Welcome to The Linc, the daily Philadelphia Eagles links roundup at Bleeding Green Nation!
I don’t buy that the Eagles won’t trade Moro Ojomo and actually plan to re-sign him instead. This reporting reads to me like Howie Roseman outwardly maintaining that stance in hopes that other teams will increase their offers for the impending free agent defensive tackle.
Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles news and links …
Albert Breer: How Two Former Roommates Put the Jeffery Simmons Trade Together – SI
Philadelphia Eagles — The Eagles have gotten calls on DT Moro Ojomo, a rising star in a contract year. And that makes sense, given that the team has already paid Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis at his position. Still, the team has told others that Ojomo is not available, and has at least given off the vibe that it’ll try to re-sign him, despite having Carter and Davis already on big deals. That said, other contract-year players like Hollywood Brown, Tariq Woolen and Dallas Goedert could be had. A Saquon Barkley trade seems less likely, especially with Barkley banged up.
Eagles Injury Report: Saquon Barkley among key players missing from practice again – BGN
Barkley is tracking to miss Sunday’s game. If he can’t play, the Eagles are left with one healthy running back on the active roster: Jaydon Blue. Blue was called up from the practice squad on Wednesday. Playing for the Dallas Cowboys as a rookie last season, Blue logged 38 carries for 129 rushing yards (3.4 average) in addition to one reception for five receiving yards. The Eagles also have Elijah Mitchell, whom the team temporarily elevated to be available to play in Week 7, on the practice squad. Jaydon Blue and Elijah Mitchell. Not exactly the most inspiring backfield for the Eagles to work with!
Fantasy football start/sit advice for Week 8 at QB, RB, WR, TE – SB Nation
Start — Dallas Goedert, Eagles vs. Commanders — The Eagles are hard to trust, but Goedert gets an excellent matchup here against the Commanders. On the season they’ve allowed the second-most touchdowns, the fifth-most yards and the second-most fantasy points to the position. In Week 1 Goedert caught 4-of-5 targets for 77 yards and two touchdowns against this same team. That was with Jalen Hurts of course, but Tanner McKee is targeting Goedert, as he has 17 receptions over their last three games. Unfortunately those receptions haven’t led to a lot of fantasy scoring, but this week I like his chances to find the end zone.
Eagles-Commanders preview: 5 things to watch – PhillyVoice
At center, the Commanders cut Tyler Biadasz this summer. Biadasz certainly wasn’t a world-beater but was a solid enough starting center. They then moved Nick Allegretti to center, full-time. Allegretti wasn’t really even a good guard (or a starting one at that), and yet the Commanders opted to put more responsibility on his plate. That was ill-advised. Allegretti missed time during training camp, played poorly during the regular season, and has since been replaced by 33-year-old Lucas Patrick. At RT, 2025 first-round pick Josh Conerly has cut down significantly on his sacks allowed. He has been an improved player. Sam Cosmi is a good RG. This is a bad offensive line, but it might not matter since the Eagles have failed to pressure opposing quarterbacks. As noted above, they have just 8 sacks as a team. Only one team has fewer.
Game Review – DAL 38, PHI 21 – Iggles Blitz
Tanner McKee seemed more confident and aggressive. The coaches had a better gameplan for him and it gave McKee a better chance of being successful. He should continue to improve as he gets more experience. If he plays the rest of the season we should have a good idea of whether he’s worth bringing back to be the backup QB. I know the current version of him isn’t a guy you’d want, but I do think he’ll get better. As far as him ever developing into a future starter, I think that ship has sailed. My biggest frustration with him on Monday night was decision-making and accuracy. There were times when he had good opportunities available and went elsewhere. Worse was him missing some open guys. McKee must get better with his footwork and mechanics to improve his accuracy. He also needs to be smarter about situational football. McKee did draw defenders offside on two plays.
NFL Week 8 preview: Picks, predictions, schedule, betting odds, fantasy tips – ESPN
Betting insight: Since 2000, home favorites off a bye are 1-9-1 ATS against teams on short rest after Monday night. Washington’s defense gives Philadelphia a chance despite the injuries. McKee keeps finding Dallas Goedert, and the Commanders struggle against TEs. They also allow touchdowns on 81.8% of red zone trips. I don’t trust Washington to pull away from this depleted Eagles offense.
