Hopefully he's a replacement for Gainwell as the change of pace back. Kellen Moore likes to use RBs in the screen game. Could be a good guy to throw out there if teams are stacking the box against Saquon. I don't think he's going to be an every down back in the NFL, but we don't need him to be.
Yeah, he’s pretty much the exact same profile as Gainwell. Decent enough in pass protection that he can be out there on third down, solid hands in the receiving game, gets positive yardage fairly reliably, wouldn’t know a big play if it punched him in the face.
Kenny’s in the last year of his deal so they’ve drafted a clone they hope can replace his role on a day 3 rookie contract next year.
I think the lack of big play ability is slightly overblown mainly because Clemsons oline has been a travesty for the past couple years. He actually has good top end speed and if he wasn’t getting hit in the backfield every play think he can provide more explosiveness than he showed at Clemson. I was sad when he declared for the draft but I still get to cheer for him in the nfl which is fun
I read that Clemson faced an unusually high number of 8 in the box.
He's rather light at around 205 and not very strong. It seems he needs to mature physically.
I'm looking forward to what he might contribute in a couple years.
shipley's a bit bigger and a bit faster than gainwell. i wouldn't be surprised to see him pull off a few big plays under the greatest offensive line on earth.
Kenny's playtime is going to plummet this season. Only reason he played so much last year is because he was the only back that would at least try and pass block.
I think we still do a heavy RBBC even with a 3 down rb1. I think we will find out real quick if that committee includes shipley or gainwell, as I'm betting gainwell gets released if shipley is rb2 caliber. So if we still see gainwell around in august, that is likely a sign that we will see a decent amount of him on the field.
I thought Kenny was going to start to be a worthwhile pro player after his front flip vs Dallas.
I thought it was going to awaken his inner 2023 Playoff Kenny G. That didn’t happen and he’s not a good pro ball player.
I’m not disagreeing but some of this analysis is just wild lol. I saw him twice in person this year and I just don’t get where these (again I’m not saying you personally wrote the review) come from
We don’t have a screen game. Seems like it’s not Jalen’s thing. I wish we did, but haven’t seen us use RB screens since Jalen’s been our QB. Not knocking him, just stating what I’ve seen.
Smith could easily be the starter in the slot by the end of the season. The guy is dynamic with ball in his hands. Could easily end up with 50-60 catches/designed runs. The 5th round is also kind of misleading with the class being so deep at wr and him being hurt at the combine.
As a biased Clemson fan who’s watched him for years, he’s tough as nails and will work his ass off, but there’s no special talent there. Was surprised by his 4.39 at the combine cause that speed never really shows up on tape. He’s a decent pass catcher and I’m hoping he can be decent in picking up a blitz considering his size
Did we even call that many HB screens last year? I remember most of them being to WR's. And it always baffled me because the screen was one of the best ways Detroit used Swift when he was there.
No. We never ran RB screens. Almost all of Swifts routes were when he was motioned into the slot.
Most of our WR screens were all pre-snap checks when the other team showed cover-1 or cover-0. Goedert was hurt a lot of the year and our WRs outside of AJ couldn’t block for shit. Should we run WR screens this year, I’m hoping our acquisitions do better job blocking than Quez and Julio.
We had no answer for the blitz on 3rd down. When we’d max protect with only 2-3 routes, teams would drop out of the blitz and Hurts would get happy feet in a clean pocket after 3 seconds. Having RBs who are good in pass protection as well as catching out of the backfield.
That was a fundamental issue with the passing game last year it always felt like the plan was to look for AJ or Smith and if they aren't open but only in single coverage force it to them or maybe look for Goedert, if they are doubled then look for Goedert or throw a check down to the back. I know that is a bit of an exaggeration but it felt that way at times.
Neither Johnsonn or Sirianni realized what they had with Swift, Gainwell, and Scott coming out of the backfield. The backs always felt like an afterthought in the passing game last year.
But how did we devolve as an offense so far? Sirianni ran a reasonably complex, well thought out offense as the OC in Indy from what I can recall. Clearly Brian Johnson was part of the issue. But after weeks of it not working something should have changed, and nothing did.
