February, 2012:

NFL.com has a fun, nifty little NFL Combine tool to play with, as it shows you the top Combine performers of the past 5 or 6 years, depending on the drill.  I weeded out all the strongest and fastest NFC East players of the past 5 years:

Show of hands… Who thought Orlando Scandrick had the best 40 time in the division in the last 5 years?

Here’s Scandrick and DeSean Jackson in a footrace. Scandrick enters the frame at the 0:13 mark, and closes on Jackson (you really can see Scandrick’s speed on display). However, he takes a bad ankle and seemingly runs out of gas trying to chase down Jackson, who was actually gimpy in this game.

Here’s what the Falcons will – and won’t – do this offseason – Mark Bradley, Atlanta Journal Constitution

They won’t be crushed if Curtis Lofton leaves. The middle linebacker is a three-year starter and a fierce tackler, but there’s growing sentiment that he’s a liability against the pass. The question thus becomes: Would you pay $8 million a year for a two-down linebacker? At the right price, the Falcons would love to keep Lofton. If he does depart, they’d give Akeem Dent, the Georgia product taken in Round 3 last year, a long look in the middle.

Lofton could of course be an Eagles target in free agency.

Priority: Lock up Rodgers-Cromartie long term – Brian Solomon, McNabborKolb.com

Interesting numbers here.  DRC was way better on the outside (excellent, actually) than he was in the slot, where he got abused.

Wallace’s availability could affect DeSean – Sheil Kapadia, Moving the Chains

I’m almost annoyed I didn’t think of this post first.  Great job here by Sheil.

Possible Eagles target: Baylor RB Terrence Ganoway – Jason Brewer, BGN

Something I didn’t know: He’s Jeremiah Trotter’s nephew.

Something I do know: He struggled mightily in pass protection at the Senior Bowl practices.

Blame Ray – Tommy Lawlor, IgglesBlitz

Poor Mike Mamula.  Gets crapped on every year during Combine season, when in reality, it was Ray Rhodes that made the pick.  Not to mention, it’s not as if Mamula was anything close to a mega-bust.

Cowboys, Redskins, and Giants after the jump…

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ALL NFC EAST

NFC East cap overview – Brian McIntyre, Football Outsiders

Carl Nicks expects to make more than teammate Evans – Gregg Rosenthal, PFT

Nicks is squarely on the wish lists of Redskins and Cowboys fans.  Evans signed a 7 year, $56.7 million deal in 2010.

Redskins aim to accentuate last year’s successful draft class with another – Mike Jones, Washington Post

I know that the general consensus among Skins fans was that their 2011 draft was “successful,” but I’m not sure I see it that way just yet.  Kerrigan was obviously a very good pick, and the combo of Roy Helu and Evan Royster might turn out to be a nice 1-2 punch in the backfield, but I don’t see much in the way of production from the other draft picks just yet.  Second round pick Jarvis Jenkins tore an ACL and missed all of 2011.  This year will essentially be his rookie season.  Leonard Hankerson, meanwhile, didn’t get onto the field until Week 7, but the last impression he left on the football field was an 8 catch, 106 yard game against Miami before he was lost for the season with a torn labrum.  For now, let’s substitute “promising” for “successful.”  Sorry, I’m a stickler for this kind of nit-picky detail.

Tale of the tape: Justin Blackmon vs Stanford – UkRedskin, Hogs Haven

My boy UK has been killing it all offseason with these visual breakdowns.  The commentary keeps the Redskins’ needs in mind, but they’re also worth a look from fans of the other teams that care about game film evaluation of this rookie class.  Much more to digest in the post, but here’s a quick sampling:

That catch put them in the red zone, where Blackmon saw double coverage.

Blackmon runs in between the two defenders and manages to gain a bit of separation coming out of his break.

Quarterback Brandon Weeden throws a very catchable ball. I believe Blackmon goes at the ball with his hands the wrong way around. Receivers will have a way they prefer to catch the ball, but from my perspective, I feel that he should have his left hand on top and his right hand supporting underneath. That way the nose of the ball would be caught between thumb and fore finger while the rest of the hand naturally wraps round the ball. The way Blackmon attempts to catch this pass means he has to pull the ball into his body to catch it.

The defender manages to disrupt the process of Blackmon bringing the ball back into his body and the ball comes loose. Luckily for Blackmon, the drop didn’t have an impact on the outcome of the game.

Pre-combine mock draft – Matt Alkire, Scouts Notebook

Speaking of Justin Blackmon… the Skins don’t get him here.

Giants, Eagles, and Cowboys after the jump…

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Can Orlando Scandrick be a starter? – Dan Graziano, ESPN NFC East blog

Agree here with Dan that it wouldn’t be ideal.  Rafael Vela of Cowboys Nation thinks he could be a starting safety if the Cowboys don’t adequately fill that need.   He even picked him to be just that in our NFC Draft.

Anyone want to pay this guy Nnamdi dollars? Yeah, me neither.

Finnegan wants (almost) Asomugha money – Rafael Vela, Cowboys Nation

He ain’t getting it.

Playing GM for a day, defensive edition - Rabble, Blogging the Boys

Franchise Spencer: This is a brutal choice, and it dictates the rest of my offseason plans, as his 8.8 million franchise tag significantly limits what I can spend at other positions. But I feel strongly that good pass defense depends more on good line play than good secondary play (see: Giants playoff runs) The Cowboys pass rush is already average; without Spencer, it will be anemic and I fear that, no matter how many elite cover guys they bring in, it won’t matter because opposing signal callers will routinely have six seconds to throw.

Yes, the Cowboys could let Spencer walk and then target a first-round talent like Melvin Ingram or Courtney Upshaw to take his place, but there’s no guarantee the newcomer will be better than Spencer in the long run–and he almost certainly will not be in 2012, as he adjusts to the big boy’s game. And, as Bob Sturm sagely notes in his Spencer piece, “I cannot fix this defense by subtracting a reasonable piece while adding another. That is called running in place…” The Cowboys can’t get caught up in whether or not Spencer is “worth” franchise money. Let’s be clear: he’s not. They have to focus on what their defense will look like without him. It’s a terrifying prospect, frankly. So, they have to keep him around until somebody who is clearly as good (or better) is on board.

Nooooo, not you too, Rabble.  I think the phrase I disagree with most here is:

Yes, the Cowboys could let Spencer walk and then target a first-round talent like Melvin Ingram or Courtney Upshaw to take his place, but there’s no guarantee the newcomer will be better than Spencer in the long run–and he almost certainly will not be in 2012, as he adjusts to the big boy’s game.

More on that statement later today.

Cowboys’ Tony Romo like a ghost in the locker room – Gerry Fraley and Rich Gosselin, dallasnews.com

On whether Tony Romo can learn to take on more of a leadership role:

Fraley: You’re going to have to sacrifice it. It’s just either not in [Romo's] nature or he just wants nothing to do with it because I have seen no sign that he’s willing to play to that. It’s more than just staying and watching film. It’s how you interact with your teammates. This is a guy who’s like a ghost in the locker room. Jon Kitna, you could see him interacting with his teammates, getting on guys a little bit. We’re not around 24 hours a day, but you never see Romo interactive. He’s seek the tee time or something. I thought he was going to learn from Kitna, but I don’t think he did.

Gosselin : Aikman was a quiet leader. Michael Irvin was the vocal leader of that team, but Troy Aikman could go up to a teammate and get the point across. He knew when it was time to say something, and he said it. With Romo, you just don’t feel that he ever knows that time.

Ouch.

Redskins, Giants, and Eagles after the jump…

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