Wow I'm very excited about the opening of free agency today, the Eagles are rumored to be moving fast, but nothing is in place yet.
Patriots Cornerback Asante Samuel is scheduled to visit the team today and according to Profootballtalk.com, sources are reported he already has a deal in place with the Eagles. That would be awesome.
Nothing matters until Samuel signs on the dotted line but this is an exciting time with the Eagles right now and would be great to get a Pro-Bowl cornerback like Samuels, onto this roster.
To sum it all up, the Birds need to sign Samuel because he is the most highly touted cornerback on the market, if not most wanted free agent in general. So the offers are going to be on the table, it's no secret that Asante wants a lot of money.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
The End Of The Freak
Jevon Kearse's time in Philadelphia has come to an end as he was released by the Eagles today. A disappointment since he was signed going into the 2004 season, Jevon's career has been on a steady decline ever since his phenomenal 1999 rookie season with the Tennessee Titans.
Kearse's 26 sacks in the first two years of his career in Tennessee (26) are only a few more than the entire sack total he accumulated in his 4 years in Philadelphia (22). After inking a hefty $66 million 8 year contract in free agency to come and play in Philadelphia in 2004, there were high expectations for Kearse despite the fact his numbers had declined in recent years.
In 2002 Kearse broke a bone in his left foot and missed 12 games with that injury, the following season when he returned he put up 9.5 sacks, and had a good year but it wasn't enough for the Titans to re-sign him in free agency. So with a big contract to his name, the 2004 season was disappointing at the time because Jevon's 7.5 sacks were under par for what was expected of him.
Things were expected to change for the better the following season, I mean just looking at how phenomenal the beginning of his career was there had to be some kind of increase in productivity, but those hopes were again let down with 7.5 sacks. The real problem came along in 2006 against the New York Giants, playing in an overtime that shouldn't have even occurred to begin with, Kearse severely injured his knee and was placed on Injured Reserve in just week 2 of the season. That was extremely unfortunate because only 2 games into the year, Kearse had racked up 3.5 sacks already, he was off to a great start, but it was cut short.
That brings us to this past year, after a mere 11 tackles and 3.5 sacks in the opening 8 games of the year, Kearse did not start, for the first time in his Philadelphia career, despite being technically healthy, Kearse was not listed as a starter against the Redskins in Week 10. From the following week onwards, Juqua Thomas was given the start as opposed to Jevon Kearse, something that was not predicted to happen at the beginning of the season.
The hope that whoever signs him is going to have is that the Jevon Kearse of old still exists and that though he might not be the phenom he was in 1999, he can at least be productive, which was something not seen in 2006. That terrible knee injury in '05 definitely needs to be taken into account, because just like with Donovan McNabb, the hope is that he will be better this year, after a full year of recovery. The injury was so serious that it takes a long time for the body to heal and than the player to be completely comfortable with it, so after rushing back to try and play last season, for Jevon's sake the hope is that he performs much better this year.
The ideal situation would have been to restructure Kearse's contract as opposed to having to cut him completely but Drew Rosenhaus acknowledged that there was an attempt to do that, but no agreements were reached. That doesn't surprise anyone, I'm sure Kearse still feels he has way more value than the Eagles think he does, but only time will tell who was right in that assessment.
From the Birds standpoint, more stock is not invested in 2nd year player Victor Abiamiri who saw very little playing time in his rookie year. Along with that is the expectation that at least one defensive end will be drafted at some point this April.
Kearse's 26 sacks in the first two years of his career in Tennessee (26) are only a few more than the entire sack total he accumulated in his 4 years in Philadelphia (22). After inking a hefty $66 million 8 year contract in free agency to come and play in Philadelphia in 2004, there were high expectations for Kearse despite the fact his numbers had declined in recent years.
In 2002 Kearse broke a bone in his left foot and missed 12 games with that injury, the following season when he returned he put up 9.5 sacks, and had a good year but it wasn't enough for the Titans to re-sign him in free agency. So with a big contract to his name, the 2004 season was disappointing at the time because Jevon's 7.5 sacks were under par for what was expected of him.
Things were expected to change for the better the following season, I mean just looking at how phenomenal the beginning of his career was there had to be some kind of increase in productivity, but those hopes were again let down with 7.5 sacks. The real problem came along in 2006 against the New York Giants, playing in an overtime that shouldn't have even occurred to begin with, Kearse severely injured his knee and was placed on Injured Reserve in just week 2 of the season. That was extremely unfortunate because only 2 games into the year, Kearse had racked up 3.5 sacks already, he was off to a great start, but it was cut short.
