It’s been a long week, but we have a nice dress rehearsal to look forward to tomorrow night.
You know the drill. Previous versions of 10 Things are here, here, here, here, here, and here, respectively. (Excuse me for a second while I catch my breath). The tweets are here.
Let’s hit it with a new 10 Things.
- LeGarrette Blount could get cut, but a real reporter will have to suggest it. Lombardo has the same number of sources as my grandmother.
This story kind of came out of nowhere all because of a random article on shitty NJ.com Sunday that cited zero sources.
Here’s the thing: There’s a chance Blount gets cut. There’s a chance anyone gets cut, but I won’t believe it until a credible writer mentions it. Lombardo is trash.
I’m convinced that as of two years ago, he didn’t know Jerry Jones actually makes personnel decisions for the Cowboys.
He’s trash.
If Blount somehow gets cut, I’ll take the L. It won’t be as many as Lombardo has taken over the years.
2. Speaking of real reporters, what a joy it will be to have @SheilKapadia doing Eagles coverage again. He and Tim were the absolute best.
Kapadia is the complete opposite of Lombardo. He’s a good writer, respectful and appreciative of his readers, and writes to inform versus clickbait bullshit.
I was thrilled to hear the news earlier that he’s coming home to write for The Athletic after a few years out in Seattle.
3. 18 days away, and I’m still not sure who the kick returner will be. Can you put Wendell Smallwood back there with how injury prone he is?
You may remember that Smallwood took a kickoff to the house in Landover last season. He’s the natural choice to be back there in the must-win first game, yet at the same time, Dave Fipp has a tough decision on his hand here.
Smallwood reminds me of Correll Buckhalter — Very talented and a good asset when healthy but incredibly fragile.
If the Eagles are going to rely on him a decent amount in the running game, can you risk him taking a few extra hits per game? I’m leaning towards giving it a try, but there’s a lot of factors to consider.
4. One Eagle who has not had a good camp but who I really want on the team is Chance Warmack. Give him a year with coach Jeff Stoutland.
Warmack was part of the historically bad 2013 first round, taken six spots after Lane Johnson. His career has largely been a disappointment to date, yet at the same time, I was really excited about this free agent signing when it happened.
It’s the perfect low risk, high reward type of signing, and with his college position coach working with him again, it’s not out of the question for him to turn around his career.
I’d keep him as a backup offensive lineman along with Wisniewski, Vaitai, and Dillon Gordon.
5. It’s way, way, way, too early to label Donnel Pumphrey a bust but the more I think about it, a redshirt year on IR could do him some good
Pump the breaks on any declarative statements here. We need to remember that Pumphrey has only been here for four months and is making a big transition from San Diego State to the NFL.
Not just in terms of game speed and better defensive players but weight-lifting, training, everything. Needless to say, the results haven’t been great so far, but that doesn’t mean he won’t have an NFL role. It just means he needs time.
As much as I wanted to see him and Darren Sproles on the field together, the better solution might be to throw him on IR for a year as a redshirt season.
6. Isaac Seamulo will be a player to have an incredibly close eye on Week 1. Probably the biggest wildcard on the offensive line.
The Eagles really like the second round player — so much that they’ve traded two veterans in Alan Barbre and Matt Tobin this summer. The latter two are a dime a dozen, yet on a — maybe overrated but — overall decent offensive line, Seamulo is the one wildcard.
Let’s hope he’s better than Halapoulivaati Vaitai was in his debut last year, also coincidentally in Landover.
7. Ronald Darby — I love what I see. Let’s just hope his real debut is better than Byron Maxwell’s 2015 disaster in Atlanta covering Julio.
Darby put on a serious show last Thursday with a big pass breakup and interception. He looks like the real deal.
Still, we’ve been let down by corners so often where I can’t help but think back to Opening Night in 2015 when Julio Jones lit Byron Maxwell up for nine catches, 141 yards, and two touchdowns.
Between Terrelle Pryor, Tyreek Hill, and Odell Beckham Jr. in the first three weeks, Darby will for sure earn his bread early.
8. Sam Darnold is the best QB prospect in a half a decade and many teams should tank for him. Not the Eagles though. They’ve got it covered😎
A rough list of teams who should be interested in the USC quarterback: Redskins, Vikings, Bears, 49ers, Cardinals, Rams, Jets, Bills, Dolphins, Browns, Jaguars, Broncos
That’s more than a third of the league. Darnold is that good and my favorite quarterback prospect since Andrew Luck.
Related to the Eagles though, this goes back to the spring 2016 thinking that a lot of teams (Giants, Saints, at some point Packers) will be looking for new quarterbacks over the next half decade.
Howie Roseman tried to get ahead of that trend with the trade up for Wentz.
9. Hey @NFoles_9 do you remember when we were sitting there by the water? You put your arm around me for the first time. Get well soon, bud.
Sad I’m not gonna see Nicky tomorrow after waiting so long for it.
Get healthy for the regular season, buddy. We need you.
10. I love listening to WIP this time of year. The callers just bring it, and sure, some opinions can get weird, but I respect it hard core.
There’s good and bad to sports radio, and a lot of the arguments get old and tiresome in a hurry.
It’s not without its flaws (loud mouth hosts, hot takes off-topic discussions that have nothing to do with sports) and is best consumed in small doses. That said, I love it this time of year and try to listen at work every morning.
You start to know a lot of the callers by name. Eagles Shirley, Chuck, Levi, even Cowboy Dave.
The enthusiasm is unparalleled and gets me pumped listening. Any haters should give it a shot.
18 Days until kickoff in Landover. Know someone who might enjoy this post? I would enjoy if you shared it with them. 🏈💚

