Philadelphia Eagles’ Top 10 Personnel Blunders From 2010
As we move closer to the NFL lockout being lifted and the start of the league year, we move closer to the huge gamble that is free agency, trades, and all the other fun things to follow from which the lockout has deprived us all.
After all of that — and this year, very shortly after all that — is training camps, the preseason, and the setting of the final roster and depth chart that every head coach in the league believes will win his team the Super Bowl.
So far, Philadelphia Eagles head coach Andy Reid has yet to taste such success, but it can’t be ignored that Reid is better than most when it comes to fielding the best team possible and being more competitive than a large majority of any of the head coaches in the history of the league.
But with every smart decision that pays off in the long-run, there are head-scratching decisions that leave us all wondering what exactly Reid was thinking. Every head coach has those questionable decisions, the key is keeping them to a minimum — which Reid has done. But it’s still worth pointing them out and wondering what could have been.
So, sticking with the offseason leading up to the 2010 season and the depth chart moves and personnel decisions made throughout the year, here are what I believe to be Reid’s biggest blunders from last season, in reverse order.
Honorable Mention: Trading Donovan McNabb to the Washington Redskins
The only reason this doesn’t make the list is because of the complete and total mishandling of McNabb by the Redskins. Had they put him in a position to succeed and not micromanaged him into the ground courtesy of the the petulant child Shanahan, this move could have bitten the Eagles hard.
But instead they collected a second-round pick that turned into Nate Allen, who appears to have a long career ahead of him as the team’s starting free safety, and a fourth-round pick in the most recent draft that, after trading down in the round, turned into Oregon linebacker Casey Matthews, who could challenge for a starting spot on the weakside immediately.
So this move gets an honorable mention because of the negative repercussions it could have had, but in the end it worked out for the Eagles since McNabb won’t even be a Redskin long once the league year finally starts.
10. Not giving Reggie Wells a chance to start over Nick Cole
Cole was downright putrid in 2010, and was awful filling in for Jamaal Jackson at center towards the end of 2009. In fact, his poor play was a big reason Donovan McNabb looked so unproductive in the Eagles’ last two losses of the season — both to the Dallas Cowboys — and was eventually traded.
But Cole was the starter at right guard in 2010 and, as I was, was putrid. He got injured during the Eagles’ Week 3 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars and was replaced by Wells who outplayed Cole in every aspect. Run blocking, pass blocking, the screen game, and anything and everything else you can imagine.
In fact, here’s what I wrote following that Week 3 game about Wells and Cole:
"“Outside of an injury, Nick Cole should not see the field again for the rest of the season. He is lazy, plays sloppy, has proven he’s not a starter, and will get Vick killed if he’s allowed to make one more start. Did anyone notice constant pressure up the middle once Reggie Wells made his way into the game? The answer is no, you didn’t.”"
Not giving Wells a shot to start was an enormous mistake, and then Wells was inactive for eight games, coming mostly at the end of the season. I’m not exactly sure why Reid loved Cole so much and why he refused to see that Wells was the more talented player, but it was definitely a huge miss.
9. Trading for, then releasing Antwan Barnes
The Eagles gave up a seventh-round pick to acquire Barnes from the Baltimore Ravens, even though Barnes was a pass-rushing outside linebacker in the 3-4 and not a 4-3 outside linebacker or defensive end. But per usual, the team felt as though they could use him wherever they’d like.
That was the first mistake.
Once Barnes was on the team and lining up with his hand in the ground, he actually seemed to get decent pressure when given the chance. It was beginning to look like the Eagles might have landed a solid rotation guy with some versatility for a bargain price.
But then after only appearing in two games, Barnes was cut, seemingly for no other reason than the front office wanted something to do.
Barnes would land in San Diego, back in the 3-4 where he belonged and, according to Pro Football Focus, would go on to be the sixth-most productive pass-rusher in the league in only 11 games with the Chargers.
8. Drafting Daniel Te’o-Nesheim in the third round
I’m not exactly sure what it is about Andy Reid and the third round, but he feels like he must reach once the second round is over.
