QB: I think all three of these guys are close, and then there’s a big dropoff to whoever starts for the Eagles. If RG3′s knee was healthy, I would lean toward him, and obviously if we were talking about “Who would I rather have over the long term,” RG3 would be the clear choice. But for 2013, give me the guy I trust the most.

RB: Pete Prisco of CBS penned a Top 100 list (I’m not linking to it) that had Alfred Morris listed as the 41st best player in the NFL, 42 spots ahead of RG3 at 83. LeSean McCoy did not make the list… at all. It’s kind of funny how perception of players goes. In 2011, McCoy had 1309 rushing yards on 273 carries and 20 total TDs. People were calling him a clear-cut Top 3 RB. In 2012, McCoy’s entire offensive line was lost for the season and the Eagles were playing from behind in every game, and suddenly McCoy’s talent is gone? Ridiculous.

Alfred Morris had an awesome rookie season, and his “see hole, hit hole, break tackles” style of running fits in perfectly with what the Redskins do on offense. But he’s not as good as LeSean McCoy.

For the record, I strongly considered putting David Wilson ahead of DeMarco Murray, but I’m just not comfortable yet with Wilson’s ability to do the “little things.” However, Wilson is one of those guys who could wind up being the #1 guy on posts like these in a year or two.

WR: Here was Dez Bryant’s second half of the season last year:

Note the YPA. An outstanding YPA for a QB is around 8. Dez averaged 12.2 yards every time he was targeted during the 2nd half of the season last year. Incredible.

I’ll try to sum up the rest of the bunch as briefly as I can:

• Hakeem Nicks: When healthy, I like him slightly better than Cruz.
• Victor Cruz: Predictably came back down to Earth last year,but still put up big numbers. The number that bugs me a little with Cruz is that he only had a 7.6 YPA in 2012.
• DeSean Jackson: Nobody realizes it because the Eagles were so awful last year, but DeSean made some progress last year. According to PFF, he had 1 drop last year on 75 targets. If he can package that consistency with his big play ability of a few years ago, he could be special again.
• Pierre Garcon: Awesome fit for the Skins’ offense. He’s like a running back once he catches the ball.
• Miles Austin: So good when healthy, which is rare.

The notable omission here is Jeremy Maclin, who is talented, but doesn’t block, doesn’t like catching the ball in traffic, and rarely fights for YAC.

TE: Jason Witten is still clearly the top dog here, although I believe his lofty stats are wildly overrated. It’s a tough call between Brent Celek and Fred Davis for that 2nd spot. I’m a huge Davis fan, but for now I’ll side with Celek’s health and intangibles. I also like the Giants’ Brandon Myers, mind you. I just like the other guys more. Rookies Zach Ertz (Eagles) and Gavin Escobar (Cowboys) will also be players to watch this season. The NFC East is loaded with TEs.

TE/H-back/FB: Because these 4 offenses do different things and employ different positions, we have one oddball position. Darrel Young was a big part of what the Redskins did last year in the running game. I don’t think he gets enough credit. James Casey should be a nice fit in Chip Kelly’s no-huddle offense, and may be a guy who can create mismatches for opposing defenses. Ditto that for Redskins rookie Jordan Reed, who is an extraordinarily intriguing rookie with YAC ability.

LT: Last year, Trent Williams finally became the force that he should be. He was, in my opinion, the Redskins’ 2nd most important player in 2012. Jason Peters, meanwhile, was so freaking good (as in best offensive lineman in the league) in 2011 that I just can’t put him behind Will Beatty or Tyron Smith just yet, even after suffering a double ruptured Achilles. Beatty is a legitimately “plus” starting LT in the NFL. Smith is really talented and shows flashes of being an elite LT, but he has yet to put it together. At some point, he’ll probably be the best LT in the division, but he’s not there yet.

This is the most talented position in the division, by far.

LG: Evan Mathis is a no-brainer here, and then… yuck. I like Kevin Boothe, but in a perfect world I’d prefer him to be a versatile backup. Kory Lichtensteiger is a JAG, although he is a JAG who has developed continuity along the Skins’ OL.

C: This one was an extremely tough call for the top spot. Give me the uber-athletic Jason Kelce here, even recovering from a torn ACL, over Will Montgomery. If you’re a Skins fan and you like Monty better, I won’t argue at all. And hey, the Cowboys rookie makes the cut!

RG: Chris Snee looked like he was heading into decline, and while he isn’t as good as he was a few years ago, he did have a bounce back season in 2012. Chris Chester is an overlooked player. He hasn’t missed a snap in the last 2 years and is really good in the run game. Todd Herremans kicks back inside to guard from RT, and should do so with ease. It’s a strong position group when Herremans is the third best RG in the division.