That brings us to this past year, after a mere 11 tackles and 3.5 sacks in the opening 8 games of the year, Kearse did not start, for the first time in his Philadelphia career, despite being technically healthy, Kearse was not listed as a starter against the Redskins in Week 10. From the following week onwards, Juqua Thomas was given the start as opposed to Jevon Kearse, something that was not predicted to happen at the beginning of the season.
The hope that whoever signs him is going to have is that the Jevon Kearse of old still exists and that though he might not be the phenom he was in 1999, he can at least be productive, which was something not seen in 2006. That terrible knee injury in '05 definitely needs to be taken into account, because just like with Donovan McNabb, the hope is that he will be better this year, after a full year of recovery. The injury was so serious that it takes a long time for the body to heal and than the player to be completely comfortable with it, so after rushing back to try and play last season, for Jevon's sake the hope is that he performs much better this year.
The ideal situation would have been to restructure Kearse's contract as opposed to having to cut him completely but Drew Rosenhaus acknowledged that there was an attempt to do that, but no agreements were reached. That doesn't surprise anyone, I'm sure Kearse still feels he has way more value than the Eagles think he does, but only time will tell who was right in that assessment.
From the Birds standpoint, more stock is not invested in 2nd year player Victor Abiamiri who saw very little playing time in his rookie year. Along with that is the expectation that at least one defensive end will be drafted at some point this April.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Drafting At OL
With the combine having just wrapped up, a free agency yet to begin in a couple of days I want to take a glance ahead at the draft while these college players are on my mind.
Right out of the gates I'm going to explain that, I don't watch college football. Casually during the season if a big game is on I'll tune in but the way that I follow the Eagles, can't even be compared to my knowledge of college football. So I've talked about before, and will reiterate that when the offseason hits I cram a little bit with top prospects that are receiving media attention, but acquire all of my information regarding how these players look, from the experts. So in contrast to the NFL when I analyze players myself, considering I don't watch college football, any mention of a player is just from what I've learned recently.
Alright now it might seem like because of this issue I have no place in talking about who I think the Eagles are going to draft, that's kind of true. But I do know one thing, I know the Eagles draft history and how our front office thinks so the way I always piece it together is by identifying the position that I think the team is going to draft.
Right now the way things are shaping up I have no wavering in my mind the Birds are going to select an offensive lineman with their first pick in the draft. History shows...ok well last season...Kevin Kolb?, now that was just ridiculous but all prior history shows that Andy Reid uses the draft to build our offensive and defensive lines.
You look at the 9 draft classes under Andy Reid, since 1999, and 5 of those 1st round selections were spent on lineman. Starting with OT Corey Simon, than DE Jerome McDougle, OG Shawn Andrews, DT Mike Patterson, and DT Broderick Bunkley. Now branching off of the fact that Andy Reid now only values lineman so much but feels it best that they are drafted with our highest selection, looking at this roster offensive line in particular is in need.
I went into the 2007 with extremely high expectations for our offensive line and was left utterly disappointed. We went from allowing only 28 sacks in 2006 to 49 the following year...unbelievable. The primary reason that the team reached a 10-6 record and got into the playoffs in 2006, despite missing Donovan McNabb at Quarterback, was because of how solid that offensive line was. A big factor in the success of the line was the fact that, up until the playoff game against the Saints where Shawn Andrews had to be replaced by Scott Young because of an injury, the unit was able to stay healthy and work together all year.
Things changed this season as both Offensive Tackles Jon Runyan and William Thomas battled injuries at various parts of the year. Runyan didn't miss a start, continuing his streak of starting 176 straight regular season games, but he was banged up by the time the year ended. In October Runyan slipped in the cold tub at the Nova Care Complex and suffered a glute contusion that hampered him for weeks, but he didn't allow it to force him to miss a start. By the time the season ended against the Bills though Runyan left the Week 17 game early with a concussion.
As for William Thomas he sprained his MCL against the blow out of the Detroit Lions, and this caused him to miss the matchup against the New York Giants where the Eagles were humiliated. In Thomas's absence Winston Justice started at left tackle and the result was miserable, the Eagles offensive line gave up 12 sacks to the Giants with Winston Justice being absolutely destroyed by Osi Umenyiora, allowing him to accumulate a 6 sacks of his own.
For me, these all point to the fact that the Eagles are going to want to draft someone, other than Justice, to back up and eventually replace at least one of the players in this offensive tackle tandem. Considering that Thomas is now 33 years old, Runyan 34, the time is arriving that one of these guys are either going to drop off the map or have a much harder time fighting through those injuries and have to miss games.
Current problem with that is going into the season I was predicting that Winston Justice would be the guy to fill that need when it occurred, but with the 1 game that he started we saw that he isn't a reliable option. I'm not ready to give up on Justice but we do need to draft someone else for security reasons.
