Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 3/26/24.

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Five takeaways from Howie Roseman’s owners meetings media session - PhillyVoice
2) The Eagles felt that the defense didn’t have swagger in 2023, and wanted to change that. Roseman was asked a question about new linebacker Devin White, and he gave a typical answer about the strengths of White’s game and how he’ll fit into Vic Fangio’s defense. But it was a follow-up on White’s chippy play demeanor that coaxed an interesting response from Roseman. “Obviously, we want talent with these guys, but I think that’s accurate to say,” Roseman acknowledged. “We were looking to regain our swagger mentality back and obviously what happened at the end of the year didn’t feel good and wasn’t really acceptable for any of us. And so so we wanted to get players who can kind of bring that and have that motivation and mentality.” #JimmySays: The moment that stands out to me is when the 49ers walked right through the Eagles’ defensive backs drills, and the Eagles didn’t do a damn thing about it. Guys like Chauncey Gardner-Johnson and Devin White would never take that s**t. There would have been a pre-game fight.

Eagles takeaways from Howie Roseman: Why they signed Saquon Barkley, the appeal of C.J. Gardner-Johnson, an under-the-radar signing - PHLY
1. The Eagles finally invested in Saquon Barkley because they believe he’s a “special player” and a “freak.” Roseman might push back on the suggestion that the Eagles don’t invest in running backs because they’ve given LeSean McCoy and Brian Westbrook big deals during the past two decades, but the Barkley signing was a departure from how the Eagles approached the position during the past decade. The Eagles made the exception because they view Barkley as a top-end talent who can have a significant effect on the offense, and that type of player is rare in free agency. “For us, it’s hard to find special players at any position,” Roseman said. “We think Saquon is a special player. We think he’s a special person. And so when you’re trying to find those guys, they’re hard to find — especially on the open market. And then you put into the dynamic of has the pendulum swung so far at this position — I mean, the guy touches the ball 300 times a year, hopefully. There’s not a lot of other players, skill-position players, that are touching the ball that many times and have that effect.” In other words, the Eagles can make an exception for an exceptional player. And that’s what Barkley must be for this contract to be worth it for the Eagles, who have been one of the most efficient running offenses with less-expensive running backs. But Barkley’s ability to be a three-down running back who can be an explosive running back with the power to pick up yards after contact, the receiving ability to be a difference-maker in the passing game and the pass-blocking to play on three downs swayed them. The hope is that Barkley can have a similar effect as Christian McCaffrey in San Francisco — making a strong offense an even more potent force. And with other positions getting paid comparable dollars — Darnell Mooney is making a similar average annual salary as Barkley — the Eagles saw an opportunity to pay at the position.

Howie Talks - Iggles Blitz
Speaking of edge rushers…Howie’s most interesting comments might have been about Zack Baun. The Eagles signed him on Day One, just like Saquon and Huff. They targeted all three of the players. That doesn’t mean Baun will be a starter or key player, but he is an interesting option for Vic Fangio. Howie compared him to Andrew Van Ginkel, who played for Fangio last year at Miami. Van Ginkel had an INT, 6 sacks and 19 QB hits for Miami last year. He was able to move around and do different things. Baun has the same versatility so he could be more of a factor than people initially expected.

Roseman: Eagles added talent, swagger, toughness to roster - PE.com
DE Bryce Huff. “One of the things you look for is his skill set and I think one of the things that Bryce wants to show is that he’s heavy-handed, he understands leverage, he’s got explosiveness in his body. The Jets did an unbelievable job of having that edge rusher position really filled with – I think they had five or six guys when I look at their depth chart – and they were trying to find roles for guys and get guys playing time. We don’t play our edge guys 90 percent of the time. We believe in having fastballs off the edge and getting guys in the game. I think this perception that he’s (Huff) this liability against the run, obviously, we’ll see about that, but we believe that he has the tools in his body to make a difference and we’re excited about him.”

Monday mock draft roundup: Post-free agency overreactions - BGN
The bulk of NFL free agency has come and gone. So we can finally start to properly overreact to mock drafts! The Eagles have locked themselves into drafting a cornerback at some point in the draft. Most everyone agrees that will be in the 1st.

Steelers sign WR Quez Watkins - Behind The Steel Curtain
The Steelers’ current wide receivers room consists of George Pickens, Calvin Austin III, Van Jefferson, and Quez Watkins. Other noteworthy veterans that will be competing for a roster spot include Denzel Mims, Marquez Callaway.