Saquon Barkley on the trade block? What an Eagles sell-off could look like – The Athletic
Buyer’s perspective: A running back who is approaching 30 is risky, even one as good as Barkley, who has dealt with injuries this season. His production may have peaked in 2024, during his 2,000-yard season. Still, Barkley’s contract mitigates some of the risk for a potential buyer. He only has $2.5 million guaranteed in 2027. A buyer could view Barkley as a rental for the rest of this year, then cut him in the offseason before his option bonus is due Sept. 1. If Barkley is healthy, he could be a difference-maker for a contender that needs backfield help. The Vikings are one possible team. […] Seller’s perspective: Trading Barkley guts the locker room of its most (available) influential voice on offense. That’s worth considering for a team trying to identify its next generation of leaders. However, Barkley is battling the health challenges he wanted to defy at age 29. Barkley’s stinger, hamstring and back injuries raise red flags. If the Eagles trade Barkley, they can avoid $52.4 million tied up in future option bonuses. Do the Eagles think Barkley’s production in 2027 and 2028 will be more valuable than the investments they could make otherwise?
So the idea that Sirianni is safe just because of his stellar record doesn’t hold up to scrutiny, especially since two of those years felt like wasted chances in Philadelphia. And don’t forget, there was some thought he might have been in danger after the Eagles’ first-round exit last year. “They don’t tolerate failure there,” the NFL executive told me. “It feels like every year they don’t win a title, they’re at least thinking about firing their coach. And if you’re about to start over anyway, this might be the perfect time to change it all.” “I never got the impression that they loved him there anyway,” the scout added. “You can’t argue with winning, though. But once that’s gone, all bets are off.”
NFL Week 8 picks: Upset and score predictions, matchup breakdowns for every game – NFL.com
Why Dan picked the Commanders: Things are getting worse at a troubling clip for Nick Sirianni’s Eagles, who were once 2-0. They have the league’s second-longest active losing streak (five games) and a -745 differential in total yards (second-worst in the NFL and worst by the Eagles through seven games since 1999). Yes, they have entered worst of the century levels of bad, at least by their standards. The Commanders didn’t win in October, either, but they enjoy a significant rest advantage entering Week 8. Washington is coming off a bye, while Philadelphia is playing on a short week after being blown out by the Cowboys on Monday night. Dan Quinn should have ample time to get his players ready to kick a division rival when it’s down. Then again, the following from NFL Research makes me wonder if the Commanders can get out of their own way: Jayden Daniels is the eighth player in NFL history to have five or more touchdown passes, at least two rushing TDs and zero interceptions in his first four games of a season. Somehow, not only is Daniels the only member of that exclusive club without a winning record in that span, but he didn’t notch a single win in those starts (0-3-1). He’s too talented to allow this to continue against a defense that appears to be fading fast.
I won’t make excuses for what we saw Monday night, but I believe I do know the big difference between the Cowboys and the Eagles, despite their equal records heading into that game. Dallas was a healthy, talented team that was losing by screwing around, the way the Eagles played the first two weeks, without the late-game salvation. The Cowboys knew they could still save their season. All they had to do was get their heads out of their hindquarters and run the ball behind an excellent offensive line, to take some pressure off a wifty defense. Dallas has the most healthy talent in the NFC East. I think deep down, the Eagles know their season died when Johnson retired and Hurts’ blood clots traveled to his lungs, shutting him down for at least three months. Could they still dig deep, try to win a bad division at 8-9 or 9-8? Theoretically, yes. But this isn’t Miami or Arizona. The Eagles have been to three Super Bowls in the last decade. Nobody is going to get excited over squeaking into the postseason and getting hammered in the Wild Card round. Nick Sirianni, Fangio and the rest of the Eagles’ coaching staff face a huge challenge here. We have seen losing seasons, awful seasons once in a while, but this much despair with 10 games left to play? I don’t think it has been quite like this with most of the leaves still turning — at least, not in this century.
After rocky start, Markel Bell gradually finding his way as Eagles’ right tackle – NBCSP
When you’re 21 years old and you play offensive tackle and you show up for your first NFL practice and see Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson at your position, you realize immediately what elite offensive line play looks like. And you can’t help but want to get to there as well. “Yeah, I think it’s a great goal to try to aim for, you know,” Markel Bell said. “Jordan’s one of a heck of a player and Lane, now he’s retired but he was, too. And so I’m not trying to fill anybody’s shoes, but I am trying to be one of the best in this league.” Bell, the Eagles’ rookie 3rd-round pick from Miami, will make his fifth career start Sunday night at FedEx Field against Washington. When he replaced Johnson for the Rams game at 22 years, 62 days old, Bell became the Eagles’ youngest starting offensive tackle since Lum Snyder made his first start at 22 years, 47 days, in the 1952 opener at Pittsburgh.
