Eagles notes: Chip Kelly's 6'11, 400 pound linebacker
When asked if Brandon Graham had ideal size for an outside linebacker in the Eagles' defense, Chip Kelly revealed during his Thursday press conference that he wants excessively large outside linebackers.
The Eagles wrapped up their first round of OTAs on Thursday, and will begin round two of OTAs on Monday. In case you missed my practice notes from last Thursday, you can read them here. Here are some leftover tidbits from the end of the week:
Eagles will avoid facing three excellent defenders this season
Cardinals ILB Daryl Washington was suspended for the entirety of the 2014 season after violating the league's policy on substance abuse for the second consecutive year. Washington is an outstanding player entering the prime of his career, and his absence will be a big blow to the Cardinals' very good defense. The Eagles will be beneficiaries of Washington's suspension, as they are scheduled to face the Cardinals in Arizona Week 8. Brandon Gowton of BleedingGreenNation.com pointed out that the Eagles will avoid facing three bigtime defenders this season.
The Cowboys lost their best defender in Sean Lee for the season with a torn ACL, and the Colts' Robert Mathis (19.5 sacks and 8 FF in 2013) was suspended for the first four games this season. The Eagles face the Colts Week 2.
Last season, the Eagles caught some huge breaks when they did not have to face players like Aaron Rodgers, Tony Romo (second Cowboys game), Adrian Peterson, and DeMarcus Ware (first Cowboys game). That trend is already continuing this season, and it's not even June yet.
Chip Kelly wants a 6'11, 400 pound linebacker
When asked if Brandon Graham had ideal size for an outside linebacker in the Eagles' defense, Chip Kelly revealed during his Thursday press conference that he wants excessively large outside linebackers. "Ideally, I would want someone who is 6'11, who weighs 400 pound," explained Kelly. Here's a lineup of the Eagles' top OLBs -- Connor Barwin, Trent Cole, Brandon Graham, Marcus Smith II, and a theoretical 6'11, 400 pound OLB -- drawn to scale.
The unnamed 6'11, 400 linebacker projects to Grimace, the lovable McDonald's character, who seems like he'd be a better fit at DE or NT than OLB.
Giants release Josh Freeman
This isn't major news by any stretch, but the Giants cut bait with Josh Freeman. They are now down to Eli Manning, Curtis Painter, and Ryan Nassib at QB. Freeman was a Giant for 44 days.
A 'light year' is not a measure of time
Last season during the Eagles' late season playoff a reporter asked Chip Kelly about controlling their own destiny. "Control your own destiny" is a phrase that is used quite a bit at the end of the regular season in any sport. The meaning behind it is that if you win all your games, it doesn't matter what any other teams do. You "control your own destiny."
Kelly pointed out a flaw in that phrase.
"You know you can't control your own destiny? Destiny is a predetermined set of events, therefore if it's predetermined, you can't control it."
On Thursday, Kelly gave a good sound bite when he said the Eagles are "light years" ahead of where they were this time last year. As long as we're pointing flaws in popular expressions, I would like to take the opportunity to point out that a "light year" is a measure of distance, not time.
Kelly essentially said that the Eagles are 9.4605284 × 1015 meters away from where they were last year. If that were the case, the Eagles would have found a way to travel through space at an amazing rate speed, thus opening up infinite space exploration possibilities, which would be almost as important as winning a Super Bowl.
Follow Jimmy on Twitter: @JimmyKempski