With all of that in mind, we seem to be in luck with this years draft class because it is being said that this is one of the strongest group of offensive lineman in a long time. Draft analyst Mike Mayock has 9 offensive lineman, 6 offensive tackles, that he believes could go in the 1st round alone, (with possibly 8 going by the time Day 1 closes out) so we seem to have a deep group to choose from.
Right out of the gates I'm going to explain that, I don't watch college football. Casually during the season if a big game is on I'll tune in but the way that I follow the Eagles, can't even be compared to my knowledge of college football. So I've talked about before, and will reiterate that when the offseason hits I cram a little bit with top prospects that are receiving media attention, but acquire all of my information regarding how these players look, from the experts. So in contrast to the NFL when I analyze players myself, considering I don't watch college football, any mention of a player is just from what I've learned recently.
Alright now it might seem like because of this issue I have no place in talking about who I think the Eagles are going to draft, that's kind of true. But I do know one thing, I know the Eagles draft history and how our front office thinks so the way I always piece it together is by identifying the position that I think the team is going to draft.
Right now the way things are shaping up I have no wavering in my mind the Birds are going to select an offensive lineman with their first pick in the draft. History shows...ok well last season...Kevin Kolb?, now that was just ridiculous but all prior history shows that Andy Reid uses the draft to build our offensive and defensive lines.
You look at the 9 draft classes under Andy Reid, since 1999, and 5 of those 1st round selections were spent on lineman. Starting with OT Corey Simon, than DE Jerome McDougle, OG Shawn Andrews, DT Mike Patterson, and DT Broderick Bunkley. Now branching off of the fact that Andy Reid now only values lineman so much but feels it best that they are drafted with our highest selection, looking at this roster offensive line in particular is in need.
I went into the 2007 with extremely high expectations for our offensive line and was left utterly disappointed. We went from allowing only 28 sacks in 2006 to 49 the following year...unbelievable. The primary reason that the team reached a 10-6 record and got into the playoffs in 2006, despite missing Donovan McNabb at Quarterback, was because of how solid that offensive line was. A big factor in the success of the line was the fact that, up until the playoff game against the Saints where Shawn Andrews had to be replaced by Scott Young because of an injury, the unit was able to stay healthy and work together all year.
Things changed this season as both Offensive Tackles Jon Runyan and William Thomas battled injuries at various parts of the year. Runyan didn't miss a start, continuing his streak of starting 176 straight regular season games, but he was banged up by the time the year ended. In October Runyan slipped in the cold tub at the Nova Care Complex and suffered a glute contusion that hampered him for weeks, but he didn't allow it to force him to miss a start. By the time the season ended against the Bills though Runyan left the Week 17 game early with a concussion.
As for William Thomas he sprained his MCL against the blow out of the Detroit Lions, and this caused him to miss the matchup against the New York Giants where the Eagles were humiliated. In Thomas's absence Winston Justice started at left tackle and the result was miserable, the Eagles offensive line gave up 12 sacks to the Giants with Winston Justice being absolutely destroyed by Osi Umenyiora, allowing him to accumulate a 6 sacks of his own.
For me, these all point to the fact that the Eagles are going to want to draft someone, other than Justice, to back up and eventually replace at least one of the players in this offensive tackle tandem. Considering that Thomas is now 33 years old, Runyan 34, the time is arriving that one of these guys are either going to drop off the map or have a much harder time fighting through those injuries and have to miss games.
Current problem with that is going into the season I was predicting that Winston Justice would be the guy to fill that need when it occurred, but with the 1 game that he started we saw that he isn't a reliable option. I'm not ready to give up on Justice but we do need to draft someone else for security reasons.
With all of that in mind, we seem to be in luck with this years draft class because it is being said that this is one of the strongest group of offensive lineman in a long time. Draft analyst Mike Mayock has 9 offensive lineman, 6 offensive tackles, that he believes could go in the 1st round alone, (with possibly 8 going by the time Day 1 closes out) so we seem to have a deep group to choose from.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Who's Telling The Truth?
Rumors have been circulating, and denied, about Lito Sheppard being given permission to seek a trade. The Eagles have come out and matter of factly stated that, "Any report suggesting that we've allowed Lito or his agent to seek a trade is absolutely, undeniably false."
Now there doesn't seem to be much room for interpretation there, they have come right out and completely denied those rumors.
But still, something had to spark this idea to even become a story to begin with and Profootballtalk.com, complete speculation keep in mind, brought up the idea that maybe Sheppard isn't happy with his contract. Reportedly making " $3.45 million in 2008, $4.45 million in 2009, $3.7 million in 2010 and $4.25 million in 2011", PFT.com doesn't believe that's much money for a cornerback of Sheppard's caliber.
