can win, by himself, like he used to be able to? nope. but in a sane offense tailored to his strengths, and with a half decent OL, his arm gives you a chance to do things that are still very rare in football. i think he's also a complimentary piece to get the value out of desean. djax game is NOT catching (consistently) stuff underneath and turning them into long games. his game is getting over the top of coverage, opening up the intermediate stuff, as well as catching hitches and quick outs, and scooting up the sidelines. if the eagles don't get a guy w/ a big arm, desean will only get the ball on schemes. the qb's who have middling arms, but who just loft the ball downfield have big receivers who use their body position to out leap and out muscle defenders to get the ball. desean is not that dude. you better put the ball out in front of him, and you better have an arm to do that. won't be anyone with an arm like that on the FA or trade market (sanchize? alex smith? psssh). put vick in a system where he doesn't have to be perfect just to get a completion and he is a better option than anyone realistically available. and that doesn't count his running.

evan mathis. his value was inflated by peters, but he is by far the best of the other linemen. he can move people off the line, protect in the passing game, as well as do mobile stuff. so that makes him attractive for whatever brand of offense the new coach brings in.

bryce brown - even despite the fumbles. dude basically completed his freshman year in the nfl. more work and reps can get him to nfl-level fundamentals as an rb. he's a good weapon, and insurance for shady. needs to improve in pass pro.

kelce - i'm iffy on this one. i think the eagles got sold a bill of goods on mudd's scheme. i personally don't give a fuck if a center can pull and lead on a sweep and block cornerbacks. i'd like the center to be able to anchor in the middle and move a DT off the line when we need a yard so we don't have to run triple dipple reverses in short yardage. i'm funny that way. like peters, he has a question mark b/c he's coming off a major injury. maybe moreso because the main part of his game is his athleticism.

celek? i'm iffy on celek. dude has funks every year where he makes a bunch of drops. i wonder about how much wear and tear has taken on him. he's definitely a dude you want to upgrade. we need a field stretching, matchup problem causing TE. but the teams that have those got them b/c they had the luxury at the other offensive positions to take flyers on the bball type guys. so i won't let great be the enemy of good here. celek's blocking has improved, he should be aight for the short term. he doesn't win, one on one, as much vs. LBs and S's as he used to, though. he's definitely not someone i'd be trying to get rid of, though, and i think he could be a very serviceable part of the offense, especially if the O makes better use of the other skill players.

fuck the rest of the OL. stay, go, whatever.






peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

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** i move away from the mic to breathe in