(by Ross Jacobs)
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before…more backups, mostly soon-to-be-cut guys. There’s just not much to talk about here since almost nobody that made either final 53-man roster actually played in this game.
Player Notes...
-- Philadelphia better hope that Jalen Hurts stays healthy because their backups look awful. Tanner McKee seems to be first in line, and I saw some speculation earlier this year that a handful of teams could trade a high pick for him to come be their “franchise QB,” and based on everything I’ve seen this preseason, that is not happening. McKee doesn’t even look like a particularly good backup, much less an actual starter.
Andy Dalton isn’t faring much better sadly. He’s on his last legs. And Cole Payton is nowhere close to being ready to play in an NFL game. He needs years on the bench, not months.
The best QB in this game was actually on the other side of the field, 40 year old Josh Johnson who got cut from the Bengals after the game. That says more about the Eagles backups than it does Johnson.
-- The overall best performer in the game was undoubtedly Bengals receiver Dohnte Meyers, a 26 year old former UDFA out of Delta State (never heard of it) in 2023. He cooked the Eagles secondary for 3 receptions in one drive and was quickly taken out of the game. Apparently it was enough to make the final 53 man roster. Quite a rise for someone from such a small school.
-- Carson Steele had another nice receiving game here, but he didn’t make it through final roster cuts. I’m surprised he hasn’t been able to stick with someone given his versatility. I know he’s not the greatest runner ever, but surely you can play him on special teams and give him some fullback/H-back type work…
-- And of course the biggest story, the only story really, from this game was the “dreadful” performance of rookie 1st round pick Makai Lemon. He could only manage 3 yards on 3 receptions and had a ball clang off his hands leading to an easy interception for the defense. Apparently that’s enough for the media and fans to already know he’s a guaranteed bust. It’s over, no question about it. One performance in a meaningless preseason game with backup QBs after missing most of training camp with hamstring injuries…that’s enough for all of us to know without a shadow of a doubt that he’s terrible…
I know I’m preaching to the choir here, FFM is blessed to have a very sharp group of followers, but it is astounding how often this kind of nonsense happens, and there seems to be no pattern to it. Why is Matthew Golden given a pass for doing literally nothing as a rookie despite a wide open depth chart ahead of him when all the starting receivers got hurt, but Lemon is a guaranteed bust after one preseason appearance? It defies all logic. I simply don’t understand how the media and fans pick and choose who they will support unquestioningly and who they will try to tear down no matter how good they are.
Suffice it to say I’m not throwing out all the scouting work we did on Lemon because of a handful of plays in a meaningless game. I know what I saw on tape, I see the advanced metrics on him. He’s a good player, and good players aren’t immune from shaky performances, especially early in their careers. Lemon is going to be just fine, but now we are getting a discount on him in DRD’s. Back in the summer you needed the 4th overall pick to land him, and now you’re able to steal him for picks 6-7-8 and even later occasionally, all because of noise that simply doesn’t matter. Block out the nonsense, take advantage, and say thank you for the opportunity to get him cheaper.
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