What They’re Saying About the Eagles

From mock drafts to Johnny Manziel buzz to the latest on Bill Lazor, here’s what the national media are saying about the Eagles this week.

And if you missed the season finale of Birds 24/7 on 97.5 The Fanatic, click here for the podcast. We broke down what went wrong against the Saints and looked ahead to the offseason.

Eagles QBs coach Bill Lazor interviewed for the Dolphins’ offensive coordinator job earlier this week, but he doesn’t appear to be a favorite, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter (via Rotoworld):

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on SportsCenter Friday morning that the Dolphins’ offensive coordinator search is “zeroing in” on Kyle Shanahan, Gary Kubiak, and Ben McAdoo.

DeMeco Ryans made SB Nation’s All-Disappointing Team:

Ryans handled the switch to a 4-3 defense reasonably well when he arrived in Philly in 2012, but his struggles in the Eagles’ 3-4 this season did little to conjure memories of his glory days with the Texans. Ryans looked slow to the hole on run defense, was unproductive as a blitzer and often victimized in pass coverage.

NFL.com writers project where Johnny Manziel might get picked. Daniel Jeremiah pegs the Eagles as a possibility:

This is an obvious choice: the Chip Kelly-led Philadelphia Eagles. Kelly recruited him to play at Oregon and he’s a perfect mix of athleticism and accuracy to fit the Eagles’ scheme. Tampa Bay is another team that would make sense. They have big wide receivers and Manziel loves to throw those 50-50 balls down the field.

Chris Burke of SI.com has the Eagles taking TCU CB Jason Verrett with the 22nd pick:

The Eagles defense improved greatly as the year progressed, but it still finished dead last in the league against the pass. Dennard’s the only corner off the board so far, leaving Philadelphia its choice of impact players. Verrett is not far behind Dennard — and some might argue he’s actually the best CB in this class.

Doug Farrar of SI.com looks at the Eagles’ defense going forward:

Drew Brees threw two picks and was limited to 250 passing yards. Mark Ingram ran for 97 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries, which certainly went against type, but Davis and the Eagles have a lot to look forward to with this defense. The front seven is excellent minus a top-tier pass-rusher, the secondary can be tweaked from good to great with a few new moves and it’s clear that Davis is in sync with his players. To his credit, it was the coach who took the blame for deficiencies in the run defense.

Dane Brugler of CBSSports.com has the Eagles landing Notre Dame defensive lineman Stephon Tuitt with the 22nd pick:

Chip Kelly will continue to build the Eagles’ defense and look to get bigger, faster and stronger. Tuitt moves extremely well for his size and gives Kelly a player that can be moved all over the Eagles’ defensive front.

Rob Rang of CBSSports.com has the Eagles going with Oregon State defensive lineman Scott Crichton:

Based on the strength of Chip Kelly’s offense, the Eagles won the NFC East. The Eagles finished 30th in pass defense over the regular season, however, making it easy to imagine which unit they’ll be looking to improve for 2014. The Eagles took full advantage of Kelly’s familiarity with the Pac-12 a year ago, using half of their eight draft picks on players from the conference his Ducks dominated. Kelly will certainly know and appreciate the pass rush and passion Crichton provided at rival Oregon State.

Football Outsiders’ numbers had LeSean McCoy as the least valuable running back of wild-card weekend:

In a pretty good week for running backs, somebody had to finish last. In 21 carries against New Orleans, McCoy had one touchdown and five other first downs, with one 10-yard run, while being stuffed for no gain or a loss twice. He’s also penalized for going 0-for-3 on third downs, though he converted a pair of fourth-down runs (including his score). He had three catches for 15 yards in five targets, but no first downs, including three more failed third-down plays.

Bill Barnwell of Grantland with his dream scenario for Manziel:

My dream deal: Nick Foles and a 4th to the Bengals, Andy Dalton, #22, and #24 to the Raiders, Johnny Manziel’s draft rights at #5 to Philly.

— Bill Barnwell (@billbarnwell) January 7, 2014

Eagles sell high on Foles & get ideal Chip QB, Bengals get big-numbers QB who might be system passer, Raiders get a look at Dalton + picks.

— Bill Barnwell (@billbarnwell) January 7, 2014

Please note that this is not an actual rumor. Barnwell is just spit-balling, which is what we do in the offseason.

Follow Sheil Kapadia on Twitter and e-mail him at skapadia@phillymag.com.
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