So maybe Sheppard's agent started this story up as a way to show that Lito is unhappy with his current contract and wants to either re-negotiate or be traded. Now tying into that aspect is more internet rumors that the Eagles are expected to be interested in acquiring New England Patriots cornerback Asante Samuel when free agency opens. If that is the case, then it would be understandable if not expected that the Birds would trade away Sheppard.
Comparing these two players, in the Eagles eyes Samuel does have an advantage right off the bat with the fact that he's been in the league one less year than Sheppard, but keep in mind age wise he is 27, a year older than Lito at 26.
With the Eagles tying for last in the NFL in team total of interceptions with a measley 11, that is only 1 more interception than Samuel had during the entire 2006 season when he racked up 10. Though his number in the turnover department dropped a little this year, forcing 6 interceptions, that number is not only Sheppard's career high, but is 4 more than he had this past season when he struggled to stay healthy.
Trust me, I'm not discrediting Sheppard just because a flashy name like Asante Samuel has hit the news wire, I'm just trying to be as critical as possible in an effort to put together a great 53-man roster. No one can deny the fact that Lito has been a play maker on this team numerous times throughout his career, with 3 game-ending interceptions giving the team a victory. Sadly though injuries seem to have gotten the best of him missing 14 games in the past 3 years. Plus when he has been on the field during a great period of that time, he was still hurt and not playing up to his ability.
Here we go again, we're going to have to wait and see how this plays out. Just from the Eagles history it seems shocking to me that they would ever go out and pay Asante Samuel in free agency because not only is he going to be the most sought after cornerback, but one of the top free agents overall. Either way if the Eagles aren't planning to pick up Samuel and this assumption of Sheppard being unhappy is true...then that needs to be resolved soon.
Now there doesn't seem to be much room for interpretation there, they have come right out and completely denied those rumors.
But still, something had to spark this idea to even become a story to begin with and Profootballtalk.com, complete speculation keep in mind, brought up the idea that maybe Sheppard isn't happy with his contract. Reportedly making " $3.45 million in 2008, $4.45 million in 2009, $3.7 million in 2010 and $4.25 million in 2011", PFT.com doesn't believe that's much money for a cornerback of Sheppard's caliber.
So maybe Sheppard's agent started this story up as a way to show that Lito is unhappy with his current contract and wants to either re-negotiate or be traded. Now tying into that aspect is more internet rumors that the Eagles are expected to be interested in acquiring New England Patriots cornerback Asante Samuel when free agency opens. If that is the case, then it would be understandable if not expected that the Birds would trade away Sheppard.
Comparing these two players, in the Eagles eyes Samuel does have an advantage right off the bat with the fact that he's been in the league one less year than Sheppard, but keep in mind age wise he is 27, a year older than Lito at 26.
With the Eagles tying for last in the NFL in team total of interceptions with a measley 11, that is only 1 more interception than Samuel had during the entire 2006 season when he racked up 10. Though his number in the turnover department dropped a little this year, forcing 6 interceptions, that number is not only Sheppard's career high, but is 4 more than he had this past season when he struggled to stay healthy.
Trust me, I'm not discrediting Sheppard just because a flashy name like Asante Samuel has hit the news wire, I'm just trying to be as critical as possible in an effort to put together a great 53-man roster. No one can deny the fact that Lito has been a play maker on this team numerous times throughout his career, with 3 game-ending interceptions giving the team a victory. Sadly though injuries seem to have gotten the best of him missing 14 games in the past 3 years. Plus when he has been on the field during a great period of that time, he was still hurt and not playing up to his ability.
Here we go again, we're going to have to wait and see how this plays out. Just from the Eagles history it seems shocking to me that they would ever go out and pay Asante Samuel in free agency because not only is he going to be the most sought after cornerback, but one of the top free agents overall. Either way if the Eagles aren't planning to pick up Samuel and this assumption of Sheppard being unhappy is true...then that needs to be resolved soon.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Who Is That? Naming The Un-Named
This time of year it's common to be scrolling through the Eagle's roster and wonder...who the heck is that guy? Right after the season ended, within a few days in January the front office went out and did some shuffling around of the roster. The players that were on the practice squad are moved around, some get re-signed to the roster while others are just let free on the market.
As of right now, without any real knowledge of how they're going to adapt to the team considering we haven't even had these players in a mini-camp yet, this is all speculation. But tough they might seem like no-names right now, those kinda guys tend to surface around training camp and sometimes make a contribution to the final roster.
