Posted: Friday, February 13, 2009, 6:00 PM | 18 comments |
 

Tight end picture
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The Eagles will be scrutinizing the tight-end crop at next weekend's scouting combine in Indianapolis. They have no intention of bringing back L.J. Smith and would like to find a decent blocking tight end in this year's draft to complement Brent Celek. The problem is, beyond top-rated Brandon Pettigrew, of Oklahoma State, there aren't many tight ends who can block.

"It's really tough to find guys who can block and catch," Eagles general manager Tom Heckert said. "There's a bunch of guys we like that are really good receiving tight ends. But I'm looking at our [draft] board right now, and there are four [tight ends] that probably will go in the first four rounds that don't even line up on the line of scrimmage at all.

"You look at the kid from Missouri [Chase Coffman], he never, ever lines up on the line of scrimmage. You don't even get to see him block. With all of the spread offenses in college, to find a guy who can do both things is almost impossible. You look at their athletic ability and the receiving ability and you just hope they'll give you something as a blocker. In our offense, we want more of a receiver than a blocker. But by the same token, you've got to be able to block a little bit, or it's just going to be a situation where you're not going to be able to run the ball."

The Eagles have made it clear to Celek that he needs to improve as a blocker.

"I think he blocked a little bit better last year [2007] than he did this year," Heckert said. "But he had some minor injuries. He knows the situation. He knows he has to become a pretty good blocker. And I think he will."
Posted by Paul Domowitch @ 6:00 PM  Permalink | 18 comments
18
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 8:19 PM, 02/13/2009
    What ever happened to Matt Schobel?
    — There He Is
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 8:49 PM, 02/13/2009
    Alex Brown tossed him with one arm right out of the league. That was the last time a saw him. Getting pushed away like a rag doll so A. Brown can grab Buck at the goal line to end the game v The Bears. Remember that.
    — Reggie92
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:23 PM, 02/13/2009
    What became of my 6:30pm comment? What gives?
    — ItalianSausage
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:38 AM, 02/14/2009
    Yeah, the spread offense puts and even higher premium on projection and evaluation.........i hate the spread.
    — Cant Climb
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:01 PM, 02/14/2009
    Reggie92 - glad I'm not the only one that saw that. I was flipping out about Schobel whiffing on Alex Brown when it happened, but everybody was too preoccupied blowing up on Reid for the play call to pay attention to it. Schobel sewed his fate on that play.....he'll be no better than a 3rd string tight end for the rest of his career.
    — jayb773
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:28 PM, 02/14/2009
    I only saw one or two replays so correct me if I'm wrong but I didn't think Schobel even tried to block Brown on that play. I don't remember him even touching him or any other Bear. I think he thought Brown was not his responsibility, amazing as that seems, and he just looked across the line for somebody else to block and found nobody.
    — NEMark
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 8:44 AM, 02/15/2009
    Tony Gonzolez and Larry Johnxxx, from KC solves running and passing issues, with West36 used predom'ly as a receiver to prolong his career, Buck RB, Celek H-back, like 'Skins use Coolex. This is all do-able right now. Add Julius Peppers for green zone blitz. There, Mr. Editor, I didn't use any forbidden language in this 3rd attempt.
    — ItalianSausage
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:27 AM, 02/15/2009
    Hey, ItalianSausage, I share your pain at not seeing your comments posted. I sent one up yesterday about the 12-year-old philosophizing in David Murphy's baseball column -- no objectionable language, just criticism of a DN writer -- and it never appeared. The review function on the DN/Inky website is weird and arbitrary.
    — Dave Clemens
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:35 AM, 02/15/2009
    Oh, and as far as this column goes, do you think Reid looks at players like L.J. Smith and Reggie Brown and G. Lewis and Ryan Moats and Tony Hunt and says to himself, "Hmm. Maybe I need more/better advice about drafting for the skills positions." ??
    — Dave Clemens
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:18 AM, 02/17/2009
    I say trading for Tony Gonzalez, because he's ready right now, and petteigrew will need two years at least. I beleive Mcnabbs window for a Ring is as small as it can get...
    — Ruiz the Great
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:32 AM, 02/17/2009
    Tony Gonzalez
    — nellar
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 10:46 AM, 02/17/2009
    I think that L.J. actually is a good player who may be a better fit on a different team. He has shown flashes of his playmaking ability. The problem is that at this stage in his career we shouldn't still be discussing his potential.
    — Unpretentious
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 10:49 AM, 02/17/2009
    Hope is Heckert was just using mis-direction. We must have Tony Gonzolez and Larry Johnxxx from KC. We'll just waste our draft choices anyway. Might as well get a proven professional, right Andy?
    — ItalianSausage
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:47 AM, 02/17/2009
    Larry Johnson has too many character issues. Forget him. Tony G. is a different story and a good fit.
    — tpizza
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:31 PM, 02/17/2009
    Hey I thought this was going to be about the cheerleaders.
    — Breath EZ


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About Eagletarian Blog
Les BowenLes Bowen has covered the Eagles for the Daily News since 2002. Before that, he spent nearly 13 years covering the Flyers. It took Les only a few seasons after the switch to figure out that there was no penalty box at the Linc, and that the time really wasn't his, despite what Andy Reid kept saying. Les came to Philadelphia and the Daily News from Charlotte in 1983. In the intervening years, he has pretty much lost track of NASCAR, and his accent. He, his wife Barbara, and their two sons live in Haddon Township, New Jersey. E-mail Les at bowenl@phillynews.com and follow him on Twitter.

Paul DomowitchPaul Domowitch has been with the Daily News since 1982. He has spent most of his nearly 3 decades with the paper covering the Eagles and pro football. For the last 10 years, he’s been a selector for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A native of Wilkes-Barre and a graduate of Wilkes University, Domo started his career in Texas, working first for the Midland Reporter-Telegram (1976-78), and then for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where he covered some god-awful Texas Ranger baseball teams. His first beat at the Daily News actually was boxing, which he covered just long enough to lose 2 sports coats to blood spatter before moving on to football. Domo and his wife Shelley, a University of Oklahoma grad who still hasn’t gotten over that Fiesta Bowl loss to Boise State 5 years ago, have 2 terrific daughters -- Allison, 28, who is an attorney in South Jersey, and Amy, 25, who works in administration for a professional baseball team. E-mail Domo at PDomo@aol.com and follow him on Twitter.

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