Howard’s film shows just how much he can offer

Eagles’ 2019 offense"WhiteFanposts Fanshots Eagles StoriesScheduleRosterStatsYahoo Eagles NewsYahoo Eagles Team PageYahoo Eagles ReportYahoo Eagles Depth ChartYahoo Eagles TransactionsYahoo Eagles PhotosOdds About Masthead Community Guidelines StubHub 鉁旴reaking NewsThe Eagles' 2019 draft class is finalized 脳How much does Jordan Howard offer the Eagles?New http://www.eagleslockerroom.com/authentic-wes-hopkins-jersey ,117commentsHoward’s film shows just how much he can offer the Eagles’ 2019 offenseEDTShareTweetShareShareHow much does Jordan Howard offer the Eagles?Mark Konezny-USA TODAY SportsRunning back problem: solved.Well, the Eagles traded a 2020 6th-round selection — which, yes, may become a fifth — for the rights to Jordan Howard, a fourth-year running back previously for the Chicago Bears.So really, it’s more like running back problem: solved?The deal is a good one — let’s get that out of the way quick. The list of Day 3 running backs that churn out multiple 1,000 yard rushing seasons over their first three years in the league is light — as a matter of fact, Howard is one of only 10 backs to do it. The list includes Terrell Davis, Devonta Freeman, Alfred Morris, and a bunch of players whose names are too old for me to recognize.6th-round picks rarely — almost never — become as effective in the NFL as Jordan Howard. So trading a 6th-round pick for Jordan Howard, from a pure talent acquisition perspective, already makes sense. As many have covered, Howard’s impending 2020 free agency will have comp pick ramifications as well. But for the 2019 Eagles, gearing to make another run at the Super Bowl with Carson Wentz on a rookie contract, the Howard trade is a great deal.Which begs the question: why trade Jordan Howard for a 6th-round pick? If his return on investment is so rare, why trade him away?There have been discussions about Howard’s fit with HC Matt Nagy and his spread-style offense. Those concerns are warranted — Nagy’s offense maximizes space players, and Howard is not a space player. If Nagy thinks he can run a committee with Tarik Cohen Womens Mike Quick Jersey , Mike Davis, and likely another draft selection with superior quickness to Howard, then all the more power to him — he’ll probably get more out of that player than he got out of Howard.Howard’s strengths are as a vertical runner, and Nagy’s offense is predicated on horizontal stretches. On most zone flow, you can see that Howard lacks the dynamic skill set to work into backside cut lanes. Howard struggles from tunnel vision at times, not so much so because he doesn’t seen cutback lanes developing, but because he simply doesn’t often have the athleticism to attack them anyway.Howard was regularly tracked down by backside pursuit on wide zone concepts, which spells a serious issue for his ability to execute the concept that Nagy’s offense is built around.Now, Doug Pederson’s offense has a healthy amount of zone runs as well, but they don’t rely on outside zone nearly as much as Nagy’s offense does. While both offenses still marry West Coast and spread ideas to maximize space; both teams base their RPO games off of zone flow, running back fit isn’t about coach tree. It’s about concepts.Much like LeGarrette Blount was for Philadelphia in 2017, Howard will command most of the running concepts that allow him to get vertical quickly — ideas that don’t test his change of direction ability and allow him to arrive with power to the contact point.Take, for example, trap plays. The Eagles ran traps a fair bit with Blount when he was on the roster in 2017, and found success on those plays. The Eagles utilize them more than the Bears did, given their usage of TE/H-backs and their greater willingness to go under center.You can begin, even on this set of film, to see one of the biggest issues with Howard’s film — he really lacks elusive traits. Howard is a stick-to-the-script runner who is able and willing to get what’s blocked for him Reggie White Jersey , and his combination of size and speed challenges third-level defender regularly. But he lacks elusive traits, and accordingly fails to create homerun plays for himself. Howard needs it blocked. when he has just one man to beat, he loses more often than he wins.Howard’s inability to make the last man miss is damning. When he breaks long runs, they’re often as the product of contact balance against unwilling corners. Physical safeties are more than capable of generating a good angle on Howard, and he’s unwilling or unable to lower his pads and break their tackles. He doesn’t model much of a stiff-arm and he doesn’t finish runs on the sideline.Howard is a limited player, who can get on some long, rumbling runs, but generally shouldn’t be expected to deliver explosive plays. He must be spelled by more dynamic running options, such as Darren Sproles, who can execute the zone concepts that Philadelphia needs, as well as turn space plays into chunk gains.At the end of the day, we should reiterate the original point: at the value of the deal and the contract, Howard makes sense and is a totally fine acquisition. But it’s important to have expectations tempered in terms of Howard’s projection. In his final season at Chicago, Howard had just over 15 rushes per game — Eagles fans should not expect him to hit that number. Somewhere in the 10-12 range makes more sense.Howard will take reps mostly on inside zone, trap, and power-blocking concepts (Chicago ran him on Counter a lot), while Darren Sproles takes the outside zone reps (as well as other power-blocking concepts he runs so well). Further additions to the running back room can fill almost any role, as the Eagles should expect neither Sproles nor Howard to be a part of the team in 2020.Howard makes the team better