RT: The pecking order at RT goes Rookie, Rookie, Doug Free, and then whoever starts for the Redskins. Gross.

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• Doug Free agreed to cut his pay in half. Because some of my readers (such as the great Derf Diggy and this guy on Twitter) love it when I reference back to past articles, here was my argument for Doug Free not to take a significant pay cut… one last time. Good job by the Cowboys here. They played a game of chicken with Free and his agent, and despite having a boatload of logical reasons why he shouldn’t take a huge cut, Free did indeed agree to significantly less money. The only leverage the Cowboys had was the threat of kicking Free to the street, which was a far less appealing option to them than a more modest pay cut. But the Cowboys played the leverage they had very well, and scared Free into a bad deal. Kudos. Step 1 for the Cowboys: Complete. Onto Step 2: Hoping Doug Free isn’t terrible again this year.

• The Cowboys added Anthony Hargrove. I saw Hargrove up close at Eagles training camp in 2011. I remember him looking really quick, and thought he’d be a nice fit in the Eagles’ “wide nine.” I can see him playing the under tackle position in Dallas and possibly DE in run-heavy packages. For whatever reason, he was cut. The Cowboys will be Hargrove’s 7th team. He was a nice role player during the Saints’ title run, but has bounced around because of “dependability” and drug issues.

• The Eagles are working out TE Clay Harbor at LB, according to Bob Grotz of the Delaware County Daily Times. Interesting. OLB may be Harbor’s only chance for survival with Brent Celek, Zach Ertz and James Casey already in the fold at TE. The Eagles obviously think there’s at least a sliver of a chance for Harbor to make the roster or he wouldn’t be around. Note that they cut 2012 6th round pick Marvin McNutt last week. Also noteworthy is that the Eagles brought in Connor Barwin as a free agent, and they kicked the tires on Victor Butler, Trevor Scott, and Chris Gocong, all who would have played OLB, so clearly there’s an interest in adding OLB bodies.

• Tommy likes Chip Kelly so far.

• There’s a DeSean Jackson documentary chronicling DeSean Jackson’s rise from Pop Warner football to the NFL, which sounds pretty awesome. According to Tim McManus of Birds 24/7, Andy Reid and DeSean had a draft-day phone conversation in which Reid said he didn’t want to deal with DeSean’s dad.

• Former ESPN NFCE guy Matt Mosley slammed Felix Jones for being overweight in Dallas.

• Evan Mathis pretended to take a whiz on a sign outside the IRS’ offices. Some Cowboys blogger thinks America’s youth has been ruined by those events:

• Good look at the Pats’ no huddle here by my friend Mark at Hogs Haven. Mark shows how they use a 2-TE set in their no-huddle offense to get favorable mismatches all over the field. That part would also be applicable to the Eagles, and possibly the Cowboys this season. Mark then applies the Pats’ usage of the no-huddle to rookies Jordan Reed and Chris Thompson.

• Rich Tandler doesn’t think Tim Hightower makes any sense for the Redskins. I agree.

• Dwight Freeney apparently would like to play for the Giants, but his father said they’re broke.

• Charles Woodson’s agent told ESPN’s Josina Anderson that the Giants are poking around Charles Woodson:

An agent telling a reporter that a team has interest in his client means very little, but I thought it was worth noting because Woodson seems like such an outstanding fit in NJ. The Eagles, Redskins, and Cowboys all selected TEs in the first 3 rounds of the draft, even though they already all had talented TEs in place. The Giants love running those 3-safety sets, and Woodson could be a guy who can match up against several different body types when any of those offenses go into no-huddle mode.

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For today, I just wanted to remind my Eagles readers that the best of the best in Eagles bloggers (and me) will be publishing our annual Eagles Almanac for the second year. I’m really proud of the way it turned out last year, and think it will be a lot better this time around. Last year, the Eagles Almanac 2012 was the first self-published all-Eagles preview emagazine ever. This year’s version will have over 100 pages of content and will be available as both an ebook and a paperback delivered directly to you. You can go here to pre-order.

A quick list of the contributing writers and bloggers:

For an idea of the article topics and to pre-order your copy, click here. Totally worth the minimum donation, I promise.

And thanks again to those of you who have already helped out.

The Eagles signed Felix Jones. As I noted when the Eagles were sniffing around him initially, he’s a 3rd RB only. LeSean McCoy and Bryce Brown are clearly the #1 and #2. Here are Felix’s strengths and weaknesses.

