Howie Roseman Sheds Light on Andre Dillard, Miles Sanders
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INDIANAPOLIS – Howie Roseman gave his best Andre Dillard sales pitch to anyone listening who may be in the market for offensive line help. And just about every team fits that bill.
The best part of the spiel was the part about Dillard’s ability to play right tackle.
“Just to think that he can only play left tackle limits him and probably does him a disservice,” said the GM on Wednesday at the NFL Scouting Combine.
Roseman said that Dillard has been working out every day and looks good.
“I'm not allowed to really talk to him about anything, but you can see, he looks great,” he said. “Upper body, lower body, he's really determined. He wants to play.”
Dillard won’t play much with the Eagles unless Jordan Mailata gets hurt. If Lane Johnson gets hurt, it would be Mailata who would move to right tackle, which is what he did last year when Johnson missed time.
Still, if a team wants to try to pry him away from the Eagles, there won’t be any red-tag specials.
“It's hard to find offensive linemen who can move and who can bend,” said Roseman. “…We started 15 guys this year. Now, I'm cheating on that number a little because we started five guys in the last game of the year, but I like when I say 15 guys.
"But at a minimum, we started 10 in games that we really needed them, and that just shows you can never have enough offensive linemen.”
CONTRACT STUFF
It sounded like Miles Sanders won’t be getting a contract extension this summer, though with the Eagles there’s rarely any light shed on contract negotiations.
It also sounded like a new deal cannot be ruled out.
“We'll never discuss contract negotiations with any player,” said Roseman on Wednesday. “It's private business – the player's business, really – and we want to keep that as private as we can.”
Unless an agent gets loose lips, new deals that are struck always seem to be equivalent to a lightning strike – fast and hot.
Like the ones given out at the start of the season to left tackle Jordan Mailata and defensive end Josh Sweat.
Sanders may have to wait until the opening weekend or later, if he gets one at all.
“Miles is a heck of a player, heck of a person,” said Roseman. “I think you saw a lot, too, we had guys who were in their fourth year last year, whether you go back and you look at Sweaty (Josh Sweat) and you look at Dallas (Goedert) and you look at Avonte (Maddox) and you look at Jordan, guys like that. Maybe I'm missing a couple guys, who even became better in their fourth year in the league.
“We haven't even seen everything Miles can give this team. Obviously, he's been really productive. I know he wants to get in the end zone, as well. But I think the best is yet to come from Miles.”
BAMA BOYS
A pair of injured receivers from Alabama were at the podium on Wednesday – John Metchie and Jameson Williams.
Both would have been high draft picks, until injuries wrecked their final seasons.
That doesn’t mean they both won’t be drafted at some point.
Williams may be the better of the two. He said he knows Eagles WR DeVonta Smith from when he visited Alabama while in high school. Smith was his host.
Smith couldn’t reel Williams in, however, because Williams picked Ohio State before transferring.
“I didn’t get much opportunity (at Ohio State),” said Williams. “At Alabama I felt I was more involved in the offense all around. Really, just a great offense. We had two 1,000-yard receivers, 100-yard running back, 4,000-yard passer. I feel we all came together, all played off each other. So that really is how the offense is.”
Metchie knows Smith, though, as well as so many other Bama players who entered the NFL recently.
“All those guys, Smitty, Waddle, everybody, we were all at Bama together, we were all friends, not just teammates, so something we talk about it and expected them all to do well,” he said. “Really expected everybody to do well.”
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“One that scores points. That’s all I’ve got for that one.” – Liberty quarterback Malik Willis when asked what kind of offense fits his style of play.
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglestoday.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