Josh Sweat Jerseys Stitched , and removes the onus to draft an early RB in 2019 — but he doesn’t massively move the needle on a lacking RB room, and a more dynamic rookie addition is still necessary — if not in 2019, then at least in 2020.Running back problem: not really solved. This feature is a weekly piece on BleedingGreenNation.com titled From The Eagles, featuring Eagles Insider DAVE SPADARO. The intention is to provide a perspective directly from the Philadelphia Eagles in this forum for the great fans who visit BGN.Howie Roseman promises to keep his “foot on the gas pedal” as the Eagles “reload” the roster for the 2019 season, but what does that mean, exactly? It means Roseman plans to challenge every spot on the roster, an ambitious task for a team that has some salary-cap challenges to navigate and some delicate free-agency decisions and age-related calls to make in the not-too-distant future.And while you may have your dreams set on a superstar playmaker – yes, the Eagles have needs at wide receiver and at running back and certainly at cornerback – the guess here is that the over-arching focus will be on the meat and potatoes of this football team.The offensive and defensive lines.It is not surprising to you that the lines of scrimmage are so important. We all focus a lot on the glamour positions in the NFL, but the games are won at the snap of the football. The Eagles have long been proponents of building from inside out – making sure they have the quarterback position covered first, of course – and as they peer ahead, they’ve got some major questions to answer. As in 鈥ow much are they counting on right guard Brandon Brooks next season? A torn Achilles’ tendon suffered in the playoff loss at New Orleans not only knocked Brooks out for that game, it put his 2019 season into question. Brooks estimates that he will be back on the field “doing football stuff” in six to eight months. If so, that is a great recovery. We’ve seen players take much longer than six to eight months to return from such a serious injury. The Eagles have to cover themselves at right guard, no matter the expectation of when Brooks returns. Jason Peters ruptured his Achilles in the offseason of 2012 and then re-injured it a few months later and missed the entire season. He returned to play 92 percent of the snaps in the 2013 campaign and made the Pro Bowl and was named to the All-Pro team. It was, though, a long rehab.As for Peters, he played in all 16 games in 2018 and was a good player when he was out there, but he also saw action in only 79 percent of the games and was bothered for much of the season by a quad injury. How much does he have left for ’19? Can the Eagles handle his big contract? Center Jason Kelce has been quiet since the day after the season ended with that out-of-nowhere-and-not-substantiated report of him considering retirement still lingering. The expectation Youth Rasul Douglas Jerseys , until any kind of official notice, is that Kelce will play in 2019. He needs an offseason to rest and recover after playing in noticeable pain throughout 2018. Kelce is one of the game’s best. The Eagles certainly don’t want to lose him.Second-year men Jordan Mailata and Matt Pryor are expected to have big jumps from their rookie seasons, and the Eagles need to determine just how far away both of them are from contributing. The team has high hopes for both players and maybe Pryor is the hedge for Brooks and his recovery.Halapoulivaati Vaitai did not take the expected next step last season after playing so well at left tackle in the Super Bowl season, so Big V has a Big Job in the months ahead: Get right and be ready should the Eagles move on from Peters. Again, this is not to suggest that the Eagles are planning to play 2019 without Peters, because only the inner circle in the football operations world knows the plan, but logic suggest the Eagles have to develop some consistent depth at both tackle spots. Big V has to be much better in his fourth season.Isaac Seumalo made significant strides at left guard and needs to take another step in this offseason. The Eagles think he can be special as an interior offensive lineman and a good in-need player at tackle in emergencies. He’s the total package in terms of size, strength, athletic ability and football IQ. It’s just a matter of putting it all together.Count on Stefen Wisniewski coming back and playing a valuable reserve role at both guard spots and center next season.Along the defensive line, heck, anything can happen. Derek Barnett has to get healthy after his shoulder surgery. Tim Jernigan is a question mark after back surgery and minimal impact when he returned to the field. The depth at defensive tackle has to improve, although Treyvon Hester is a young player to keep an eye on. Free agency dominates the conversation, though. Brandon Graham and Haloti Ngata are all scheduled to be unrestricted free agents on March 13. Do any of them return? I’m not closing the door on Graham at all, by the way. How much does the NFL draft impact the thinking along the defensive line? This is said to be a great defensive line draft. I’ll throw out this guess – the Eagles will use two of their first three draft picks (among the first 57 in the NFL) on defensive linemen. As I look at this roster, every position except maybe tight end (although Richard Rodgers will be an unrestricted free agent) needs to be addressed. The Eagles have to do a bang-up job in the offseason to get back to the top of the NFC, but they need more than just about anything (other than making sure they are squared away at quarterback and Carson Wentz is healthy and ready to have a big year) along the lines of scrimmage. It may not be the pretty-boy stuff, but winning in the trenches usually leads to winning games in the NFL.