9/3/11: Hold off on the dream team talk. The offensive line played very poor this offseason and Michael Vick looked more like the quarterback he was in Atlanta than the quarterback he was last year, still good, but hardly Superman. DeSean Jackson didn’t play well either and Jeremy Maclin will be sluggish to start the season after missing so much of the team’s workouts. 

The Eagles stole the offseason. They might not be the best team (though they might be), but there’s no question this is the most hyped team. The added a key addition at almost every position, Dominique Rodgers Cromartie and Nnamdi Asomugha at cornerback, Jason Babin at defensive end, Cullen Jenkins at defensive tackle, Steve Smith at wide receiver, Ronnie Brown at running back, and Vince Young at quarterback.

The Eagles’ cornerback position is becoming so intriguing it’s almost like a team of its own. The Eagles cornerbacks, as they currently stand, are Nnamdi Asomugha, Asante Samuel, and Dominique Rodgers Cromartie. It looked fairly certain that Samuel would get traded after they signed Asomugha, but now its looking like the Eagles will have to be blown away by an offer for Samuel and that they want to hold onto all three.

You can make an argument that Asante Samuel was the best cornerback in the league last year in terms of pure coverage ability (he’s a liability against the run, but we’re focusing on his coverage abilities right now). No one allowed a lower quarterback rating when thrown on last year (among cornerbacks who played at least half of their teams’ snaps). Quarterbacks who threw on him had a QB rating of 31.7. For comparison, if you drop back 1000 times and throw the ball out of bounds for an incompletion each time, your quarterback rating is 39.6.

He was targeted 41 times and allowed only 19 catches for 141 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 7 picks. Basically opposing quarterbacks had this line against him last year 19-41 for 141 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 7 picks. Yikes! Nnamdi Asomugha was 7th in QB rating allowed with 66.0 last year. However, he was targeted so infrequently that I don’t know how much that number tells you.

Nnamdi Asomugha is known as that one player who is so good you don’t notice him. He is frequently among the least thrown on cornerbacks in the league because quarterbacks are scared of him. Next year, if quarterbacks want to be scared of him, they’ll have to instead pick on Asante Samuel, which, if last year was any indication, might not be the best idea.

Asomugha ranked 1st in fewest throws against among qualified cornerbacks (50% of their teams snaps). Asomugha played 786 snaps last year. And he was thrown against 29 times. Basically, he was thrown against 3.6% of the times he was on the field. No one else even came close to that. He had a whopping 12 fewer throws against than the player who was 2nd in that category. That player, you guessed it, Asante Samuel.

Now the 3rd member is Dominique Rodgers Cromartie. Cromartie is a former 1st round pick in 2008 of the Arizona Cardinals. He made the Pro Bowl in 2009, when he ranked 16th in the league in QB rating allowed despite being thrown against a whopping 120 times. Over those 120 throws, he allowed 61 to be completed for 781 yards, 6 touchdowns, and 6 picks. He also ranked 2nd in pass deflections that season.

However, Cromartie took a step back in 2010 and his quarterback rating allowed was 23rd HIGHEST in the league at 92.5. Quarterbacks throwing against him were 56-90 for 814 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions. Why the worse production? Well, Arizona’s pass rush might have had something to do with that. In 2009, they managed 43 sacks. In 2010, just 33. Also, Arizona was a significantly worse team in 2010 so it’s possible Cromartie just checked out more on a losing team.

Neither of those things should be issues in Philadelphia. Philadelphia is sure to at least make the playoffs and they put up 39 sacks in 2010, a number that should be higher in 2011 with the additions of Jason Babin and Cullen Jenkins. Basically, DRC is a 25 year old cornerback fully capable of playing the nickel cornerback role with the upside to be among the best cornerbacks in the league. I don’t know of too many teams with nickels like that.

Speaking of Jason Babin and Cullen Jenkins, they were the Eagles’ other two big name defensive signings. Babin had 12.5 sacks last year in Tennessee, a number that can be misleading. Babin is 31 and had never had more than 5 sacks in a season before last season. Sounds like a fluke that likely won’t be repeated given his age and the fact that he was given a long term deal. However, if anyone can bring that out of him again, it’s Jim Washburn.

Washburn is now Philadelphia’s defensive line coach, but he spent many years in Tennessee as the defensive line coach. He frequently made players look better than they were (Babin, Albert Haynesworth, Tony Brown, Kyle Vanden Bosch, Antawn Odom). He should be able to do great things with this talented bunch at defensive line for the Eagles.

