The annual NFL Scouting Combine is getting underway today in Indianapolis, which means coaches, scouts, and executives have descended upon the nation's most popular track meet, labor crisis be damned. Some even make themselves available to the media, like a number of ex-Eagles assistants now perched comfortably in their own head jobs.
The Rams' Steve Spagnuolo and the Panthers' newly hired Ron Rivera both answered questions about Andy Reid's unorthodox decision to promote Juan Castillo to defensive coordinator, and each gave the move their endorsment. But Ravens' coach John Harbaugh gave the hiring rave reviews, and seems to believe big things are in store for Castillo.
"Who knows how it's going to go, but Juan's an excellent coach, plus he's surrounded by a veteran staff," Harbaugh said. "Andy recognizes a good coach, plus I think he's always had a lot of respect for Juan ... I think he'll do really well. I'm a supporter of Juan. I think he'll be a head coach in this league someday. I just think he's a special guy."
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It's no surprise Castillo's former colleagues are going to bat for him. He's very well respected around the league. Adding that he will be a head coach someday, and coming from somebody who is already in the club, is just about the highest praise there is for an assistant. One of the things Castillo has talked about is his desire to eventually be the head man somewhere.
It's notable that Harbaugh, Spagnulo, Rivera all coached on the defensive side of the ball.
But again, anybody who is familiar with Castillo's work and reputation knows the questions about his promotion have nothing to do with what kind of coach he is. It's his lack of experience on the defensive side of the ball, and the fact that he is being counted on to turn around the 21st ranked defense in the NFL.
That's a nice segue into the 40-minute interview Howie Roseman gave this week, during which the Eagles' general manager spoke at length about defensive personnel. Unfortunately, Howie only sat down with PhiladelphiaEagles.com, hardly an attempt at transparency. At least CSN's Reuben Frank was polite enough to transcribe key portions of the interview, sparing us the need to watch Dave Spadaro.
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Roseman discusses some of the issues on defense last season and what will remedy the situation, plus offers his detailed assessment of each member from the Eagles' 2010 draft class. Spoiler alert: he likes them. In all seriousness, the questions were decent. Asked what he expects next season from the class as a whole, Roseman responded:
“We think the biggest jump comes from Year 1 to Year 2, and we had a lot of first-year, a lot of rookie players on this team that we think are going to get better. They’re not going to have to go through this process, which is really a time-consuming process for young players to go through. That’s why it’s hard as a rookie to contribute in this league, because you’re going through the bowl games, then you’re going to the all-star games, then you’re going to the combine, then you’re on all these tours through the league, then all of a sudden you get to the draft, then the minicamps, then the workout program -- it’s a lot. It’s a lot for someone who’s 21, 22, 23 to go through, so you take a jump when everything stabilizes and you take a jump, and we’re looking forward to that, just like we had with Jeremy [Maclin] and LeSean [McCoy] last year.”
All spin aside, he's right. Hey, it's refreshing to focus on the upside every once in awhile. They were very young last season. Obviously there is no way each one of the kids they took is going to become a player, but if just a few of them make the kind of jump Roseman is talking about, the defense should improve exponentially in 2011.
You can read Part 1 here, and Part 2 over here.
And because no compilation of Eagles links would be complete without something regarding Mike Vick, Sheil Kapadia attempts to answer the age old question: does Vick still hold on to the ball too long?
In case you missed it, JJ Cooper of Fanhouse studied every quarterback in the league to see which ones hold on to the ball the longest. He measured the number of sacks each signal caller took after holding on to the ball longer than three seconds.
Kapadia breaks it down in to percentages, and finds Vick suffered the third highest percentage of sacks when holding the ball beyond the three second mark. However, Vick—along with other notorious ball hogs Ben Roethlisberger and Joe Flacco—also converted one of the highest percentages of third-and-longs in 2010, not found in Cooper's story.
It's an interesting read. As Kapadia points out, keeping the ball is what allows Vick to create plays with his feet, obviously a big part of his game. Then again, the negative plays associated with the special ones can be a difficult thing to overcome. This off-season, they need to find the right balance where he is able to dump the ball off quickly at times, without completely sacrificing the innovating aspect of his skillset.