Open Rants by TommyKittens

After disposing of Chip Kelly last offseason, the Eagles hired a coach with no head coaching experience at any level in Doug Pederson. The general consensus was that no other organization was really that interested in him, but because he comes from the Andy Reid coaching tree he is considered owner Jeffrey Lurie's "guy". While the organization switched head coaches, they retained GM Howie Roseman and handed him back the personnel power that Potato Chip had taken from him in 2015. During his long (most would say too long) tenure at or near the top of the organization, the results have been mediocre at best. In over a decade of first round picks, only three have panned out (Lane Johnson, Fletcher Cox, Jeremy Maclin, who is no longer with the team). This past year, however, Roseman has at least found the franchise quarterback in Carson Wentz and shrewdly recouped maximum value in the Sam Bradford trade to the Vikings

The 2016 campaign started out with a bang, with the team jumping out to a 3-0 start behind rookie QB Carson Wentz and a much improved defense under DC Jim Schwartz. However, the team struggled the rest of the way to a 7-9 season including a week 17 win against the resting Dallas Cowboys and Mark Sanchez. There are clear holes on both sides of the ball, but luckily for the Eagles the strengths of this year's draft match up well with the team needs

Current Player Decisions: The team has a few cap casualty/restructured contract candidates, including Connor Barwin, Leodis McKelvin, Ryan Mathews, and Jason Kelce. Barwin is a fan favorite and great community leader who has said he would renegotiate his contract to stay. I think the team complies and gives him a new 2 year deal, with a lower 2017 cap hit. McKelvin was often injured and often roasted, so he will be cut for cap savings. Kelce is an interesting case, as he struggled mightily in the early to middle parts of the season before having a more solid back stretch that mostly went under the radar. Recent reports suggest the team may move on and look to slot Seumalo into the starting C spot, however I see them retaining Kelce for at least 1 more year as his contract is favorable. Mathews, with his injury and ball security history, will not be brought back

Pending free agents include Nolan Carroll, Bennie Logan, Stefan Wisniewski, and Trey Burton (RFA). Carroll will not be retained, neither will Wiz as  he is looking for a starting role and is likely to find a team to give it to him. Trey Burton will be tendered and unless a team blows out the checkbook in a big way that makes the Eagles unable to match, he will be back at TE and ST ace. Logan is the biggest and most difficult decision. With the big money being handed out to DTs in recent years, it wouldn't surprise me to see the Eagles unable to compete financially with the best offer on the open market. He is great against the run, but average against the pass. This will really depend on the money being offered and how much he wants to stay in Philly, which by all accounts he has no problem with. The Eagles do like Beau Allen, who was greatly improved in 2016 and saw more action as a result of Logan's injuries, but I don't think anyone views him as a long term starter. The team also really likes the young DTs brought in last year through the draft and undrafted free agency (Destiny Vaeao, Aziz Shittu) so its possible they roll with what they have

Primary Needs: WR (2), RB, CB (2)

Secondary Needs:G/C, DE, LB, DT (if Logan not retained

Last year's draft class keepers: Carson Wentz (franchise QB), Isaac Seumalo (At worst versatile 6th OL, at best possible replacement for Jason Kelce as soon as 2017), Wendell Smallwood (back up RB & KR), H. Vaitai (backup OT, possible future RT), Jalen Mills (current starter at CB as rookie, maybe better suited to slot corner).

Ideal Draft Picks

First Round (14): Dynamic offensive playmaker that is Day 1 starter. Hopefully one of Leonard Fournette, Mike Williams or Dalvin Cook makes it this far. If all 3 are gone, I would look long and hard at Corey Davis or whichever of the many talent CBs the team likes best.For now I'm going to slot in Dalvin Cook RB

Second Round (43): The best CB on the board. With such a great CB class, the range where the individual players go can be all over the map. Some mocks have Quincy Wilson in the top 10, others have him in the 2nd round, for example. My personal favorite that has a chance to be on the board at 43 is Cordrea Tankersley, CB

Third Round (74): With the team grabbing their new RB in Round 1 and a CB in Round 2, I can't see them waiting any longer than Round 3 to address WR. Nelson Agholor had one of the worst seasons for a starting WR in NFL history this past season, and is so far into his own head that he cannot be relied on. Of course, he'll probably get traded to New England for a 7th rounder and turn in a 75 catch 1200 yard season but for now he's been killing this team with drops and ineffectiveness. Dorial Green-Beckham was great high-risk, high reward candidate considering his tremendous natural ability, but he doesn't really seem to want to put in the effort or even play football. These guys are both on team friendly contracts, but should not be relied upon as the Eagles #2 and #3 WRs (behind Jordan Matthews, who is not a #1 WR on a good team and would be better suited in the slot as the 2nd or 3rd go-to guy in an offense). All that being said, I'm hoping and praying to take Dede Westbrook WR