In years past it’s been the likes of Tony Hunt, Chris Gocong, and Bryan Smith. Before the 2010 season, it was Washington defensive end Daniel Te’o-Nesheim, who had been graded as a sixth-or seventh-round pick by most scouts and analysts.
The film on TO, as he’s called around the team, looked pretty good. He seemed to have a quick first step and could beat any right tackle that was unable to get a hand on him immediately. However, in his rookie season, Te’o-Nesheim looked slow off the ball and just generally lost once the ball was snapped.
He would appear in only six games, collecting one sack, and will likely struggle to make the team heading into his sophomore season.
7. Trading for linebacker Ernie Sims
In 2006, Ernie Sims was the ninth overall draft pick to the Detroit Lions. Sims never produced like a top-10 draft pick — his best season, by far, coming in 2007 when he started all 16 games, recorded one sack, one interception, three forced fumbles, and 96 tackles — but he was playing in Detroit, after all.
Well, playing in Philadelphia didn’t help him pick his game up.
Sims was acquired for a fifth-round pick and immediately talked up as a “shark in the water” and a big hitter, but we didn’t see any of that at any point in the season and the defense struggled mightily because of it.
6. Sticking with Ernie Sims as the starting WILL linebacker
If trading for Sims was bad, then sticking with him as the starter on the weakside has to be even worse, doesn’t it?
It didn’t take long for Sims to show he had no business starting. He was fast, sure, but that speed was mostly used to run right past the play and take himself out of things entirely. And when he wasn’t running past the play, his small frame made it impossible for him to get off blocks or fight his way through the wash.
Sims is listed at 6’0, 230 pounds, but as a 6’0, 230 pound man myself who stood next to Sims at training camp, I can tell you there’s absolutely no way Sims is taller than 5’10 or 5’11 and is, at most, 220 pounds, if not lighter. He simply does not have the frame or the build to weigh 230 pounds and looked a whole lot more like a safety than he did a linebacker.
Sims finished the 2010 season with a career-high two sacks and five passes defended, along with one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, and a pathetic 48 tackles in 15 games. To put that in perspective, cornerback Asante Samuel finished with almost half that number — 22 tackles — in only 11 games.
With guys like Akeem Jordan and Omar Gaither — both former starters at WILL — ready to step in and play, sticking with Sims all season long is downright inexcusable.
5. No proven kick returner
The Eagles started the season with Ellis Hobbs returning kicks after giving safety Quintin Demps and wide receiver Chad Hall a shot at the job and watching both guys do very little. The team was clearly hoping one of them would take the job from Hobbs, but it didn’t happen and Demps found his way out of Philly entirely while Hall would wind up on the practice squad to start the season.
Hobbs has always been a decent return guy, but not someone with real home-run potential. Add on the fact that Hobbs was returning from a significant neck injury the year before, and was also the starting corner across from Asante Samuel, and it made no sense to have him as the guy returning kicks.
Once Hobbs went down with a hip pointer, and then later the neck injury that will likely end his career, the team was left scrambling looking for returners.
Jorrick Calvin, who was acquired in a trade before the season began, was given a shot and showed some explosiveness, but numbers on gameday forced him inactive a few times. The team even tried a former UFL guy in Gerard Lawson, who showed very little other than slightly above-average speed.
The kick return situation was reminiscent of 2007 when the team didn’t have a real punt returner, and dropped a Week 1 game to the Green Bay Packers because of it. Andy Reid has never given special teams the attention it deserves and the return and coverage games will continue to suffer — regardless of how many special teams coordinators he hires — until he takes that third of the game more seriously.
4. Not matching Tennessee Titans offer to Jason Babin
Despite ending the 2009 season with only 2.5 sacks, Jason Babin showed an ability to get to the quarterback and create pressure when given an opportunity. Babin, however, would become a restricted free agent after the season was over, and the Eagles decided to tender him at a level of Right of First Refusal, which meant only that they could match any offer presented to Babin by another team.
The Tennessee Titans stepped up and offered Babin a one-year deal worth $1 million, to which the Eagles scoffed and let Babin walk out the door.
A full season and 12.5 sacks later, it’s looking like Babin definitely would have been worth keeping. On top of the 12.5 sacks, Babin was also the 11th-most productive pass-rusher of the 2010 season, finishing one spot above Trent Cole.
