April 21, 2017
In our "hour-long" Eagles chat Wednesday, we only actually went an hour instead of the usual 1:30 or so. Because we had to cut it short, there were a lot of good unanswered questions, which we'll continue to cover here now.
Question from Dami Odele: Jimmy, do you see Jordan Matthews getting traded?
I think it would make a lot of sense, as we noted in depth at the beginning of March.
Matthews has good numbers over the first three seasons of his career, but in a way, those numbers almost kind of work against the possibility of him staying an Eagle past 2017 because he's going to expect more money than what he's worth. I would be surprised if the Eagles retain him in 2018 and beyond. If you can get something for him now, like, say, a third-round pick, it might be wise to take it before you lose him for nothing next offseason. But I don't think you force it.
Question from Sam: Charles Harris is a hot name right now. Thoughts?
I like Harris. He has an outstanding burst off the snap, a great spin move (both ways), he hustles, he isn't fooled by misdirection, and he has counter moves if his initial pass rush move doesn't work. I can see him doing a lot of damage in a wide-nine alignment. He's not "Marcus Smith."
On the downside, he had a terrible Combine, which wouldn't alarm me so much later in the first round, but at pick 14, you'd prefer to not have that glaring red flag sitting there. I'm certain there will be players I feel are better than Harris when the Eagles are on the clock, but drafting him should not cause the fan base to burn down the city.
Question from Mikeq: Is there a player or two you would guess might be the annual “slider,” in that they’re expected to be drafted high, but end up in the green room for hours?
There will be 22 players in the green room this year. They are (via NFL.com):
From that list, I think the player most likely to be waiting a long time is DeShone Kizer.
Question from Buck: I haven’t seen anyone mock a FB. Given what Doug Pederson has said about fullbacks, what are your thoughts on a Swiss Army knife scat back like Sam Rogers in the later rounds?
I write often enough about fullbacks that one of the other Eagles beats busts on me about it every time fullbacks come up. In regard to Rogers, I had him as my seventh-round pick in my Eagles only mock draft, version 1.0.
You are right that Pederson once said that he wants to have a fullback on his roster, but he changed his tune on that at the NFL Annual Meetings in March. The Eagles have three tight ends on their roster as is, and they may be targeting a tight end at some point in this draft, which is loaded at that position. I would bet against them drafting Rogers or the other draftable fullback, Freddie Stevenson.
Question from Jawny Football: As painful as it may be to admit, do you think you’ll have a tough time cranking out a dumpster fire article for the Cowboys this year?
Nope. Obviously, they have some things going for them, but it's still a flawed football team that just lost six contributors on defense, plus Tony Romo.
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