Tommy watched some tape of Brandon Graham and Vinny Curry. Good read. Tommy’s not as high on Graham as sites like PFF, who don’t note the context with which he’s defeating offensive linemen:

While Graham was productive as a pass rusher last year, no one did anything special for him. He was almost always single-blocked. There were plenty of plays where TEs were assigned to block him. Compare this to the treatment that Trent Cole and Jason Babin got. Offenses gameplanned for them, in terms of playcalling and blocking.

Graham’s 2 best games were against Cincinnati and the second Dallas meeting. He went against a struggling Doug Free and Andre Smith. While Smith is a dominant run blocker, he is a mediocre pass blocker, which is part of why he sat on the free agent market so long this year. In those 2 games, Graham had 12 tackles, 4 sacks, and a FF. Take those games away and we’re talking about a different season.

Keith McMillan noted that CBS’ Pete Prisco had Alfred Morris rated 42 places ahead of Robert Griffin III on his Top 100 list. Keith was nice in his assessment of that nonsense:

But Morris ranked 42 places higher than Griffin on any list is, well, interesting.

Blogging the Boys has an interesting table showing the frequency of teams who draft players from non-BCS schools. The Cowboys have the 2nd most. The Eagles have the least.

The NY Post reported that the Giants and Victor Cruz are on the “2-yard line” in contract talks. And then they don’t really expand on that at all in their report. Soooooo… Nothing to see here until there’s something a little more concrete.

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• A little before Christmas, McCoy, 15 women, a bodyguard and some other guys got a party bus and headed up to NYC from Philly.
• The women were sprayed with water.
• One of them didn’t like it.
• McCoy ordered his bodyguard, a gentleman by the name of “Big John,” to “get her.”
• Somebody (either “Big John” or McCoy) hit her in the face, and she went down.
• While on the ground, they held her down and poured more liquids on her.
• They then kicked her off the bus somewhere in the middle of the NJ Turnpike. (The NJ Turnpike, in case you’re unfamiliar, has a lot of distance in between each exit). When some of the other women complained they went back and got her, and dropped her off at the next rest stop.

Yikes.

Update: McCoy is denying the charges.

• The play calling is going to be different than what you are used to seeing at the NFL level. Multiple coaches are sending in signals, some of which aren’t all that different from this:

Continued at the Allentown Morning Call…

Northwestern (2011)

Notable moments:

• Quick note – In 2011, Texas A&M stood Moore up in a 3-point stance on the outside.
• (0:22) – You’ll hear the announcer say that the QB pump fakes. Not so. He had to pull the ball down and reload because Moore got a hold of his jersey briefly as Moore was coming around the edge.
• (1:05) – Gross. Moore gets pushed by into the end zone by a QB (with a little help from his TE). Lowlight reel material here.
• (1:33) – Moore takes away the QB on the option, kills him. RB goes in for a score. It looks like Moore has the QB the entire way.
• (2:50) – Moore has a 1-on-1 matchup with a guard. These are the kinds of mismatches you absolutely want your stud pass rusher to get against the opposing offense. And this is what makes Moore such a confusing player. No pass rush move at all, and barely even a bull rush. Was he mirroring the QB, who has running abilities? That seems unlikely with the defense in zone (and thus their eyes on the QB) behind him. Go beat that guard.
• (3:36) – Sack/fumble for Moore. Coverage sack. Moore doesn’t necessarily beat the RT here. The RT for the most part does his job shuttling Moore past when the pocket would have been. Credit Moore for his motor, and for making the most of his opportunity by taking a big shot on the QB.
• (4:57) – Slow in backside pursuit.
• (5:16) – Unblocked. Whiffs on QB.

Kansas State

Notable moments:

