Looks like King Dunlap is going to make his first start at left guard on Sunday. Which is interesting. Dunlap has never played guard, and at 6’9″ he’d be the tallest guard in the history of the NFL (tied with Jonathan Ogden who played guard as a rookie). Six foot nine guard directly to the left of your 6-foot nothing QB doesn’t sound like a match made in heaven. Not only does this show how far Jamaal Jackson’s stock has fallen (what did he do, steal Howard Mudd’s crutches) but exposes the fact that the Eagles aren’t comfortable with 5th rounder Julian Vandervelde as a backup. Vandervelde is a classic ”Mudder” at 6’2″ 300 pounds – and most of his draft reports note that he’s a better than average athlete.
I find this all interesting because Evan Mathis is here on a one-year deal. King Dunlap is in the final year of his rookie contract, and Jamaal Jackson is as good as gone ($0 dead money if cut). Maybe it’s too early to experiment with up and comers since the Birds aren’t mathematically dead yet, but this sure seems like a spot where you might want to find out what Vandevelde can do.
On the bright side, the Birds offensive line, initially seen as a weakness looks like a solid bet for the future. Peters and Herremans are locked up through 2014 and 2013, respectively. Kelce and Watkins are rookies. That left guard spot is the only question mark.
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Double-safety John Skelton is starting this week for the injured Kevin Kolb. Here’s a nice video of Skelton’s TD pass to Larry Fitzgerald to rally the Cards over the Ran juggernaut last week.
http://youtu.be/qMsP06e3kN0
The video is followed by the following user comment:
More of JOHN SKELTON PLEASE… I’m fucking tried of Kevin Kolb.
And people say Philadelphia fans are assholes. Seven games and and Cards fans are already jonesing to move on from their 65 million dollar man.
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To get you ready for Jaiquawn Jarrett’s first start, I present his college hit tape (which I’ve posted before). Isn’t this the nastiness this defense is lacking?
