Bush, McCoy and the Eagles' RBs
On Wednesday, I wrote about the Yahoo Sports report by Mike Silver that focused on the Eagles' plans to be aggressive once player movement is allowed.
Two names that Silver mentioned as possibilities (covered in yesterday's post) were Plaxico Burress and Albert Haynesworth.
And a third was Reggie Bush. A team source told Silver that Bush "piqued the Eagles' interest" earlier this offseason.
My initial reaction is that there is only one football to go around. The Eagles have four offensive players that I would describe as dynamic playmakers: DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin, Michael Vick and LeSean McCoy.
Plus other contributors like Brent Celek and Jason Avant.
If Bush joined the Eagles' offense, he would be another toy for Andy Reid and Marty Mornhingweg. They could line him up as a receiver or in the backfield, and he could be an asset on special teams. But given the amount of talent the Birds have at their offensive skill positions, I just don't think adding Bush would make sense. And I'm not sure he'd be too enthusiastic about the limited touches he'd likely get here, compared to other possible landing spots.
By the way, Bush is still under contract with the Saints.
The Birds drafted Dion Lewis in the fifth round of April's draft and still have Jerome Harrison, although he might be headed for unrestricted free agency, depending on what happens with the CBA.
At fullback, with Leonard Weaver unlikely to be in the mix for 2011, it looks like Owen Schmitt and seventh-round pick Stanley Havili will battle it out.
As for McCoy, I came across an interesting note from the crew at Football Outsiders. Before 2010, I remember McCoy describing how he worked on strengthening his lower body. FO took a look at which running backs were most successful in terms of breaking tackles last season, and McCoy came in third with 38, behind only Houston's Arian Foster and Tennessee's Chris Johnson. The stat took total touches into account (both running and receiving).
In terms of broken tackle rate, McCoy ranked 10th in the NFL at 13.3 percent. In 2009, McCoy had 24 broken tackles and a broken tackle rate of 12.3 percent.
As a team, only Tampa Bay was better than the Eagles at breaking tackles. In addition to McCoy, Vick was also very good at shaking off defenders, leading all quarterbacks with 20 broken tackles in 2010.
And finally, since it's rare for Bush's name to come up in an MTC post, I have an excuse to link to the clip below. Enjoy.
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