"Center" of attention:- Philly ink Jason Kelce and Riley Cooper to new extensions

The off-season always beings a mixture of emotion for fans no matter what team you root for. Reflection on what has transpired the year before, excitement over the prospects in the up coming Draft and perhaps a little anxiety as some of your favourite players could end up as free agents.
   
 For a lot of Philadelphia fans, that was certainly the case as Wide Receiver's Riley Cooper and Jeremy Maclin joined Center Jason Kelce in free agency. Two of those players have been signed to an extension, ending the endless comments on various forms of social media begging for the stars to be penned back to Philly...well, they still won't stop entirely until Maclin signs an extension!

Riley Cooper was originally going to
start last season as the Birds number 3 receiver behind Maclin and DeSean Jackson, but his destiny took a swift detour as Maclin suffered from a torn ACL back in July. This opened the door for the University of Florida Star. And boy did he ever rock that door so hard it fell off its hinges by having his greatest season to date. His season truly picked up pace when Nick Foles took control of the offence.
 
Cooper was a consistent Big play target and he delivered more often than not. Averaging 18 yards per catch and ending the season with 835 total yards and eight touchdowns. In his previous seasons, he had never topped 23 catches or 315 yards so this was a very promising sign for Coach Chip Kelly  to see how much the 26 year old has improved.
   
The former fifth round pick made it clear from the start that he wanted to stay in the city of brotherly love and those intentions were met with a 5 year deal worth $25M today! Most fans assumed that the team would keep one or the other, letting the unsigned receiver go into Free Agency but General Manager Howie Roseman didn't say no to the possibility of keeping both receivers.

However, it wasn't Maclin who was also signed today like many fans hoped it would be but a rather different prospect, Center Jason Kelce. The 6 year deal worth $37.5M was embraced with open arms by fans after the former sixth round pick had a fantastic season, adapting to the new Chip Kelly offence brilliantly and showing the new Coach why he is the perfect athletic Center for the new system. The man who has exploded onto the scene since his rookie debut in 2011 now has a deal that lands him within the top-5 centers in the NFL on an average per year basis. 

 So what next for the birds? Many fans are still hoping for the re-signing of Maclin before Free Agency begins on March 11th but according to numerous sources, both parties have not reached a deal that is within reach.

If there is one thing we can take from this, it's that with the Offensive line nearly complete, it leaves a lot of focus to be turned onto the other side of the Football. The Defensive side of things started to look up towards the end of last seasons campaign, but there is still a long way to go. With an Offence as strong as it already is and re-signing two top players to long term deals, it makes Coach Kelly's intentions for the 2014 draft seem very clear.

Read More

Philadelphia Eagles 2013 season preview

Two years since the so called superteam shook up the NFL and a year since the Eagles went a disappointing  4-12, they come back with a new play style, new lineup and a new head coach. But are these changes going to help restore the team to their former glory and maybe to a championship?

Chip off the old block-

After having the worst season in the Andy Reid era, the Eagles have found themselves a new head coach who is ready to completely revamp the team. Ex Oregon coach Chip Kelly is the man in charge, a man who won 46 games in 4 seasons with Oregon including three championships and two BCS bowl games. Chip is expected to bring his uptempo style to the team and increase the amount of running plays used per game. He has already altered the training programs with different workouts and even involving music. Some teams would react horribly to a drastic change but the players have nothing but praise and respect for their new coach. With fans worldwide eager to see how the new Eagles lineup fair in the pre-season, Chip could be the change the team so desperately needed.

Vicktorious- the battle of the quarterbacks.

Michael Vick had a somewhat disappointing season in the six games he played prior to injury. Completing under 60% of his passes and throwing interceptions far to often meant the Eagles were relying on their defence to get them out of sticky situations. However not all of the blame can be placed on the pride of Virginia Tech, the offensive line were not helping and receivers simply could not find the space for the ball to be thrown to them. 

    The second half of he season saw rookie Nick Foles fill the injured Vicks shoes and they were big shoes to fill. Throwing 1699 yards and 6 touchdowns is a fairly respectable statistic for the number 88 draft pick of 2012. What Foles lacks in mobility and agility he makes up for in decision making. Nick is very good ad getting the ball out of trouble, making short passes and throwing it out of bounds if needed. 

  The attention has been on Nick this pre-season as he has seemingly shifted the gaze of head coach Kelly back to him after a very successful training day completing 15 out of 18 passes with 2 long touchdowns. Now this is either a blessing or a curse for Vick. Kelly wants competition he wants to see raw determination to earn your spot in the team, it won't be gifted to you on a plate or perhaps as easy as it has been in previous years. Vick has already been working overdrive to prove his worth and there is nothing like a threat from an underdog to spur you on to work harder. We won't know for sure who will be the starting QB until after the pre-season which makes the next few weeks crucial for both Foles and Vick.

      The Eagles have also signed Matt Barkley in the draft, a QB who helped to beat Oregon in the past. Chip saw his potential first hand and signed him up. With a style very similar to Foles he is probably going to spend his first season as a third string QB but may make the odd appearance to see just what talent the kid has. He isn't expected to shake up the league but saying that neither was a certain Tom Brady when he was drafted.

    The bottom line is the race for the first string QB spot is hotter than ever which is exactly what the new coach wants. The only question left is who will be the man leading the offence this season?

Time is running out-

Every coach has their own style but Chip will be bringing a more aggressive college style play book to the field this season which theoretically means the running game will prove to be more of a factor, something that the Eagles lacked last season having failed to utilise the full potential of LeSean McCoy. It has been speculated that the running game could be used up to 60% of the time. If you have the pace of McCoy with the unpredictability of Vick this again could be a huge improvement for the team.

Maclin out-

With so much momentum going into this season it was almost too good to be true, and that it was. Jeremy Maclin, the top receiver for the team last season is out for the entire year with an injury. This means that Cooper is going to have to step up much like Foles did at the QB last season and again they are big boots to fill. Cooper is a solid receiver but does not have that creativity and outside the box mentality that Jeremy had. With Jackson's pace and all the focus being shifted to him it allowed Maclin to find holes in the defence and sneak through. 

  But with the new college style playbook the team have to keep moving forward. They need to not let this dampen the spirits and keep the chemistry high. It also means that the players like Celek have to slightly change their style with the new rotation system. Every position is being contested so players have to show now more than ever that they can play well in numerous positions but only time will tell how much of a hole Maclin's injury has left.

Overall the team has been completely reshaped and will go into this season with the hopes of making the playoffs. There is still much to be decided but the Eagles have to make an impact this season or the next few years could be very difficult.

Read More