Twitter Mailbag: What If You Could Choose Just One?

Every Thursday we select a few of your Twitter questions and provide the long-form answers they deserve. For a chance to have your question published on Birds 24/7, send it to @Tim_McManus.

From @MarkDawson_: What do you think is Chip Kelly’s current biggest area of concern with his team?

Honestly, I think his biggest obstacle/concern is time. He’s overhauling the entire operation, and will still be asked to field a competitive football team come September. Tuesday gave us a feel for how difficult a task that will be. The first time we got a chance to watch practice there were some miscues, but everything went pretty smoothly considering the crazy-fast pace and newness of it all. The next time out was a bit more rough around the edges. And Tuesday was pretty sloppy. That had less to do with the rain coming down and more to do with the fact that Kelly is ramping up the installations, giving the players a lot more to think about.

“We’re really starting to pile on now,” said Kelly. “And especially for some of the these young guys that piling on process…I think you can hit a wall a little bit, but they’ve got to fight their way through it.”

There is just so much to teach and learn; entirely new schemes being  implemented on both sides of the ball. And the clock ticks toward Opening Day…

From @penseur76: Do you think Kenny Phillips will even make the roster? Seems like Steve Smith 2.0.

Both are ex-Giants, both have had microfracture knee surgery, so I understand where the thought comes from. Phillips bounced back from the surgery better than Smith, who just retired after six seasons because he couldn’t get right. Phillips played 31 of a possible 32 games the two seasons following the operation on his left knee.  He started having issues with his opposite knee last year, and appeared in just seven games for New York in 2012.

I can’t say I’m encouraged at this point. The fact that the Eagles were able to sign him to a one-year deal with no guaranteed money was the first clue that the league had concerns about his health. Now he’s missing time for an injury that Kelly says he’s had “for a couple of years.”

It’s important to remember that it is May, and there is every reason to take it easy on a player with an injury history. Maybe he pans out. But I definitely have my doubts.

From @TAF_Podcast:  if you could have 1 current Eagle for the rest of their career, who would you pick?

Good one.

I think you could make some kind of reasonable case for LeSean McCoy (24), Nick Foles (24), Lane Johnson (23), Zach Ertz (22), Fletcher Cox (22), Matt Barkley (22) and maybe Mychal Kendricks (22). (Am I missing anyone?)

For me, it would come down to Cox and Barkley. (I wouldn’t take McCoy simply because a running back’s shelf life is so short.) If you want to play it safe you go Cox, because there is a good chance that he will be an impact player for a lot of years, and he has Pro Bowl potential. But I would probably go Barkley simply because of the value of his position. Maybe you end up with nothing more than a backup or an average starter, but you risk it on the possibility that he becomes a franchise-changer.

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