Just look around, we have a few of these "bounce around" players, guys that usually went undrated, are picked up by a team and go through a few rounds of cuts with various franchises before making their way to Philadelphia. Sometimes the Eagles are just added to the list, another team to let the player go, but other times we have success such as with Joselio Hanson and Akeem Jordan, both who are expected to be on the roster come the start of the season.
One of those practice squad promotion players is Jeremy Clark, a name that might be familiar to those who recognize him from going through the preseason and training camp with us. Originally signed as an undrafted free agent by the Eagles last year, Clark wasn't able to make his way on the roster but hopefully progressed through gaining some experience with the team on the practice squad. He only saw a few snaps last preseason so I'm sure he hopes that changes this time upcoming year.
Another undrafted rookie signed by the Eagles, FB Jason Davis was brought onto the team in 2006 but after a season ending knee injury in the preseason, he didn't get much of an opportunity to prove himself. His name was mentioned in regards to pushing Tapeh a little bit for his job but he didn't end up making the roster, spending this past season on the practice squad. With a full healthy year in the league now out of the way, Davis is going to look to challenge Thomas Tapeh for that starting fullback spot yet again. That especially is the case considering that Tapeh is going to be an un-restricted free agent come February 29th, so it is yet to be seen whether the team will keep him around of not. My prediction is he will be re-signed but the deal will be structured so that it wouldn't be a tough cap hit if he is cut before the season begins.
Tanard Davis, Cornerback, started his career off as a member of the Super Bowl Champion Colts practice squad when he was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2006. After that season he was on the Carolina Panthers practice squad for a majority of last year until the Birds picked him up at the end of December, just in time to be around for the season finale against the Bills. According to the Eagles profile on Davis, he was a talented track athlete that in 2004 even beat Chicago Bears phenomenal return man, Devin Hester, in the 60-meter dash. Stemming from this information alone are we going to see Davis take some reps as a punt or kick returner? Considering the Jeremy Bloom experiment never panned out, Bethel Johnson didn't even make it into training camp last season, and we resorted back to Reno Mahe after some awful mistakes by J.R. Reed and Greg Lewis...couldn't hurt to see what Davis can do.
Another cornerback recently picked up is Therrian Fontenot, who has seen time in Buffalo, Green Bay, NFL Europe, and Cleveland. Fontenot spent some time on the Eagles practice squad this year and after hanging around there, was signed to a 3 year deal at the end of the season. Yet another player here to prove himself, having bounced around to team after team I'm sure he's looking for a place he can make his home.
Tanard Davis, Cornerback, started his career off as a member of the Super Bowl Champion Colts practice squad when he was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2006. After that season he was on the Carolina Panthers practice squad for a majority of last year until the Birds picked him up at the end of December, just in time to be around for the season finale against the Bills. According to the Eagles profile on Davis, he was a talented track athlete that in 2004 even beat Chicago Bears phenomenal return man, Devin Hester, in the 60-meter dash. Stemming from this information alone are we going to see Davis take some reps as a punt or kick returner? Considering the Jeremy Bloom experiment never panned out, Bethel Johnson didn't even make it into training camp last season, and we resorted back to Reno Mahe after some awful mistakes by J.R. Reed and Greg Lewis...couldn't hurt to see what Davis can do.
Another cornerback recently picked up is Therrian Fontenot, who has seen time in Buffalo, Green Bay, NFL Europe, and Cleveland. Fontenot spent some time on the Eagles practice squad this year and after hanging around there, was signed to a 3 year deal at the end of the season. Yet another player here to prove himself, having bounced around to team after team I'm sure he's looking for a place he can make his home.
A more experienced player of this group, if you describe a 2nd year player as experienced, is A.J. Schable another defensive end. I only say experienced because in 2006, his rookie year, Schable played in 11 games with the Arizona Cardinals as a DE and FB but primarily put his time in on special teams.
Now I'm going to finish things off with three wide recievers, two of whom you might be semi familiar with. Both Bill Sampy and Michael Gasperson have been names mentioned again and again having been on and off the Eagles roster numerous times. Last year though Gasperson finally got his chance to make the 53-man roster and he actually played in his first NFL regular season game, in New Orleans. But right in line with how frustrating his career has been to this point despite having so much potential, Gasperson dropped the one pass that was thrown his way that game and was cut 3 days later. Yet again though, the man is back and trying to make the deal one more time.
Bill Sampy has spent the past 2 years as a practice squad player and been part of that group of wide receivers trying to pick up one of the final roster spots during training camp. Hasn't worked out for him yet, but I'm assuming we'll see him at Lehigh University once more time when August rolls around.
Finally, we come upon the only one of these players that has scored a touchdown yet in his NFL career and that is wide receiver Jamal Jones. After bouncing around from St. Louis to to Green Bay than settling with the Saints, New Orleans was where he got his first and only start. Throughout that season he racked up 6 catches for 108 yards and 1 touchdown while seeing action in 12 games.
