Post 11 - Philadelphia Eagles Offseason Review

Hello! And welcome to my corner.

In early January Jeffrey Lurie announced that Chip Kelly would oversee the player personnel department, giving him a lot more power over his roster. And boy has he used it. 
The first move he made was shipping All-Pro running back LeSean McCoy to the Bills for Kiko Alonso. At first, this trade seemed ridiculous. To get rid of such a key player so abruptly, with no clear alternate, for a player who's only played 1 year and is coming of an ACL tear that kept him out for the entirety of the 2014 season was certainly bold and left the majority of Philly crying for answers. However, I think that it's ultimately a good move for the Eagles. Kelly believes he can plug any running back into his system and they'll be successful. They also get an excellent linebacker who, should he come back from a torn ACL, can become one of the premier linebackers in the league. Kelly has also worked with Alonso before, they were at Oregon together, so he'll know how to get the best out of him.
Kelly also dramatically changed the face of the franchise. Nick Foles, a 2015 4th round pick and a 2016 5th round pick were traded to the Rams in exchange for Sam Bradford and a 2015 5th round pick. At this time, I have to say that I'm not a fan of this trade. Though Nick Foles was never going to get back to the level he played at in 2013, I think he is a more secure option than Bradford who is coming off a torn ACL in back-to-back seasons (the same knee) and has only played 16 games in a season 2 of his 5 years in the league. Now, if Bradford can stay healthy and plays the entire season as well as he started 2013 (1,687 yards, 14 touchdowns and 4 picks in 7 games) then I think he'll be an upgrade from Foles. But, the fact that everything about this is based on 'ifs', doesn't really fill me with confidence.
Next came Byron Maxwell. The number 2 corner for the Seahawks for the majority of the last two years got paid. Big-time. 6 years, $63 million. Though I think this was a good signing, the Eagles needed a corner, he's been massively overpaid in my eyes. He's going to be expected to come in as the number 1 corner and probably play on his own island against each teams' number 1 receiver. We all saw Sherman get beat by Dez Bryant and Odell Beckham Jr. a few times and he'll have to play them both twice a year. The Eagles should've considered that Sherman didn't require help on his side of the field, so Maxwell benefited from help a lot, I don't think he'll be as good as he may have seemed in Seattle's defense. The Eagles also signed Walter Thurmond, previously of the Giants and Seahawks (and Oregon Ducks), who'll likely be slot corner. 
Following McCoy's departure running back was suddenly a big need. Following the McCoy trade I thought the Eagles would then target a running back early in the draft. Instead, they signed Ryan Matthews AND DeMarco Murray. On one hand, this may seem like they panicked to replace McCoy (suggested by McCoy himself) with two very good running backs. However, I think it's potentially a very good situation for both backs. They both have injury-littered careers and Murray is coming off a 400+ touch season. So, the fact that they'll likely split a lot of carries, plus Darren Sproles, will keep them both a lot fresher week to week and that is a scary prospect. 

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