http://www.yardbarker.com/content/player/3355 Recent articles about Matt Schobel en-us Last year a Chicago Bears fan decided to film his experience at a Bears Eagles game in Philadelphia. The basic idea of the video, is to really see if he would get killed by Eagles fans wearing a Brian Urlacher jersey at the Linc. The home made film starts off bashing Eagles fans, and basically listing off [...] Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:39:19 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/284804 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/284804 Well not only is he not very good, failing to make the roster year after year, but apparently he isn't very smart either. Instead of sticking with WR, a position he ought to know inside and out, he is switching to TE. Don't we have enough TE's on the roster that will definitely make the team over him? read on... Thu, 29 May 2008 05:40:45 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/272018 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/272018 Offense comes back strong: Donovan McNabb: Finished season healthy on a 3 game win streak and has all offseason to practice and not rehab. Brian Westbrook: Self explanatory, the man is unreal. Wide Receivers: Some say we did not address this position well. I still believe that we will make a trade similar to the Donte Stallworth deal 2 years ago. We have to get someone. If not we will rely on Curtis who has one season of experience with McNabb under his belt, and Reggie Brown to try to break out this year as last year was a disappointment to Eagles fans. Tight Ends: LJ Smith is back off injury and provides a big play spark. Celek looked good when he got the chance and was able to make plays. Schobel's future could be somewhere else next season. Offensive Line: Good as long as they all stay healthy. I think Max Jean-Gilles is ready for the pro's and if someone goes down he can step up. Defense will succeed: Trent Cole: Great pass rusher coming off the edge to put pressure on QB's. Patterson & Bunkley: With another year of experience these two should be a great tandem in 2008-2009. Patterson was 3rd in tackles of all defensive tackles last year behind the 2nd place tackler by 1. As long as he is not suspended he should be a huge factor. Brown & Sheppard: Sheldon will be back on attack again this year! No one knows what will happen to Sheppard but he will either play great on the field or bring us a great player in return, or a pick in next years draft. Linebackers: Jim Johnson thinks he has finally found that young, talented, smart group of guys who will play great next year and mesh through the next 10 years together. I feel confident with Gaither, Bradley, and Gocong starting and Akeem Jordan rotating in to add some speed and energy to the defense. Gocong and Gaither both started last year and can provide leadership for the other 2 young guys. Dawkins & Mikell: Brian Dawkins wasn't in football shape last year because he had to tend to his wife while she gave birth. Dawkins will be working hard this year and get himself ready properly for the season. As for Mikell, well he has to stay motivated throughout camp to keep his job and I believe he will do just that. Now for the new guys: Asante Samuel: Best in the business. Leads the NFL with 16 interceptions over the last two seasons. Who can forget the two interceptions and a touchdown he put up against us last year? Chris Clemons: Tallied a career best 8 sacks for the Oakland Raiders last year. Now he comes to a better defense and has the luxury of playing on the opposite side of Trent Cole, one of the NFL's best pass rushers. Klecko & Wilson: Dan Klecko is switching his position from defensive line to fullback for the Eagles and Kris Wilson is going to provide an athletic talent at the tight end position although he played full back in Kansas City at times. He had a leg injury which set back his career but healthy, this kid can make plays. Lorenzo Booker: Fast. Quick. Playmaker. All words to describe the versatile 2nd year running back out of Florida State. The Eagles had interest in him during last year's draft and after seeing what he could do in the pro's, they traded their 4th round pick aquired from Carolina for him. He should provide matchup problems while on the field with Brian Westbrook. Jackson & Laws: Desean Jackson was a tremendous kick returner at the University of California. He returned 6 kicks in his college career and had a good receiving career too. He provides speed for the offense and is a game breaker on special teams similar to the ability that Devin Hester provides for the Bears. Not to say that Jackson is going to have the impact Hester has but he will do better then Reno Mahe because I'm sure you have all seen his return against Tennessee last year! Trevor Laws had 112 tackles his senior season on a God awful Notre Dame team. He stood out on the defensive line and will provide depth for the Eagles. When he gets in he will be able to make plays and do what is asked of him. With the team healthy and the new additions, the Eagles should soar in 2008! Sat, 10 May 2008 22:30:48 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/265594 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/265594 