Fourth Round (108 for now, depends on compensatory picks): Wouldn't surprise me at all if the Eagles double up on WR or CB at this spot, although adding a defensive linemen that was projected to go in earlier rounds (happens every year) would make sense too, especially if Logan is out of the mix. Because I don't expect them to bring back Nolan Carroll or Leodis McKelvin, and with Ron Brooks coming off of injury, I'm going to add another CB to a unit that only includes Jalen Mills and 2nd Rounder Tankersley and select Kevin King CB

I'm going to hold off on any draft picks because 5th round and beyond you are looking for diamonds in the rough, organization and training camp depth, and special teamers that don't figure to make a huge impact in 2017. There are always exceptions like Jalen Mills last year, who fell to the 7th round and ended up being a starter, but these rounds shouldn't be counted on to produce year 1 impact players.

Free Agency:

Through the draft I've added two CBs, a RB and a WR. The team still needs starting caliber players at WR and CB.

Dealing with WR first, its hard not to automatically want to make the Desean Jackson / Eagles reunion happen. While he is on the wrong side of 30 (deep threat WRs don't age well), he is still a preeminent playmaker when healthy and motivated. If he would accept a 2 year deal in the neighborhood of 10m/season, I'd sign him. However, I think there is a younger, better option on the market in Kenny Stills. He will be looking to find a team that features him more, as in Miami he has to share targets with Jarvis Landry and Devante Parker. He's been healthy and projects to offer similar or better production than DJax, plus he's only 24. Last year Sanu got 5y/32m and Marvin Jones got 5y/40m. I'd give Kenny Stills something similar, let's say the same 5y/40m that Jones landed last year. The team then rolls with Jordan Matthews, Kenny Stills, Dede Westbrook as the 1-3 WRs and hope to salvage anything at all from Agholor and DGB as 4-5. 

At CB, there are some options at all tiers. Trumaine Johnson, Prince Amukamara and Stephon Gilmore will all be looking to get paid and AJ Bouye is probably going to garner quite a bit of FA attention as well. Those 4 will sign the highest dollar deals from this position in my opinion. I'd certainly be involved if I was the Eagles, although I won't break the bank for any of the 4. Since we already drafted 2 CBs, and have Jalen Mills, I'd rather be in the mix for the second tier of CB FA's like Dre Kirkpatrick and DJ Hayden. They've both had their issues, but are NFL starting CBs nonetheless. They may not find what they are looking for in either dollars or years and perhaps can be had on either a 1 year "prove it" deal or a reasonable multi year deal like 2 years and $10m. Let's also not count out possible cap casualties like Kyle Fuller or Vontae Davis as options. Although he's penalized a fair amount, he's been healthy, so I'll give the 2 years and $10m to Dre Kirkpatrick.

Those would be my main two free agent acquisitions. Obviously if the team doesn't bring back Jason Peters (unlikely) or Jason Kelce (possible) than some OL signings will have to occur as well. Otherwise, I see the team signing special teams contributors and back up type players, primarily for LB and DL competition. 

Net moves, by position:

QB: none, maybe draft a late round project

RB: drafted Dalvin Cook, released Ryan Mathews

WR: drafted Dede Westbrook, signed Kenny Stills

TE: resigned RFA Trey Burton

OL: Retained Jason Peters and Jason Kelce. Let Stefan Wisniewski walk in FA. Bring in backups and possible late round draft pick for depth/competition 

DL: Restructured deal with Connor Barwin. Let Bennie Logan test FA and possibly walk. Develop in house projects at DT and DE

LB: Something I didn't address was Mychal Kendricks. That's because I'm keeping him and hoping he regains favor with Jim Schwartz and starts making plays again. Jordan Hicks is an extension candidate and Nigel Bradham played well and has 1 year remaining. Depth is thin, so this should addressed in late rounds of draft or free agency.

S: All set with Malcolm Jenkins, Rodney McLeod at starters. Chris Maragos as special teams ace.

CB: Released Leodis McKelvin, let Nolan Carroll leave in free agency. Drafted Cordrea Tankersley and Kevin King. Signed Dre Kirkpatrick to go with Jalen Mills and Ron Brooks. 

Specialists: All set with Caleb Sturgis, Donnie Jones and Jon Dorenbos.