Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Posted: 12:53 a.m.
By Reuben Frank
CSNPhilly.com
Part 2 of Eagles GM Howie Roseman's interview with the team's official web site:
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Does DE Ricky Sapp still fit in your plans?
Ricky Sapp coming off that knee, he looks like a different guy. His upper body, hes stronger, hes really determined and has really good get-off."
What are your thoughts on third-round pick Daniel Too-Nesheim, who did little as a rookie?
We have high expectations for Daniel. I think what happened to him, he had some ankle scopes on both his ankles after the season, so he wasnt able to move as well as he could, because hes a really good athlete, and had a little bit of a shoulder issue, so he wasnt able to use his hands as well as he should have, but he went through some growing pains as a rookie, and he knows theres going to be some competition there and nothings guaranteed and were going to go with what we see.
How about some of the middle-round guys? Trevard Lindley, Keenan Clayton and Mike Kafka?
Trevard Lindley had a really solid rookie year. Hes a fourth-round corner, hes a guy whos going to benefit from putting on some weight, and he can press. He had one game hed like to have back at Chicago, but other than that he really held his own, and were looking forward to him making a jump.
"Keenan Clayton, everybody could see what kind of athlete Keenan Clayton is. Hes a really good athlete. Hes a guy we thought we at one point was starting to come on, then he had a knee injury late in the year and that had him take a step back. Hes a WIL linebacker, and he can cover. Its hard to find guys in this league who can cover, and when you make a tape of Keenan Clayton covering tight ends in this league, he can do that. We knew that it would be a year of trying to build strength for him, getting to whats ideally his weight, and now hell have an opportunity to do that.
"There is no harder worker I would almost guess in the National Football League than Mike Kafka. He is here, he is studying, he will not be outworked. Our coaches did a great job fine tuning some things they thought could make him better. Hes 225 pounds, but you look at him and hes skinny. He knows hes got to get stronger, his arms got to get stronger. The things hes really good at, hes accurate, hes a really good athlete, he throws with anticipation. He knows that for him to be the athlete he wants to be, hes got to get a little stronger. Hes a really smart guy, and he is here all the time. He wants to be a great player. Now, hes got to go out on the field and show that, and hes around two great players to see their work ethic.
What are your expectations of Jamar Chaney moving forward?
Jamar Chaney, I mean, you put him in and its a playoff run, and hes going in on national TV, and hes making 15 tackles against the Giants and hes calling out defensive signals and hes pointing people in the right spots. and thats impressive. And part of what we try to do in these drafts is get high-character people who can come in and play and the games not too big for him.
"And for him, coming from Mississippi State, coming from the SEC, he played at a high level of competition. He can play MIKE, he can play WIL, hes going to continue to get better. One of the things we thought he could improve on and our coach did a great job, Mike Caldwell, worked on him with his hand use, and he came here and he knew it was something he had to improve on, and he worked on it all through training camp and continued to work on it through the regular season, and he gets into a game, all of a sudden hes using those long arms, hes able to get off blocks, hes not staying blocked for long, so were excited about Jamar Chaney.
How good can Clay Harbor be?
Two years ago, he was a small-school wide receiver, and then playing tight end at that small school, he was just such a weapon in the passing game that theyd split him out, so he didnt put his hand down and really learn to be a blocker till he got here, and you saw the constant improvement from training camp, from that first regular-season game against Green Bay through the season.
"Some of the throws Michael made, the one that comes to mind, that first play at Washington to DeSean Jackson, when we let Clay go out and block Brian Orakpo (on an 88-yard touchdown), he had that responsibility. So hes got really good feet, good athlete, good receiver. A guy like that who comes from a small school just continues getting better. Ryan Grigson (director of player personnel) had posed this question to me -- what do you think Shannon Sharpe looked like his first year out of Savannah State? Now, Im not obviously putting Clay in that class, but its a significant jump and for doing that I thought he really did a good job holding his own. He wants to do a great job, and hes talented.
E-mail Reuben Frank at rfrank@comcastsportsnet.com
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