You know it’s a slow NFL news day when you see stories like this one: “Pro Football Focus’ (PFF) analysts ranked Kelly’s Birds as the sixth best roster in the NFL, one spot worse than their 2014 ranking.”
Now apparently this concocted angle bases roster strength on how many “elite”-ranked players you have on your roster. PFF considers Jason Peters, Evan Mathis, DeMarco Murray, Fletcher Cox, and Brandon Graham as elite.
The Seahawks, Packers, Ravens, Patriots, and Broncos —in order— are the top-five NFL rosters according to PFF.
I don’t know how you can take such a metric seriously. The number of “elite” players on a roster has little to do with the ultimate success of a team on the field. Plus, the “elite” label is so subjective and so based on the players’ previous year’s stats. For instance, Nnamdi was “elite” one year, and then rated a bum the next…
And now PFF is trying to tell us Philly dropped a spot in roster quality from 2014? I just don’t get it.
Even some of the reports coming out of media day at Eagles OTA’s this week are jumping the shark— but tough to blame the guys who have to do that for a living.
Guys who are normally known for hard-hitting cverage have been putting out softball stuff like this:
Jimmy Kempski (Philly Voice):
“Agholor had a nice catch in traffic on a pass from Barkley…”
“Jordan Matthews is so fun to watch in practice…He has incredible energy.”
“Donnie Jones is a lock to beat out young Kip Smith as the team’s punter…”
Well, maybe I’m being too cynical about Jimmy’s media day coverage. He is like The Fonz of Philly sports journalism. In fact, Kempski did provide a useful report on Donnie Jones’ hang times:
“[Jones’] 2013 was outstanding, but he fell off a bit in 2014. I timed the hangtime of a number of his punts today.
“Against the wind: 4.48, 4.45, 4.61, 4.63, 4.40, 4.73.
“With the wind: 4.63, 4.93, 4.83, 4.60, 4.83.
“Ideally, Jones wants his hangtime to be around 5.0, which is an excellent time, but the consistency of the above times is good.”
Maybe the most important observations you could take out of voluntary OTA’s is how the veterans who are coming off injuries last year are looking and feeling.
Linebacker Travis Long is coming back after rehabbing a second ACL tear which he suffered in the preseason last year. Long says he feels good and the coaches agree he looks good to go. The Eagles are lining him up at both inside and outside LB positions in drills.
“Travis is playing outside right now and is doing a really good job. We’re really excited about him,” Kelly said. “We were really excited about him last year and then he got hurt, obviously, late in the preseason, but if he wasn’t hurt he would have made our team. He’s really right back to where he was, really contributing well on special teams and he’s making a push for it at outside linebacker.”
That’s a meaningful quote from Kelly because it is a truthful reflection of how important OTA’s really are to veteran players who are trying to move on past a prior injury. Guys in Travis Long’s situation have to make a real impression in OTA drills to prove they can still even be seriously considered as roster candidates when late August cuts come.
“I look at it like there is always a job available,” Long said. “I want to play on Sundays. I feel great out there. My range of motion and my movement and speed came back to me quicker this time, I think. I was really into the rehab. I was trying to push myself as much as I could and then some.
“I’m glad to be out there. When you don’t have it, when it’s taken away from you, you miss it so much. My thing is I just stay locked in on the task at hand and everything else will fall into place.”
“He’s done a tremendous job. I can’t tell you – just listening to the guys in the training room and the guys in the weight room when they talk about just the way he’s been so diligent with the perseverance in his rehab,” outside linebackers coach Bill McGovern said. “Everything he’s done, you feel great. Really, everyone’s excited for him. Everyone in the locker room’s pulling for the guy because everybody knows he’s come through it once and then to have it happen again set him back in the last game of the preseason. Everybody really appreciates Travis and the effort that he’s put forward and appreciates everything that he’s gone through.”
That’s the kind of OTA news that gets my attention. Everything else is just a diversion from the fact that there is no real football being played yet.
The Eagles are likely to keep four or five outside linebackers — Connor Barwin is a lock, of course, as is Brandon Graham. Marcus Smith has to be considered likely to get a shot to back up Barwin or Graham. That leaves Travis Long, Bryan Braman, Emmanuel Acho, Brandon Hepburn and Brad Jones vying for two remaining roster spots—although Acho, Jones and Long can also rotate at the inside LB position too, so it’s not a pure numbers game. Last year the Eagles went with Barwin, Trent Cole, Graham, Smith and Braman as guys strictly used at OLB—and of course, special teams.
Travis Long, LB, age 23, 6-4, 252, signed in 2013 as UDFA out of Washington State. His ’40 time is 4.75 seconds.
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