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Eagles Acquire Jay Ajayi for 4th Round Pick

WeaponX

By WeaponX
in Philadelphia Eagles

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BAConrad

BAConrad

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Never heard him talk before seeing that video. I always knew he was British and assumed he had an accent but it's pretty strange to see from an NFL player, especially a runningback. 

TBH I dig it. Someone needs to come up with an awesome UK-related nickname for him. IIRC he's from London originally.

Also I just got done watching Ajayi's tape from last year, and then this year's tape.

He is immensely talented as a runner. He reminds me of Shady a bit with his eluviseness and ability to make something out of nothing. Gase also reminds me of Chip in that his offense is specifically his scheme and he doesn't really tailor the offense around his best players' abilities. Which is another reason that all these reports trashing Ajayi and his character are rubbish IMO. It's Gase who is the problem, as he is also losing the locker room. 

When Ajayi actually has decent blocking in front of him, he is really good. Kids talented as hell as a runner (and FWIW has been a very solid pass blocking back as well). Last season, in the 4 games in which he didn't gain over 4+ YPC when given 12 or more touched (he had 12 games with 12 or more carries and only 4 under 4 ypc), I noticed it had a lot to due with him sometimes trying to do too much and bouncing it outside or running east and west.

That's my biggest knock on him, really. But I think that with our coaching, especially Duce, that can be fixed. All he needs is to not get hit as soon as he gets the ball, which happened constantly in Miami this season with their egregious OL.  

I'm really excited about this trade now after spending the time to watch his good AND his bad game tape. Our run game has the potential to be special and that will open up our offense even more, especially for our MVP-quarterback.  

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Phire

Phire

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14 hours ago, BAConrad said:

Gase also reminds me of Chip in that his offense is specifically his scheme and he doesn't really tailor the offense around his best players' abilities. Which is another reason that all these reports trashing Ajayi and his character are rubbish IMO. It's Gase who is the problem, as he is also losing the locker room. 

Yup. Apparently Gase and Chip are buddies too. This type of stuff always happens and I wouldn't buy into it too much. When Chip cut DeSean, there were literally allegations about his involvement with gangs and bad character people. When we traded Shady there were reports that he was a me-first guy and immature, etc.

I'm not saying these reports are always untrue. In fact, they may be true. But it's a fact that teams will float those stories around the time they make minimally controversial moves to throw some red meat to their fanbase so they can justify it in their minds. 

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Phire

Phire

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Ajayi took the field with his teammates for practice on Wednesday, sporting his new jersey and his new number -- No. 36. 

That number is a famous one in the Eagles' franchise, as it was last worn by arguably the best running back in the team's history, Brian Westbrook. Westbrook last played with the Eagles during the 2008 season, and no player has worn No. 36 in a regular-season game since. 

The numbers that Ajayi had to pick were from slim, but it is interesting that the Eagles were willing to give it out to a player that is expected to be with this team for a while, and is likely viewed as their next franchise running back. 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
Phire

Phire

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"When I look at our game plan for this week, I look at it and there's probably not a play on there that I wouldn't feel comfortable putting his number on. As far as Jay learning and knowing what to do. That speaks a lot of him and what he's able to do as a player."

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Reich says that the fact that Ajayi wasted little time getting his head into the playbook and learning the scheme has accelerated his development into a contributor. 

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"It didn't hurt that [running backs coach] Duce [Staley] tells me after the first day that Jay's here that he was in the meeting room with him for several hours getting a crash course ... For Duce to walk out of that meeting and say 'yeah, we're good,' this guy's going to be fine mentally. That's what we've seen."

 

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Jroc04

Jroc04

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Awesome news. Ajayi seems like one of those guys that really needed the change of scenery thing. Sometimes you just don't get along with coaches and it all goes south. Let's see if he can be a great runner for us as well. Looking forward to seeing what he can do. 

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808

808

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Not sure if you guys discussed how Miami's doctors were trashing Ajayi's knees right after the trade (of course they would, how did that Drew Brees shoulder evaluation work out?).

Then some of the Fins fans pointed out how on his TD run vs Denver, if you saw if from the endzone angle, shows his knees in an awkward running style.

Not the right camera angle here, but I think they're just being sore losers. 

jay.0.gif

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Phire

Phire

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Someone did post it @808.

My view is that we gave up nothing to get him and we're paying him chump change through next year. As long as he can run the ball this year I don't care how it looks. If his knees have 10 more games in them, so be it. We can draft a RB for the future. Trading a 4th for Ajayi doesn't mean we're stuck with him for the next ten years. This is a WIN NOW move. I'd be more concerned about his knees if we had just signed him to a multi-year deal or something. That's not the case and until that happens, as long as he can play, I'm fine.

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BAConrad

BAConrad

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I trust the Dolphins' medical staff about as much as I trust the 76ers'. 

So I'm not worried. I trust that we did our due dilligence.

And even if somehow Howie could predict the future (which btw not ruling that out) and knew  that Ajayi was gonna blow out his knee after next season, he'd still do this trade.

Getting a top 10-talent at RB, who's 23 years old and on a rookie contract for another season, for a 4th round pick is absolutely always worth acquiring if you're us. Like @Phire said: we're in win now mode. Like the Seahawks in Wilson's first few seasons, or the Colts in Luck's (only without completely ruining our franchise QB both physically and mentally, and surrounding him with nothing but skill position players and no OL, having him get hit more than any QB ever in his first 4 seasons, and then proceed to basically tell the media he's a giant wussy and his injury is all in his head)

 

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808

808

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Oh yeah I'm more than happy with the small asset we moved to acquire Ajayi. Just thought it was funny how their doctors and fans were all butt hurt after seeing him explode for his first TD of the season in an Eagles uni. 

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