The trade deadline has now passed in the NFL meaning that any speculation, rumours and hearsay are now irrelevant as the team turn their attention to Dallas. But whilst there were no trades from Philly’s side, there are three big things to take away from today.
3) Vinny Curry is staying put
This seems to be a regular occurrence. Every season, we hit the week or two before the trade deadline and rumours start to surface about the Eagles shopping Vinny Curry. It happened during pre-season and it happened last off-season but the bottom line is this. Vinny Curry is going nowhere. It’s easy to see why the rumors continue to emerge due to his lack of playing time and drop in performance, but Chip obviously sees something in the 27 year old. That or is just smart knowing that his rookie contract comes to an end after this season..
2) The Eagles are fighting fit
For only the second time this season, the Eagles appear to have a full squad again. Now confirmation will come tomorrow when the teams first injury report is released but Kiko Alonso, Mychal Kendricks, Nelson Agholor, Jason Peters and Ryan Mathews ALL practiced fully today. A couple of these guys may not see action on Sunday, only time will tell and as we said we need official confirmation before we begin to report on just how healthy the team are..but the bye week certainly arrived at the perfect time. The team now head into their primetime showdown with Dallas very strong in terms of depth.
1) Chip has faith
Perhaps the biggest thing we learned was that Chip Kelly has faith in his players. From Kaepernick to Golden Tate, Joe Thomas to Mike Wallace, there was no shortage of talent available and rumours flying this week. It would have been easy for Chip Kelly to sign a veteran wideout or a free agent with a relatively high ceiling in any position..but he didn’t. Why? He believes in the teams ability. This Offense is an incredibly complex thing to learn and bringing in a receiver mid-season just doesn’t make much sense if you intend on starting him…the same goes for a Quarterback only perhaps it’s even more important.
The flaws are evident but Kelly is aware of them. However he isn’t willing to create more by upsetting team harmony or moving players down the depth chart for inexperienced new pieces in this kind of scheme. It’s quick to criticise Chip Kelly but it’s probably best for everyone that he didn’t go crazy in trading this week..