Like I said, some of this is going to be pointless come August because there's no guarantee that any of these guys will still be around. But I figured it can't hurt to take a glance at some of the names that you're not sure of now because there is a great chance that at least one of these guys could surprise some people and rise to the top during training camp. We have a long road ahead of us but it's these kind of core players that build a good team from top to bottom, so we'll have to see how everything pans out.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Kickers Cashing In
Just got thinking after seeing news that Kicker Laurence Tynes of the Giants is close to finalizing a long term deal with New York and the Buc's re-signed Martin Gramatica...what's in the future for our own David Akers?
Now this really doesn't have to do much with a contract because currently Akers is under contract until 2010, but there is some curiosity as to his performance next season.
Having been Mr. Reliable in the past, Akers had a rough season going going only 2 for 10 in field goals over 40 yards. Now out of those field goals upwards of 40 yards he nailed a 47 yarder in Week 1 against the Packers and a 53 yarder against the New York Giants 3 weeks later. Not to be forgotten was his 4 field goal performance against the Redskins, accounting for all of our 12 points in the match up.
But from that point on in the season, there's not too much to complain about with Akers because in the grand scheme of the things he is still a very good kicker, but his performance has definitely dropped in recent years.
Just looking at the 40-49 yard range, I'm going to look strictly at completion percentages because there is a whole factor of taking the offense that season into account, depending on how often they allowed Akers the opportunity to attempt a field goal.
So percentage wise, Akers had a career low of 16.7% field goal percentage for those 40-49 yarders this season. Which before, that range seemed to be a strength of his, not to an extreme but his prior career low of 55.6%, was the only real dip that brought his average from 2000-2006 to 83.3% so...in comparison, that 16.7% this year is a huge drop from an average of 83.3% the previous 6 seasons.
Now enough with the numbers, those percentages show how drastic the drop was in one area of the field, that 40-49 yard range, but I'm not going to sell Akers short for his 2007 season entirely. Looking at the 20-39 yard range, he was 100% absolutely perfect on the 22 attempts he had on that area of the field. So no one is in anyway questioning his status on this team to say the least, but there is just some curiosity as to what could be the cause of such a drop in success on those 40-49 yard field goals.
A huge factor that needs to be accounted for is the switch to Sav Rocca as the field goal holder this season. Not only was Rocca obviously new to playing American rules football in general this year, so he was adapting to punting in this league, but he had never done anything like be a holder on field goals before.
There hasn't been much talk about the issue recently so I'm not sure of David's comments on it but it's something to watch this opening training camp as Akers and Rocca get to work together some more. The only common factor that seemed to be existent all prior years was the combination of Akers and Koy Detmer on field goals, but now with Jon Dorenbos in replacement of Bartrum since 2006 and Rocca replacing Detmer after the Dirk Johnson stint didn't work out last season (despite Detmer's brief appearance on the team in the playoffs for that reason exactly), there's been some inconsistency.
Hopefully another year between the trio of Akers, Rocca, and Dorenbos (who was inked to a 5-year contract extension in December) will be a help. From the looks of things at this point, with Rocca putting together a nice season despite it being his first in the NFL, Dorenbos fitting in nicely with the team, and Akers being the consummate professional that he is, I don't see any changes in this group for a long while. Which is exactly how I, and I'm sure Rory Segrest, would like to keep it.
Now this really doesn't have to do much with a contract because currently Akers is under contract until 2010, but there is some curiosity as to his performance next season.
Having been Mr. Reliable in the past, Akers had a rough season going going only 2 for 10 in field goals over 40 yards. Now out of those field goals upwards of 40 yards he nailed a 47 yarder in Week 1 against the Packers and a 53 yarder against the New York Giants 3 weeks later. Not to be forgotten was his 4 field goal performance against the Redskins, accounting for all of our 12 points in the match up.
But from that point on in the season, there's not too much to complain about with Akers because in the grand scheme of the things he is still a very good kicker, but his performance has definitely dropped in recent years.
Just looking at the 40-49 yard range, I'm going to look strictly at completion percentages because there is a whole factor of taking the offense that season into account, depending on how often they allowed Akers the opportunity to attempt a field goal.
So percentage wise, Akers had a career low of 16.7% field goal percentage for those 40-49 yarders this season. Which before, that range seemed to be a strength of his, not to an extreme but his prior career low of 55.6%, was the only real dip that brought his average from 2000-2006 to 83.3% so...in comparison, that 16.7% this year is a huge drop from an average of 83.3% the previous 6 seasons.