The answer: likely the newest Eagle. Kris Wilson is visiting the Eagles today, and the team has announced they will hold a press conference at 3 pm today, where they will likely discuss their signing of the free agent. According to PhiladelphiaEagles.com, Wilson is a tight end, H-back and fullback. He is a local kid, from Lancaster, who spent the last four seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs. He is coming off his best season in 2007, where he started 12 games, and caught 24 passes for 180 yards. He played a lot of fullback last season for the Chiefs and even had 3 carries for 7 yards. He also has 4 career touchdown receptions. Includes a short highlight of Wilson plowing through the Titans defense to score a touchdown. Update: The deal is confirmed, and will likely be for three years. Wed, 26 Mar 2008 11:40:33 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/218880 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/218880 With the exception of the recently franchised Dallas Clark, L.J. Smith was the best available tight end on this year's free agent market. Had the Eagles let L.J. go rather than using their own franchise tag, he most certainly would have been another team's important offseason acquisition. L.J.'s ceiling is high, (an expression I hate but need to use for the purpose of this clever joke!) but only to house the plethora of question marks that surround him. Once upon a time when he was backing up fan-favorite Chad Lewis, L.J. showed us flashes of greatness and appeared to be the definite future at tight end. In 2004, L.J. represented 5 of the 8 touchdowns that came from the tight end position, all but signaling the end of the Chad Lewis era in Philadelphia. When I posted the short report of L.J. re-signing with the Eagles a few weeks ago, one reader took exception to my comment about the tight end's fumbling problem, noting that "L.J. has only fumbled 3 times in 5 years." While this low number of fumbles does appear to contradict my statement, it does not take into account his two playoff fumbles, one of which being a very costly one in the Eagles trip to the Super Bowl following the '04 season. L.J. Smith's biggest problem is, indeed, his inability to secure the ball. This problem has resulted in too many wasted opportunities and shortened drives, and now that L.J. will be one of the top-five highest paid tight ends, this is a problem that needs to be fixed. When compared to some of the other elite NFL tight ends, Smith's fumbling problem does appear "chronic." To see a list of some of the top tight ends and their respective fumbling totals, refer to comment #14 in the previous L.J. article. Enough about Mr. Smith, let's move on. Brent Celek will be poised to have a productive sophomore season. When you've finished taking time to view the odd alliteration in the previous sentence, consider that eight of Celek's sixteen catches (including two 29-yarders and a redzone TD) came in the final three games of the season when he was given extended playing time. Hopefully maturity and more tick will result in Celek giving the Eagles a new and improved two-tight end package. Celek's 6′4, 255 lb. frame makes him a big target in the redzone, and you've got to believe that with one NFL season under his belt, Celek could provide some sort of cure to the Eagles' woes inside the 20. Matt Schobel, a free-agent acquisition two years ago, has done little of anything in his tenure with the team. He managed to pull down only 11 catches for 108 yards (1 TD) in 2007, despite playing in 15 games. There is not much to say about Schobel, other than I hope to see Celek take most his playing time away. The tight end position will be an important one for the Eagles in 2008 because of their redzone problems, Donovan McNabb's ability to spread the ball around, and the Eagles occasional philosophy of using the umpire to set a screen for the tight end in the middle of the field. Another wide receiver would greatly aid L.J. Smith's and Brent Celek's ability to get open by taking more focus off of them. The Eagles' most productive season in recent history from the tight end position was 2004 (as stated above), when they had their number one receiver who enjoys a good cry. Best case scenario? L.J. has his breakout season that we've all been waiting for, while Celek develops and enables the Eagles to wreak havoc in two-tight end sets. Worst case scenario? The tight end position is every bit as irrelevant as it was in 2007. Wed, 20 Feb 2008 19:56:39 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/154680 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/154680 Another one of FIO's weekly fantasy football columns, staff writer John Ward discusses some of the key match-ups to look at for Week 4 by looking at season stats and past success. Check this article each and every week on Thursdays. Fri, 28 Sep 2007 23:23:35 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/28932 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/28932 Philadelphia Eagles vs Carolina Panthers Highlights Thu, 30 Aug 2007 13:27:55 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/25375 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/25375