Anthony Gargano Makes The Case For Going After Jonathan Taylor
Anthony Gargano Made the Case For Going After Jonathan Taylor in his Opening Diatribe This Morning:
“I want to talk about something today. The Jonathan Taylor thing. The reports are it is 3 teams in on him, including the Dolphins and the Eagles. The Dolphins appear to be the favorite right now. But let’s examine this from an Eagles’ perspective. I was talking to a buddy, and he actually changed my opening. He made such a compelling case for Jonathan Taylor, that it swayed me.
He tells me that he studied Jalen Hurts’ contract, and Justin Herbert’s contract side by side. And he believes that only the last year of the Hurts contract is a death kneel. You have outs to rework the deal. Everything about now is about extending what they are doing now. Trying to keep the window always open…And the Eagles have done a very good job of being relevant. If you go over the last 23 years, they have been perennial contenders. The only mistakes were the Dream Team, and then you had some bad drafts. But Howie 2.0, after Chip Kelly, has been a rousing success.
At first blush, you go you are not going to pay for the RB. But since no one is paying for the RB, maybe you can. You have a lot of veterans that will come off the books. So you have some money coming off the book, and that gives you flexibility. Is there a way to go with the two hometown RBs? Swift and Taylor. Swift is such a great troute runner, that Taylor becomes your primary back, and Swift is a Deebo hybrid type.
There is a way to fit him in, and not have it hurt you long-term. A 2 and a 5 for Jonathan Taylor at 24 years old makes you so formidable. Howie loves to flex, and to get someone like Jonathan Taylor excites me. And when you look at it, you start to think maybe it is possible… You can bring Jonathan Taylor back home.”
You can listen to his full Opening Diatribe below:
And here is a Look at how the National Media views the Eagles going into the regular season:
Eagles Pre-Season Power Rankings Round Up
PFF (2)
“Jalen Carter will join the defensive line, shoring up their defense with another piece of one of the best defenses in college football history. Philadelphia also filled a hole at safety with Sydney Brown, who earned an 89.4 coverage grade in 2022.”
Pff ranked the Eagles as the 2nd best team in the league. Obviously just the Chiefs ahead of them, which is fair enough seeing as they are the Champs.
The defense lost a lot of pieces last year. But they also gained some. Is it fair to question if all the new faces could fill the holes left behind by names like CJ Gardner Johnson, TJ Edwards, and Javon Hargrave? Sure. But the pieces they brought in are very promising. See PFF’s full power rankings here.
(Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
ESPN (2)
“Special teams was the weakest of Philadelphia’s three units last season. There were a number of notable miscues, none bigger than an errant punt during Super Bowl LVII against the Chiefs that led to a pivotal 65-yard Kadarius Toney return in the fourth quarter.”
ESPN also put the Eagles at 2, with only the Chiefs above them.
The way ESPN did their pre-season power rankings, is they gave a person on the hot seat for each team going into the season. For the Eagles, Tim McManus picked Michael Clay. Which is very fair. If there is any area of weakness on this team, it is Special Teams. Not just punter either, but punt and kick coverage. A team that already struggled in that area is now down two of their special team’s aces. There is a lot of pressure on Michael Clay to make it better this year.
Check out the full ESPN power rankings here.
(Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
Bleacher Report (3)
“The Eagles boast arguably the NFL’s most balanced and talented roster. If they can stay relatively healthy for the second straight season, they should be viewed as the favorites in the NFC.”
And here we have the one site that put the Eagles lower than 2. On Bleacher Report, the Eagles were ranked 3, below not only the Chiefs but also the Bengals. One of the main reasons for that was their concern over a Super Bowl hangover, and also that they are not likely to have the same injury luck this season. Both are fair points. But they still praised how ‘balanced’ and “talented’ the Eagles roster is.
Check out the full Bleacher Report Power rankings here.
(Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
