Eagles Position Coaches Upclose At NFL Combine

I spent the weekend with the 35 linebackers, who are likely to be selected in this year’s NFL Draft.  My job along with another former NFL linebacker, Ed Reynolds, was to talk to the group of young linebackers about being a professional.  We interacted with them and talked to them about displaying the character and self-responsibility, which will help them succeed in the NFL.

I was down on the field of Lucas Oil Stadium and I got the chance to get a look at the young players up close as well as the coaches and scouts.  I checked out the workouts of Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston, as well as the interaction between the two youngsters.

The NFL Combine is a madhouse with everybody scurrying back and forth from the stadium to the hotel in order to get all of the information they can on the prospects.  The players are tested physically and psychologically.  Some of the kids were asking me, “Why are they asking us all these crazy questions”.

These youngsters are millennials, who don’t return phone calls, they only return text messages.

I had some fun with UCLA linebacker Eric Kendricks.  I kidded him about his brother, Mychal, who he has been competing with since he was a toddler.  During the workout, Eric came to me and said, “Take that Mychal”, after he jumped 38″.  Eric is a lot like his brother.  He’s a very good athlete, but he’s a bit undersized.  Like his brother, he’s a playmaker with a great feel for the game.

I met Bryce Hager, who is Brett Hager’s son.  Of course Brett used to play linebacker with the Birds and I could see the sound fundamentals in his son.  The youngster’s a very good athlete, who will be able to be the signal caller for a defense in the NFL.

It seems the Eagles organization has put more weight on their coaching staff in making player evaluations.  At the NFL Combine this past weekend, Eagles position coaches were down on the field checking out their position players up close.

Eagles outside linebackers coach Rick Minter was down on the field with me and the linebackers as they ran their 40 yard dashes, did the broad jump, vertical jump, agility and pass dropping drills.  He wasn’t missing a thing as he got as close as he could to the young backers.

Offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland could have been working out the offensive linemen himself.  He was looking at things from a coaches perspective, right up on the action.  Being on the field gives a coach the chance to hear what the players are saying as they workout.

A coach can get the chance to see and hear who has leadership qualities and which players are complainers.

From a draft strategy standpoint, I could see the Birds selecting an offensive lineman or two in this draft.  It would make sense for them get a young offensive lineman who could start out at guard and move to tackle a few years down the road when Jason Peters calls it quits.