The only reason this move isn’t higher on the list is because Babin did not fit Sean McDermott’s ridiculous scheme of making the ends play run first before getting to the quarterback, and Babin could be reunited with the guy who resurrected his career in Tennessee — new Eagles defensive line coach Jim Washburn.
3. Trading for defensive end Darryl Tapp
When the Eagles signed defensive end Chris Clemons before the 2008 season, it was called one of the best under-the-radar moves made during the offseason. However, two years and only seven sacks later, Clemons was sent to Seattle, along with a fourth-round pick, for defensive end Darryl Tapp.
Tapp would go on to appear in 14 games, but would rack up only three sacks on the season. Clemons, on the other hand, would collect an impressive 11 sacks as a starter with the Seahawks and finish as Pro Football Focus’ 13-most productive pass rusher in 2010.
Needless to say, the Eagles gave up far too much for Tapp and allowed a guy with Pro Bowl potential to realize it elsewhere. Again, Clemons appeared to be a victim of a flawed scheme in which pass-rushers were asked to play the run in a fashion similar to a 3-4 defensive end.
If you’re keeping track, over the course of one season, the Eagles had and lost the sixth-most, 11th-most, and 13th-most productive pass-rushers in the league. Is it any wonder the team is once again in the market for a defensive end?
2. Trading cornerback Sheldon Brown to Cleveland
A few weeks before the 2010 NFL draft, the Eagles jettisoned starting right cornerback Sheldon Brown, along with linebacker Chris Gocong, to the Cleveland Browns for linebacker/defensive end Alex Hall and a fourth-and fifth-round pick.
Hall was cut before the season even began, and the draft picks would turn into cornerback Trevard Lindley and defensive end/outside lineaback Ricky Sapp. Lindley looks like he has some potential and saw a little bit of time, but Sapp spent the entire season stashed away on the IR.
Even ignoring the fact that Rob Ryan was able to take Gocong and turn him into a fairly decent starter at inside linebacker, trading Brown without a worthy starter behind him was an awful move and a complete head-scratcher, even with Brown upset over his contract.
And as we saw, it came back to bite the Eagles hard. Hobbs did his best, and Dimitri Patterson was better than you would think despite all the talk, but there was a clear hole on the Eagles defense at right cornerback, and it’s suddenly become the team’s No. 1 priority once free agency begins.
Brown didn’t have the same type of year he had in 2009, but the Browns definitely got the better end of this deal as they unloaded a guy who was unlikely to make their roster, and snagged two starters for mid-round and late-round pick.
1. Starting the season with Kevin Kolb
Since day one, I have not been a fan of Kolb. At no point have I ever hid that fact, and not-so-lovingly refer to him as the “Houston Horror.” But, for one reason or another, Reid was convinced that Kolb could handle being the starting quarterback and sent the greatest quarterback in Eagles history on his way.
After a training camp where he was clearly outplayed by Michael Vick, and a preseason where he was outplayed by most high school quarterbacks, Kolb was a complete and total disaster in one half against the Green Bay Packers.
He was shaky in the pocket, indecisive, made some poor decisions, and was quick to try to leave the pocket even without pressure around him. As they say, he was hearing footsteps since the opening kickoff.
But as luck would have it for the future of the team, Kolb would be forced to leave the game at halftime, Vick lit up the field, and the rest is history. Vick started the rest of the season except when injured and when the Eagles had nothing left to play for in Week 17, was designated the Eagles franchise player, and Kolb is likely on his way to Arizona to join the Cardinals.
Kolb had never shown a thing to make anyone really paying attention confident that he could handle being a starting quarterback and, as far as I’m concerned he still hasn’t — just don’t tell the Cardinals.
Only dumb luck and Vick’s resurgence has saved this from being one of the worst decisions of Reid’s career. Had Kolb been able to stay healthy, Reid would have likely stuck with him all season long en route to a 6-10 finish and a rebuilding season in 2011 rather than just a free agent or two away from becoming legitimate Super Bowl contenders.
Starting the season with Kolb as the team’s starting quarterback was, without a doubt, the biggest personnel blunder of the 2010 season.