2024 NFL draft: Ranking depth of every position, best to worst - ESPN+
2. Offensive tackle. How the position stacks up: As I mentioned above, this is the best offensive tackle class since 2014, when five were drafted in the first round and 12 went in the top 100. Notre Dame’s Joe Alt’s experience and testing makes him the easiest evaluation; he’s the top tackle. Washington’s Troy Fautanu quieted questions about whether or not he would have to kick inside when his arms measured 34½ inches at the NFL combine. They are Nos. 5 and 9 overall in the Scouts Inc. rankings. The other talented tackles likely to go in Round 1 are Alabama’s JC Latham, Penn State’s Olu Fashanu, Georgia’s Amarius Mims and Oklahoma’s Tyler Guyton. Latham, Mims and Guyton played mostly as right tackles in college, while Fashanu had an underwhelming 2023 on the left side. Oregon State’s Taliese Fuaga might be viewed as a guard prospect, but he is the No. 5 tackle on my board. If he does kick inside, he has a chance to be an All Pro; he projects as a first-round pick regardless of where he plays. The ideal time to draft one for the best value: Arizona’s Jordan Morgan, BYU’s Kingsley Suamataia and Houston’s Patrick Paul all have second-round grades, but teams that need a tackle should be targeting one in Round 1. The talent and positional value are too great to risk waiting.

NFL teams vote down fourth-and-20 onside kick alternative - PFT
NFL teams have once again voted down an alternative to the onside kick. The Eagles’ proposal to allow teams to line up their offense on the field on fourth-and-20, instead of kicking off, was rejected today in a vote at the league meeting. Under the Eagles’ proposal, teams that scored a touchdown or field goal could have followed it by taking the ball at their own 20-yard line, facing a fourth-and-20. If the scoring team converted the fourth-and-20, it would keep the ball and go from there. [BLG Note: Very lame how the NFL won’t at least give this proposal a trial run.]

Jerry Jones believes Dallas Cowboys defense already better against the run - Blogging The Boys
Jerry specifically mentioned DeMarvion Overshown as part of the reason for his optimism in this sense (alongside Kendricks of course). Counting on a second-year player who technically does not have any live action NFL experience all while they are coming off of a torn ACL is a bit of a bold move, but one that many of us assumed the Cowboys would make. Jerry also made reference to defensive alignment for this belief, the idea being that Mike Zimmer’s defense will be more aligned to stop the run. Quinn’s defense seemed focused on disrupting the passing game with the running game of secondary importance. Having Kendrick’s on board who is very familiar with Zimmer’s scheme should help somewhat in the installation of the defense for 2024. Time will tell whether or not Jerry is right in that Dallas is better in this capacity. For what it is worth,their jobs became more difficult in free agency when the Philadelphia Eagles signed Saquon Barkley. They were not the only team to add a runner in the division either as the New York Giants (who obviously lost Barkley) signed Devin Singletary while the Washington Commanders brought in Austin Ekeler. Everything got more difficult all the way around.

Giants’ GM Joe reiterates belief Daniel Jones will be ready for season - Big Blue View
As he has throughout the offseason, New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen on Monday once again expressed the belief that quarterback Daniel Jones will be ready to start the 2024 NFL season. Schoen told reporters that Jones is “running on land,” throwing and is expected to be ready for the start of training camp and the regular season. If Schoen and coach Brian Daboll decided they want to select a quarterback at No. 6 in the 2024 NFL Draft, or even move up to select one, co-owner John Mara said Monday that they have the “green light” to do so.

The Commanders $46m in current cap space, the use of void years and the April 1st trigger date - Hogs Haven
At the moment, Over the Cap estimates that the Commanders have $46.3m in available cap space. That estimate does not account for the announced signings of CB James Pierre or C Michael Deiter, but I don’t expect either of those to be big-dollar deals that will substantially change the team’s cap space situation. As I have discussed before, the Commanders will need about $9.2m to sign their 9 draft picks, and they will need roughly $6.5m in ‘contingency’ to sign replacement players during the season as others are injured. There is also another $2.5m in injury benefit previously reported by OTC that will reduce the team’s available cap space. This means that the current expectation is that Adam Peters will roll over about $28m in unused cap space to 2025. Of course, this number can be further reduced if the team makes any significant free agent player signings that involve more than veteran minimum contract.

NFL hip-drop tackle ban raises more questions than answers - SB Nation
But what actually is a hip-drop tackle, and how will the NFL officiate it when they’ve struggled to officiate roughing the passer penalties since the new rules were established? Per the NFL, an illegal hip-drop tackle is when a defender grabs an opponent and gains control, then swivels him and “unweights” him, dropping his hips on the players’ leg and foot area. This is how Andrews got injured against the Cincinnati Bengals. What does it mean to “unweight” a player? No clue, but unweight is defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary as “to reduce momentarily the force exerted by (something, such as a ski) upon a surface by shifting the weight or position of one’s body”, so make of that what you will.

Monday Football Monday #176: NFL bans hip-drop tackle - The SB Nation NFL Show
J.P. Acosta and Mark Schofield weigh in on some of the rule changes to come out of the 2024 NFL owners meetings including the decision to ban the hip-drop tackle.

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