Spadaro: As adversity hits, new voices emerge in Eagles locker room – PhiladelphiaEagles.com
For a team struggling to find its footing, hearing Dickerson – playing for the first time since Week 1 – pour himself out to the world was telling. And just around the corner of the locker room, Barkley did the same thing after leaving everything on the field, playing through injuries to help the Eagles’ offense. This is what leaders do. And this is how a team in need of some victories takes the path back to the win column. “I’m not really a big talker, to be honest,” Barkley said after he rushed for 62 yards and a touchdown on seven carries and caught two passes for nine yards, touching the ball on each of the nine official snaps he played in the game (his 10th snap, a rushing attempt that gained yards, was called back because of a penalty). Felt like the moment was right. I just, how I look at life, I feel like you just never quit. You never give up. You just keep fighting, no matter what, whatever the situation is, how it looks. And I feel like that we have the men in the locker room to do it. We put ourselves in this situation. We’ve got to get ourselves out of it. I know that I’ve got to take more of a role of being vocal, using my voice. I’m more of a lead-by-example type of guy, but it happens when you have guys banged up.”
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Report: NFL flexes referee Alex Moore’s crew out of prime time – PFT
The NFL, for reasons still neither known nor apparent, opted not to flex the game between the 2-5 Eagles and 1-4-1 Commanders out of prime time, despite multiple other compelling Sunday afternoon games. The league did, however, flex the officiating crew out of the Sunday night game. Via Football Zebras, Alex Moore’s crew has been moved from Eagles-Commanders to Patriots-Dolphins. Shawn Hochuli’s crew will work the Sunday night game. The report, citing unnamed officiating sources, says that the change is “more about optics rather than a disciplinary action.”
Pederson admits that it “surprises me” that Vick and Jackson got into coaching, since neither expressed interest previously as players when he coached in Philly. The 58-year-old added that the way they “helped their teammates, very unselfish like” could have led them into the coaching business. “I’ve asked players that have had great careers, ‘Do you want to get into coaching? And they’re like, ‘Oh heck, no! I never get into coach, you know, type of thing,'” Pederson told The Inquirer by phone. “That’s why it’s kind of exciting for two guys that have had great careers [to] get into coaching and kind of pouring back into young men. That’s the exciting part.” Pederson got to know Vick intimately by being his position coach for two seasons, a period of time in which the former Eagles quarterback started 23 games. The former coach described his QB as “very quiet in his approach,” but was quick to add that Vick’s “actions on the field speak louder.”
Patriots coaches not ringing alarm bells over A.J. Brown – Pats Pulpit
A.J. Brown’s career with the New England Patriots is off to an underwhelming start. Despite him missing four weeks due to a high ankle sprain, averaging only three catches per game, and being a no-show at practice on Thursday, however, his coaches are not willing to sound the alarm. Quite the opposite is the case. The Patriots remain high on the 29-year-old. “It’s been a small sample size for A.J,” said wide receivers coach Todd Downing on Thursday. “I think there’s been a lot made about a couple of weeks. My hope, and his hope, and everybody’s hope is that he gets a little bit of traction. I’m not worried about where A.J. is at at all. Certainly haven’t had the results that we had hoped for, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t right around the corner.”
NY Giants offensive review: Kudos, Wet Willies, and thoughts on every player – Big Blue View
J.J. McCarthy — I am not wading into the “should there be a Dart vs. McCarthy competition next season?” debate. The view here is simple: McCarthy has played five quarters. Dart is the franchise guy, and McCarthy hasn’t done nearly enough to make that a discussion worth having at 1925 Giants Drive. Could it become a discussion? Sure. But not yet. It is going to take A LOT for me to be convinced the Giants will do anything this offseason other than try to flip McCarthy for more draft assets than the fifth-round pick they used to acquire him. All of that said, McCarthy has played well. He has shown tremendous arm talent. He has displayed maturity and likability. He gives the Giants a chance to run the offense the way they designed it. Getting a good season of play from McCarthy, then dealing him for more draft capital than they used to acquire McCarthy would be an outstanding outcome.
Cowboys point/counterpoint: Time to build on success – Blogging The Boys
It certainly feels better to be celebrating a Cowboys win this week, but the time for that is over. As was discussed extensively going into Monday night, it was already something of a make-or-break game for both teams. While Dallas kept hope alive to overtake the New York Giants for the division, it was absolutely against a badly wounded Eagles squad. And it will only mean something if the Cowboys continue their winning ways.
Commanders vs. Eagles Thursday injury report: Javon Kinlaw still out – Hogs Haven
It sure looks like the Commanders are going to play Sunday night’s game without Javon Kinlaw. The defensive tackle missed his second practice of the week while dealing with a knee injury. That’s a big deal, considering his impact on the Commanders interior defensive line to this point. There’s always hope that he can recover in time to play the Eagles, and Charles Omenihu’s return to practice activity theoretically offers some depth if Kinlaw can’t go.
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