Now enough with the numbers, those percentages show how drastic the drop was in one area of the field, that 40-49 yard range, but I'm not going to sell Akers short for his 2007 season entirely. Looking at the 20-39 yard range, he was 100% absolutely perfect on the 22 attempts he had on that area of the field. So no one is in anyway questioning his status on this team to say the least, but there is just some curiosity as to what could be the cause of such a drop in success on those 40-49 yard field goals.
A huge factor that needs to be accounted for is the switch to Sav Rocca as the field goal holder this season. Not only was Rocca obviously new to playing American rules football in general this year, so he was adapting to punting in this league, but he had never done anything like be a holder on field goals before.
There hasn't been much talk about the issue recently so I'm not sure of David's comments on it but it's something to watch this opening training camp as Akers and Rocca get to work together some more. The only common factor that seemed to be existent all prior years was the combination of Akers and Koy Detmer on field goals, but now with Jon Dorenbos in replacement of Bartrum since 2006 and Rocca replacing Detmer after the Dirk Johnson stint didn't work out last season (despite Detmer's brief appearance on the team in the playoffs for that reason exactly), there's been some inconsistency.
Hopefully another year between the trio of Akers, Rocca, and Dorenbos (who was inked to a 5-year contract extension in December) will be a help. From the looks of things at this point, with Rocca putting together a nice season despite it being his first in the NFL, Dorenbos fitting in nicely with the team, and Akers being the consummate professional that he is, I don't see any changes in this group for a long while. Which is exactly how I, and I'm sure Rory Segrest, would like to keep it.
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Ocho Cinco Not So Happy In Cinci
Even though every year is full of stories like this, there seems to be an influx of disgruntled players around the league right now. The primary names are Jeremy Shockey and Chad Johnson, with Chad speaking out about his current situation and Shockey keeping quiet thusfar.
With Drew Rosenhaus as his agent Chad Johnson wants the Begals to renegotiate his contract...sound familiar anyone? Having been selected to the Pro-Bowl, Johnson is currently in Hawaii with those festivities and is using this opportunity to be able to speak to the media on his contract situation. In addition to calling out some of his teammates, "All the voices talked for 16 weeks. I don't hear them now. Where you at? Now's the time to let it out. The only voice I hear is mine", you would think a lot of those Bengal's players are pretty fed up.
Rosenhaus has said that Chad will not hold out and will play in 2008, but he wouldn't go far enough to say he would definitely play for the Bengals so this seems like it's going to be an ongoing story. This is very similiar to the Owen and Eagles situation a few years ago, so if Chad is headed down that path of being disruptive, the Bengals need to decide whether they should just cut their losses now.
Cincinnati has made it clear that they are not going to re-negotiate Chad's contract, by speaking out against the team he's no making anything better because now they just see, why would they invest even more money in an unstable player? So currently I don't see any easy or fair end to this, the only solution would be for Johnson to realize how detrimental his actions could be and give up on purusing a new deal, or continue to be as disruptive as possible in an effort to force a trade.
As for Jeremy Shockey there aren't many facts to go off of in regards to his situation, right now it's all specualtion. After breaking his leg in December and not being healthy to be a part of the Giants as they proceded to win the Super Bowl, Shockey was no where to be seen. All could be well for Shockey as he could just have been depressed about the fact that he was missing winning a Super Bowl with a team he's been a part of for many years at this point and it must have been hard to see the Giants flourish without him.
Again, this is something else we are going to watch unfold as the season rolls on and knowing Shockey's beligerent history it seems to be a given that we will hear at least something from him generally soon. Once that happens we will really get to see whether he is upset and ready to move on, or whether in this current state of silence things have just gotten blown out of porportion.
Now considering we are in the off-season and looking to improve as a team, in both the wide reciever and tight end positions, you can't help but think what kind of help these players could be to the Eagles. It's so tempting to think of a Donovan McNabb and Chad Johnson combination, but at the same time it is extremely dangerous because Johnson is, just the way Terrell Owens was, a ticking time bomb.
I feel ridiculous even writing about this but this isn't the Philadelphia Inquirer, me posing a hypothetical scenario isn't going to get the entire city talking about something with no facts behind it, so I'm just going to go with it.
Let's say that hell froze over and the Eagles decided to try and make a deal with the Bengals for Chad Johnson. On one hand, though we have been severely burned by an outlandish wide receiver in the past, I think we are in such a different state as a team at this current time. When Owen's was brought in we were at our peak, having lost 3 NFC Championship games but still on a roll towards taking that final step towards the Super Bowl we were looking for one more piece to the puzzle. The problem that ended up occuring was that player who propelled us forward to help reach that Super Bowl against the Patriots, tore us to the ground as quickly as he rose us to the top.
