January 29, 2022
In our Eagles chat on Friday, there were a lot of questions that we could not get to in time or other questions we did answer but could use more color. And so, let's do a mailbag post to answer some of the overflow, as well as some commonly asked questions on Twitter and via email.
Question from Andy in MA: As we know a fun season for fans is about wins but also about expectations and moving in the right direction. On a scale of 1 (The 2011 "Dream Team" ha!) and 10 (2017 Super Bowl Team) where did we rank this year? In that light, I'd argue Eagles fans won the NFC East this year.
Seven years ago, I power ranked the Eagles' previous 15 seasons. Here's that list, updated with the last 7 seasons included, and submitted without more extensive analysis:
And sure, I would agree that Eagles fans had the most pleasing season of the teams in the NFC East.
Question from The Kenny: What would be the cap ramifications of a Russell Wilson trade? Could the Eagles absorb him into their cap space?
For any team trading for Wilson, his contract is pretty straightforward. His salary in 2022 is $19 million, and he has a $5 million roster bonus due on the fifth day of the new league year. He'd count for $24 million against the cap, a very reasonable number.
As of today, the Eagles have a little under $23 million in cap space, which means they could initially fit him in under the cap, pre roster bonus. If they wanted to reduce his cap number further, they could very easily convert a huge chunk of his salary into a signing bonus and spread that money over future years.
So the short answer is yes, fitting Wilson in under the cap would not be a hindrance in any real way.
Question from Kephas: A lot of talk about great young AFC QBs (and rightfully so). Outside of Kyler Murray & Dak Prescott, who are the "good young QBs" in the NFC?
First of all, good job by you calling the young QBs in the AFC "great," and downgrading guys like Kyler Murray and Dak Prescott to "good," though I might quibble with calling Prescott "young," seeing as he'll be 29 in July, and has begun to rack up some injuries.
But you're right. Teams like the Bears and 49ers hope they have good young quarterbacks in Justin Fields and Trey Lance, but those guys had disappointing rookie seasons. Otherwise, the good quarterbacks in the NFC — Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, Matthew Stafford, and if you want to throw Matt Ryan in there — are all at least 33 years old.
Question from Matt M: TE seems to be a sneaky need this offseason. Would you explore veteran options at all or just look to draft for younger/cheaper options?
The current TE2 caught four passes this season, so yes, I agree that it's a need this offseason. It's a stacked draft class at TE, particularly in the middle rounds. I'd be looking for one there.
Question from Buck: In your mailbag, you moved Landon Dickerson to the right side in the "Kelce Stays" model. I would hate to break up the Jordan Mailata / Dickerson connection. Why not flip Seumalo to the right? Not enough experience there?
Yeah, I get that. Dickerson and Seumalo are both versatile interior linemen, so a lot of different options are open to the Eagles. Seumalo has just been at LG for so long now that asking him to move to RG might be easier said than done.
I do get the argument that Mailata and Dickerson were a physically imposing duo on the left side last season. However, I have no reason to believe that Dickerson and Lane Johnson can't be equally good on the right side.
Question from Snorpus Blart: Jimmy, if GMs could go back in time to the 2018 Draft, knowing what they know now, obviously Josh Allen would be the No. 1 pick, and I'm sure Lamar Jackson would go No. 2. Jordan Mailata is a Top 5 pick though. Agree?
Looking back at that draft, there were a lot of really good players.
• QB: Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson
• RB: Nick Chubb
• WR: D.J. Moore, Calvin Ridney, Courtland Sutton
• TE: Mark Andrews, Dallas Goedert
• OT: Jordan Mailata, Orlando Brown, Mike McGlinchey, Kolton Miller, Brian O'Neill
• OG: Quenton Nelson, Wyatt Teller, Matt Pryor
• C: Frank Ragnow
• Edge: Bradley Chubb, Harold Landry
• DT: Vita Vea
• LB: Darius Leonard, Fred Warner
• CB: Denzel Ward, Jaire Alexander, J.C. Jackson (undrafted)
• S: Minkah Fitzpatrick, Jessie Bates
I think Mailata maybe goes top 10, but not top 5.
Question from Kephas: Key play in the game - which are you picking?
On defense, I'd also like to add "Inverted Cover-2" to the list.
Question from Hodor: You have to assemble a squad of 5 Eagles beat writers to play 5 Eagles players in a pickup basketball game. What beat writers are on your team and you get to challenge any 5 Eagles players (excluding kicking specialists and the long snapper)?
I've given this a lot of thought, and no matter what I come up with, I think we lose, badly. And a couple of us might end up in the hospital. I do think there's a slim possibility (like 0.001%) that we could pull off a miracle, if we execute my game plan efficiently enough.
My selection of Eagles players: To begin, no need to eliminate the specialists. I wouldn't pick any of them anyway. Jake Elliott is actually an extremely well-rounded athlete, and I'd give us zero chance of winning if he's on the other team. Without knowing who can ball and who can't, I would target the slowest Eagles players possible. I'd probably pick Nate Herbig, Marlon Tuipulotu, Hassan Ridgeway, Le'Raven Clark, and Marvin Wilson.
My selection of beat writers: Again, I have no idea who can play and who can't. I'd hold tryouts, and would focus on selecting the best athletes possible, regardless of basketball skill for at least two spots. I would also focus on finding at least two players who can shoot from beyond the arc. And I would imagine Brandon Gowton is making the team. At 6'9, he could perhaps pull in some boards on each end of the floor. We'd need a huge game out of him.
Game strategy: Because those guys would absolutely destroy us in the paint, we're full court trapping the entire game, and trying to force turnovers, hence the effort to find the most athletic people possible. Offensively, we're jacking up 3's all day, and hoping someone gets hot. On misses, maybe we get the occasional long rebound.
So basically, we'd hope someone can hit on like 40-50% of their 3's 😬, and that none of Herbig, Tuipulotu, Ridegway, Clark, or Wilson are good ballhandlers.
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