Babin fills a void at left end. Juqua Parker was penciled in as the starter before the Babin signing because 2010 1^st round pick Brandon Graham, who was solid as a rookie, could miss more than half of the season with a knee injury. Jenkins, meanwhile, fills a void at defensive tackle. Jenkins had 7 sacks last season. Even more impressive was that he did that in 11 games. The bad news, however, is that he’s missed 17 games in the past 3 seasons and he’s now 30 years old so he’s not getting any healthier.

If Jenkins gets hurt, Antonio Dixon, the incumbent starter and a solid player, would step into the lineup next to Trevor Laws, who looked promising in limited action last season. At the right end position, rounding out this line, is Trent Cole. Cole had 10 sacks last season and has 44 sacks in the last 4 seasons. I’m excited to see what he can do with another talented end opposite him and a coach like Jim Washburn helping him out. He looks poised for a huge year.

Linebacker is definitely the weakness of the defense. Fortunately, linebacker is the least important part of the defense, but it’s worth noting that you can poke holes in this team. They aren’t perfect. You can poke a lot more holes in them than you can in the Green Bay Packers. At linebacker, they will start Jamar Chaney, who was very impressive as a rookie, especially down the stretch, after being just a mere 7^th round pick in 2010. They will also start a 4^th round rookie, Casey Matthews, and Moise Fokou, another young player who has looked decent in limited action in two seasons. There’s upside at the position, but not a lot of experience.

Their situation at linebacker is not dissimilar to their situation at safety. Like linebacker, safety is one of the least important parts of a defense, but like safety, they don’t have a lot of guys with experience. 2010 2^nd round pick Nate Allen, who struggled as a rookie, will play one safety position and look to bounce back from a bad rookie year, definitely a possibility. At the other safety spot, 2011 2^nd round pick Jaiquawn Jarrett will battle Kurt Coleman, who looked okay in limited action as a reserve, after being drafted in the 7^th round in 2010.

Like linebacker, there’s a lot of upside at the two safety positions, but that’s still 5 positions on the defense where you have unknown commodities. Throw in young Trevor Laws at defensive tackle and that’s 6 unknown commodities on defense. You can’t say the same about the Packers. You can’t say the same about the Saints. I think those two teams are still better in the NFC. The Eagles have a great offense, as I’ll get to in a minute, but it’s not like the Saints and the Packers don’t have elite offenses. They also have more continuity, a very, very important thing in a lockout shortened offseason.

 

On offense, the big name is, of course, Michael Vick. We all know Michael Vick’s story. He was the 1^st overall pick in 2001 and, for the most part, he lived up to it. He might not have won a Super Bowl, but with his two way ability, he was one of the most exciting players in the league. Then he got busted for illegal dog fighting and spent 2 years in prison. After he was released, the Eagles took a chance on him. He struggled in limited action in his first season back, but, in his 2^nd season, he took over as the starter when Kevin Kolb got hurt and never looked back. Kolb is now in Arizona while Vick is the quarterback for a legitimate Super Bowl contender and set to get a very hefty payday from the Eagles any day now.

I’m not going to give you my personal opinion on Vick. Some who read this site regularly know what that is, but that doesn’t matter here. I’m just going to give my opinion on Vick as a player and, honestly, I think he’s overrated. He’s still a very, very good player, but he’s overrated. Teams started to figure him out down the stretch last year and he didn’t play as well.

He still played well, but there’s a reason the Eagles lost in the first round of the playoffs after being hailed as Super Bowl favorites following their destruction of the Redskins on Monday Night Football. Vick has won a mere 2 playoff games in his career still. He’s not on the level of Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger, and I think I’d rank Philip Rivers ahead of him, but its close.

Another problem with Vick, he can’t stay healthy. He’s played a 16 game season once in his career, which makes sense considering he’s small and takes a lot of hits. He should take plenty of hits this season, even with the Eagles fixing a lot of their problems up front on the line, more on that later, so you can expect him to miss at least 2-3 games.

The Eagles know this which is why they signed Vince Young to be his backup. Young was a very underrated free agent signing by them. I think he unnecessarily gets a bad rep. He’s emotional and immature, but he wins football games. In his career, he is 30-17 as a starter. Without him, Tennessee is 15-18 in his career and that’s including a fluke 12-3 season by Kerry Collins. He was never wanted in Tennessee by his head coach. Owner Bud Adams forced Jeff Fisher to draft Young.

Young deserves another chance where he’s wanted and he gets a great opportunity to work with Andy Reid, who has made Donovan McNabb, AJ Feeley, Michael Vick, and probably Kevin Kolb all look better than they were. Young will start a few games in Vick’s absence, play well, and then turn that into a starting job next offseason, which is what he deserves.