Frankly though, this time around we don't have a lot to lose. The Quarterback that we have been trying to protect all of these years is in no way as secure as he was back in 2004 and unless he has a great year in 2008, he won't be around any longer. So why not just take the risk, give him the best tools possible no matter what it costs to see if we can get a championship. Best case scenario, the addition of Johnson could be exactly what McNabb needs to get things done and we win. Worse case scenario, the team keeps losing, there are problems between McNabb and the new reciever, we cut them both lose.
I realize I'm making all of this sound so simple, there is so much money involved and the main concern the front office has is in making sure we don't pay someone a huge signing bonus that isn't going to be around for more than a season and don't take huge future salary cap hits for players that end up not even being on the roster. But right now, this fantasy scenario seems like it would be a ridiculously good time, and it can't hurt to dream of a Donovan McNabb to Ocho Cinco connection. I wish.
With Drew Rosenhaus as his agent Chad Johnson wants the Begals to renegotiate his contract...sound familiar anyone? Having been selected to the Pro-Bowl, Johnson is currently in Hawaii with those festivities and is using this opportunity to be able to speak to the media on his contract situation. In addition to calling out some of his teammates, "All the voices talked for 16 weeks. I don't hear them now. Where you at? Now's the time to let it out. The only voice I hear is mine", you would think a lot of those Bengal's players are pretty fed up.
Rosenhaus has said that Chad will not hold out and will play in 2008, but he wouldn't go far enough to say he would definitely play for the Bengals so this seems like it's going to be an ongoing story. This is very similiar to the Owen and Eagles situation a few years ago, so if Chad is headed down that path of being disruptive, the Bengals need to decide whether they should just cut their losses now.
Cincinnati has made it clear that they are not going to re-negotiate Chad's contract, by speaking out against the team he's no making anything better because now they just see, why would they invest even more money in an unstable player? So currently I don't see any easy or fair end to this, the only solution would be for Johnson to realize how detrimental his actions could be and give up on purusing a new deal, or continue to be as disruptive as possible in an effort to force a trade.
As for Jeremy Shockey there aren't many facts to go off of in regards to his situation, right now it's all specualtion. After breaking his leg in December and not being healthy to be a part of the Giants as they proceded to win the Super Bowl, Shockey was no where to be seen. All could be well for Shockey as he could just have been depressed about the fact that he was missing winning a Super Bowl with a team he's been a part of for many years at this point and it must have been hard to see the Giants flourish without him.
Again, this is something else we are going to watch unfold as the season rolls on and knowing Shockey's beligerent history it seems to be a given that we will hear at least something from him generally soon. Once that happens we will really get to see whether he is upset and ready to move on, or whether in this current state of silence things have just gotten blown out of porportion.
Now considering we are in the off-season and looking to improve as a team, in both the wide reciever and tight end positions, you can't help but think what kind of help these players could be to the Eagles. It's so tempting to think of a Donovan McNabb and Chad Johnson combination, but at the same time it is extremely dangerous because Johnson is, just the way Terrell Owens was, a ticking time bomb.
I feel ridiculous even writing about this but this isn't the Philadelphia Inquirer, me posing a hypothetical scenario isn't going to get the entire city talking about something with no facts behind it, so I'm just going to go with it.
Let's say that hell froze over and the Eagles decided to try and make a deal with the Bengals for Chad Johnson. On one hand, though we have been severely burned by an outlandish wide receiver in the past, I think we are in such a different state as a team at this current time. When Owen's was brought in we were at our peak, having lost 3 NFC Championship games but still on a roll towards taking that final step towards the Super Bowl we were looking for one more piece to the puzzle. The problem that ended up occuring was that player who propelled us forward to help reach that Super Bowl against the Patriots, tore us to the ground as quickly as he rose us to the top.
Frankly though, this time around we don't have a lot to lose. The Quarterback that we have been trying to protect all of these years is in no way as secure as he was back in 2004 and unless he has a great year in 2008, he won't be around any longer. So why not just take the risk, give him the best tools possible no matter what it costs to see if we can get a championship. Best case scenario, the addition of Johnson could be exactly what McNabb needs to get things done and we win. Worse case scenario, the team keeps losing, there are problems between McNabb and the new reciever, we cut them both lose.
I realize I'm making all of this sound so simple, there is so much money involved and the main concern the front office has is in making sure we don't pay someone a huge signing bonus that isn't going to be around for more than a season and don't take huge future salary cap hits for players that end up not even being on the roster. But right now, this fantasy scenario seems like it would be a ridiculously good time, and it can't hurt to dream of a Donovan McNabb to Ocho Cinco connection. I wish.
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