• (0:22) – Coverage sack. Texas A&M is in zone, and it looks like Moore has the flat. With no receivers in his area, he attacks the QB, who should have thrown it away.
• (0:48) – Missed tackle. You don’t see a lot of this with Moore. If he has the chance to bring a guy down, he typically will.
• (1:05) – TE is more interested in getting to the second level, chips Moore and moves on. Moore then gets a decent shot on the QB (running) for a TFL.
• (1:14) – Great bull rush. Moore pushes the LT right back into the QB’s lap as he’s throwing.
• (1:48) – Another coverage sack. Moore drops into coverage, and when the pocket breaks down, the QB is flushed and Moore is there to make the play.
• (2:59) – Moore comes unblocked on a blitz (he was lined up in coverage over the slot WR). Whiffs on the QB. Big play down the field.
• (3:20) – Slow in backside pursuit.
• (4:13) – Interesting usage of Moore here. He’s lined up over the WR split right all the way at the top of the screen. Watch the motor. He chases the running play down all the way across to the other side of the field.
• (4:40) – Another missed tackle.
• (5:18) – Sack. Nice one. Watch how Moore keeps the RT off of him by extending his right arm as he races around the edge. Play is slow-developing, which gives Moore a little extra time to get there, but well done nevertheless.
• (6:27) – Nice pressure around the edge. Times out the snap nicely.
• (7:22) – Nice pressure around the edge again. QB just out of his reach.
• (7:34) – Unblocked. Makes nice play on tackle for TFL.
• (7:49) – Moore gets a hat on the football, forces fumble as QB is just about to cross the plane of the end zone. could have been a game-winning play if Kansas St. player doesn’t recover the ball in the end zone.
• (8:10) – Kansas St. is throwing Moore’s way, so the LT is trying to cut Moore to get him on the ground. Moore avoids the cut block, then attacks the QB and gets in a shot. Well done.
• (8:17) – You can see the lack of speed here. Moore is back in coverage, sees the QB take off, and has a difficult time changing direction. By the time he gets going to other way he had zero chance of cutting down the angle of the runner. There may be some fatigue here as well, seeing as this game is 3OT.

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• Eagles UDFA Brad Wing said his favorite player growing up watching Australian Rules Football was Sav Rocca:

“When I was growing up and he was playing Australian Rules Football for the Kangaroos, he was my favorite player,” Wing said. “I wore his jersey around, and so, once he left the AFL, I was sort of upset. I followed him closely once he was in the NFL. That’s what sort of drew me to the NFL a whole lot.”

Rocca is merely 4th on my list of heroes.

• My buddy Keith McMillan of the Washington Post took a look at the Redskins’ rookie RBs, Chris Thompson and Jawan Jamison. On a side note, I once played flag football against Keith. He QB’d one team, I QB’d the other. Ask him on Twitter who won.

• Rotoworld’s Josh Norris was a big fan of South Carolina’s DeVonte Holloman, who was drafted in the 6th round by the Cowboys. He did a write-up on how Holloman might fit into the Monte Kiffin’s defense. Good read.

• Gerald Sensabaugh is retiring. Odd. Sensi is the kind of player who you would look to upgrade if he was starting for you, but it’s not like you have to adjust your defense to mask his deficiencies. He’s an average starter who should have plenty of football left. I wonder if he just got frustrated by the business side of the game.

• I’ve been rough on the Cowboys’ selection of Travis Frederick in the 1st round:

The great site DraftBreakdown.com does an outstanding job of cutting up college games, however, their Travis Frederick library only contains 2 games. Then I realized, oh wait, I can watch their Montee Ball library (8 games, although mostly running plays), and their Ricky Wagner library (one game in 2011) to see more of Frederick.

I think my jokes come off as me making fun of “Frederick the player” or “Frederick the guy,” which is not the intent. The truth is, after watching all those games…

I like him.

And apparently, some Cowboys fans are calling him “Fredbeard,” which would be more awesome if he played for the Buccaneers or the Raiders (pirate theme), but awesome nevertheless.

But his “ceiling” is extraordinarily low, and while his “floor” may be higher than the average NFL prospect, it’s not like he’s some sort of guarantee to be a solid starter. Personally, I think he’ll be a good (not great) pro at a non-impact position, and I simply wouldn’t spend a 1st round pick on a guy like that.

I’ll have more on his actual game at some point.

• Justin Pugh opened at RT for the Giants. No surprise there, but notable. It was thought that maybe he might play guard.

• Aaron Curry signed with the Giants. The Giants now officially lead the league in bigtime college LBs (Curry, Connor, Rivers, Herzlich) who have done nothing in the NFL.

• Tommy and I recorded a show. We discussed Eagles rookie minicamp, a few veteran tryouts (Felix Jones, Trevor Scott, and Chris Gocong), Matt Barkley, and my feet.

• Someone asked me via email why Chip Kelly wasn’t in the Eagles war room during the draft. I had no idea what they were talking about. Evidently, this is what they were referring to:

Yeah, if Chip Kelly were just shooting the shit about Manti Te’o's college career with Melissa Stark instead of helping draft the future of the team, that would be weird as hell. It would probably be something beyond “weird.”

Anyway, to answer the question, it wasn’t Chip. It was Brian Kelly:

Say it with me… Brrrrrrian…

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And here they are broken up by 4-3 teams and 3-4 teams:

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If we’re to trust Cantor’s predictive powers seriously this year, then the Redskins will be your 2013 NFC East champions, and the Cowboys will finish in the basement:

A look at each team’s odds individually:

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