Now, onto that offensive line. They allowed 39 sacks last season and Eagles quarterbacks as a whole took 49 sacks (not every time there is a sack allowed is someone on the offensive line at fault). Winston Justice was their worst starting lineman, at right tackle. He has been replaced by underrated free agent signing Ryan Harris, who fits the scheme well, and has played very well, when healthy in the past few years. When healthy is the key. He’s been often hurt. The right side is the blind side in Philadelphia because Vick is a left handed quarterback, so they’ll need good play there this season.

At right guard, rookie Danny Watkins will start. Watkins was called the most pro ready interior lineman, maybe even the most pro ready lineman in the draft class, but fell to the Eagles at 23 because he turns 27 this season. He should also help their offensive line in a big way because right guard Nick Cole was their 2^nd worst offensive lineman last season. At center, Jamaal Jackson returns and will start over Mike McGlynn, who also struggled last season. However, Jackson is very injury prone so it’s possible we could see McGlynn there once again.

So at right tackle, right guard, and center, the Eagles have upgraded three offensive line positions this offseason. At left tackle and left guard, Jason Peters and Todd Herremans didn’t need upgrading. They aren’t great or anything, but they get the job done. The Eagles also added a great offensive line coach in Howard Mudd to coach up the offensive line. It’s safe to say that the offensive line is no longer a liability for this team.

At running back, gone is backup Jerome Harrison, who averaged 6.0 yards per carry, and in is Ronnie Brown, who really struggled in 2010 with the Dolphins. However, Brown is still one of the best pass blocking backs out there and a very solid pass catching back as well. He also provides more of an interior running presence than Harrison did or starting running back LeSean McCoy does. Speaking of McCoy, he is one of the best backs in the league. He’s morphed into Brian Westbrook 2.0 without the injury problems.

At wide receiver, they have two talented starters in DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin and there’s a problem with each of them. Jackson wants a new deal. He’s not holding out anymore, but he won’t be happy until he gets that deal and he might not play 100%. Maclin, meanwhile, has a problem, but the problem is, no one can figure out what the problem is. He had mono earlier this offseason, but is still showing symptoms. He’s had many tests, but still no one knows quite what’s wrong with him or when he’ll be able to return. The start of the season is in doubt for him. He even had to refute a claim that he was dying. That’s how bad this situation is getting.

Jason Avant, a talented slot receiver, would step into the starting lineup should anything happen to Maclin. 2^nd year player Riley Cooper could also be in the mix. They also signed Steve Smith as insurance, which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense because Steve Smith is expected to miss at least 6 weeks with a knee injury. It remains to be seen if his signing was for any reason other than simply to piss off the Giants even more. At tight end, Brent Celek had a breakout year in 2009, but Vick simply didn’t look his way all that often in 2010. He’s still talented if Vick ever decides to use him.

In the end, the Eagles have a very explosive offense and a lot of playmakers on defense, but also a lot of unknown commodities on defense. They are well coached and add two great assistants in Jim Washburn and Howard Mudd to fix the defensive and offensive lines respectively. Andy Reid, meanwhile, is a genius with quarterbacks, but he’s never won a Super Bowl because something always seems to go wrong with him.

The Packers and the Saints each have fewer unknowns on their defense, equally explosive offenses, and more continuity with their key players coming out of a lockout. Lack of continuity with so many new guys coming in could hurt them, especially early in the season. Any potential chemistry issues with so many talented players at cornerback, or with DeSean Jackson and Michael Vick possibly not getting signed long term, while so many outsiders got large contracts this offseason, could also hurt them, especially early in the season.

Speaking of early in the season, let’s look at their schedule. At St. Louis, at Atlanta, vs. the Giants. Those are 3 losable games for them. The Rams are a very good team, especially at home, and the Eagles could overlook them with the Falcons and Giants coming up next. We all know how good Atlanta is and how hard it is to win there. Meanwhile, the Giants always seem to start the season strong before crashing and burning and missing the playoffs.

Given what I said earlier with potential lack of continuity issues and potential chemistry issues, as well as Maclin possibly missing early games, they could start the season 1-2 easily, before hitting their groove and finishing the season atop their division and contending for a first round bye (I think Green Bay and New Orleans get them, however).

Quarterback: A-

Running backs: B+

Receiving corps: A-

Offensive line: C

Run defense: C

Pass rush: A-

Pass coverage: A-

Coaching: A

Projection: 12-4 1^st in NFC East