We never liked him anyway!

4 years, $37.5M with $23M fully guaranteed for new #Giants WR Golden Tate. https://t.co/peU1pxD4Og

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 14, 2019

Actually, I take it back. Golden Tate did some nice things here. The touchdown grab against the Bears will go down in Eagles history. I don’t harbor any ill will against him, I think I was more annoyed by the fact that the Eagles used a third round pick to trade for a slot receiver when they already had two slot receivers on the roster (Nelson Agholor and Jordan Matthews).

That’s also a good chunk of money for Golden Tate, who turns 31 in August, but I think he’ll do pretty well there, assuming Eli Manning dinks and dunks 3 yard crapola to him on the reg.

More importantly, this move helps the Eagles snag a compensatory pick as well, which I think would project to a fourth rounder. I’m not sure if the Giants are rebuilding or trying to win now, because this is a move that seems a little strange after committing to Eli but trading away Odell Beckham Jr.

#NewProfilePic pic.twitter.com/E3vnt3gutH

— Golden Tate (@ShowtimeTate) March 14, 2019

DeSean Jackson was 15 minutes late to his re-introductory press conference.

Welcome back, DeSean!

But it was a good presser, more than 17 minutes long. Good questions, good answers, and some interesting nuggets here and there.

Notes and quotes:

• Opening statement: blessing and a great opportunity, thankful to everyone in the Eagles front office for bringing him back.
• On how this deal went down, Jackson says he woke up on Monday and got a phone call from his agent, looked up on the TV, and saw he was being traded back to the Eagles.

On how he’s maintained his speed after all these years:

“Honestly, I credit that to hard work and the people I keep around me. I’ve built a team of guys and men that dedicated their lives to me since I was a young kid, five individuals that when I was 12, 8 years old, I could just remember them calling me, saying ‘get up, instead of hanging out with your friends we’re gonna go to this park, we’re gonna train.’ I was able to keep that regimen, still to this day. People would always give me a hard time, like ‘you never lift weights’. I would lift enough, but instead of lifting weights I’m standing on the track field.”

More after the jump:

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Look at Reuben Frank with the scoop here.

Scoop-a-Delphia:

The Eagles signed seven-year veteran LB L.J. Fort, who has played for the Browns, Bengals, Seahawks and Steelers, mainly as a backup and special teamer.

Fort got a $875,000 signing bonus and base salaries of $1.025 million in 2019 and $1.5 million in 2020 and 2021.

— Reuben Frank (@RoobNBCS) March 14, 2019

Fort actually had what you could probably describe as a career year in 2018. He appeared in 15 games, logging 48 tackles and a sack with three quarterback hits. That was over the course of 305 snaps, which accounted for about 29% of the available defensive plays.

He really shined on special teams, where he played 73% of the snaps, which was more than any other player on the Steelers’ roster. I’d think of him as a LaRoy Reynolds type of contributor, but with much more of a chance to get defensive snaps and compete for a bigger role alongside Kamu Grugier-Hill and Nate Gerry.

Fort is 29 years old and spent the last four seasons in Pittsburgh.

The Eagles did not get Tevin Coleman.

He went to San Francisco on a two-year deal worth $10 million, which is somewhat strange to me, because I felt like he could have earned more years and more money from somebody else.

But whatever. He’s off the board. Le’Veon Bell is off the board, as is Mark Ingram, while Jay Ajayi reportedly takes a trip to Indianapolis. Latavius Murray is a Saint.

So who’s left?

Some thoughts:

Free agents

There are a couple of decent guys still available, though I wouldn’t describe the market as “robust.”

T.J. Yeldon

25 years old, he’s coming off a season where he ran the ball 104 times for 414 yards while catching a 55 passes for 487 yards and 4 touchdowns. The rushing numbers weren’t impressive, but those receiving stats were all career highs.

He’s a decent player, he’s still young, and he’s not going to cost too much. You can do worse than taking a look at Yeldon if you’re committed to adding a complementary piece in the draft, then letting Wendell Smallwood or Josh Adams fill out your stable as the third guy. The Eagles’ offense is predicated on passing, and that’s where most of their money is tied up. They historically have not spent much on the running back position.

Spencer Ware

Hamstring injuries last year limited the 27 year old to 51 carries. He also missed the entirety of 2017.

But if you can reprise a 2016 in which he ran the ball 214 times for 921 yards and 6 touchdowns, maybe it’s worth a flier here. He’s also a good pass catcher and averages 11.5 yards per reception over the course of his career.

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Schefter:

49ers signing Tevin Coleman to a two-year, $10 million deal, per source.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 13, 2019

Is…

Is that it? Five million per on a two year deal? Surely the Eagles could have met that or done better. I wonder what’s going on here.

Unless you want to explore the running back position in the draft, you could make a run at Spencer Ware, T.J. Yeldon, or Alex Collins, or go the trade route with a Jordan Howard or Duke Johnson. You could bring back Jay Ajayi or even Darren Sproles.

In other news, Rapopoport says this:

Source: #Eagles CB Ronald Darby is expected to visit the #Chiefs tonight. If all goes well, he could sign considering the serious interest.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 13, 2019

NFL free agency, it’s about 40 million times more exciting than MLB free agency.

Happy new NFL calendar year.

The Eagles kicked things off by introducing defensive tackle Malik Jackson to the media this afternoon.

Jackson comes to Philly on a reported three year deal worth $30 million total and will slide in next to Fletcher Cox as a replacement for Tim Jernigan and Haloti Ngata.

Some notes and quotes from the Pro Bowler’s press conference:

• He started by thanking the Eagles for bringing him to Philadelphia, very excited to get started.
• He was wearing his high school letterman jacket (Birmingham H.S. in the Los Angeles area).
• He described the offseason period as “nerve wracking,” but once the Eagles called he felt like he had another chance to get out and prove himself. “It was an easy decision.”
• It was more challenging trying to prove his offseason value to other teams due to his benching in Jacksonville.

Jackson on why he was benched:

“You’d have to ask the coaches man. They said I wasn’t playing the run too good, that’s all I really heard. But if you’re asking me, coming off the Pro Bowl year, the year before, I don’t think that’s a valid excuse. But like I said, I’m not the coach. I just play.

I think I played good against the run, to be honest with you. But like I said, I just play. It’s up to them to make the decisions and it just is what it is.”

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