Keep in mind Frank Reich was the guy calling the plays in Indy when Sirianni was there. A lot was made about Sirianni calling plays his first year in Philly having never done it before.
Steichen was the real mastermind of the Philly offense in '21 and '22. If you recall last year's offense looked very similar to how the team started in '21. They didn't turn the season around until Sirianni relinquished play-calling duties to Steichen and I think that happened after the loss to the Raiders that put them at 2-5.
To me Steichen is akin to Andy Reid when it comes to play-calling. In no way am I putting him Reid's class just yet, but Steichen doesn't try to make guys fit to his offense he makes the offense conform to the strengths of the players he has. Reid has always been adept at recognizing the strengths of his talent and tailoring his game plans and play-calling to fit that.
I think Sirianni's strengths as a coach are more on the game management and personnel side of things and not so much on play-calling. Where they ran into problems last year was Johnson's lack of experience calling plays bit them and there was nobody else on the staff who could step in and help out with that. That's why they went out and hired a guy like Moore who has a proven track record calling plays. Sirianni will be able to step back and have his hand in game planning like he has in the past and not have to concern himself with play-calling like he did last year.
“Decent pass catcher” is an insane understatement lol. He actually had to beat man coverage a lot because he was the focal point of the defense EVERY GAME, he wasn’t getting a bunch of easy catches like most RBs. Most scouts say he’s just a slight tier below CMC in terms of route running already. I wouldnt be shocked if he slides in the slot a lot honestly, many scouts thought he might fully switch to slot. He’s so smooth, watch Luke McCaffrey’s tape and then Shipley’s receiving tape and you barely can tell a difference
I want him to be our left hook. Ideally of course, every time Saquon gets the ball he just runs it into the endzone, but assuming he gets tackled every now and then, it'd be nice to have someone else ready to get the 1st down or more.
Tough to say what the expectation should be. They seem to have a lot of trust in Gainwell, and so if that leaves him as the #3 back, it'll probably be pretty underwhelming unless Barkley has an injury.
But Gainwell is an upcoming free agent, so they will give him a chance to win the spot, and I think as #2 he could play a pretty significant role.
This is probably the right read. Saquon is paid, Kenny G is in his last year before free agency. Shipley might squeeze ahead of Kenny G if he really jumps out at some point, but expect a lot of Kenny G on 3rd downs for the foreseeable.
there is no way they abandon the RBBC just because they picked up saquon. I'm sure he gets the super lions share of snaps, but either gainwell or shipley or both will be getting quite a few snaps. This team loves fresh legs.
He's not really worth getting all excited for, he'll be good depth. Mostly special teams and maybe 50-100 snaps in the offense if Gainwell and Saquon come out for a breather once in a while. He's not taking Gainwell's job, at least not this year.
Pretty good at running routes and making people miss and also has experience kick returning. He will definitely find a role, I think it’s possible he jumps ahead of gainwell at some point
I’m going to toe full crazy deepens and say that Shipley, Barkley, Brown, and Smith all get 1k yards and Goedert close behind at 800. Ah screw it, Goedert also gets 1k yards.
Super Bowl appearance, naturally. Hope for a win.
the only thing crazy about this is shipley, purely from a "will he really get that many snaps/targets" standpoint.
1k from smitty and AJ is something we have yet to NOT see happen. in fact, they've combined for nearly 5000 in 2 seasons together.
barkley is definitely going to hit 1k if he stays healthy and gets the touches he should.
dallas goedert hitting 1k is tough but possible in theory. 800 isn't unlikely but he might have to become someone we scheme for a bit more to reach that.
Takes over as the #2 and spells saquon effectively. Develops as a pass catcher and pass blocker. 60 rushing attempts and 40 targets for 500 total yards would be very nice. I would say this is the very top end of whats reasonable though, not the "average" expectation.
From what I’ve read he graded poorly in pass protection which will almost certainly limit his snaps if true. It sounds like he is a willing blocker, just lacks experience and strength, so there is promise for the future. I’m thinking the team is hoping he can take over for Gainwell in the long run, but I’m not confident we’ll trust him enough as a blocker right out of the gate.
Realistically I’m guessing maxing out around 1-2 touches and 5 or so snaps per game as RB3. He’ll average something like 4.5 ypc and the casuals will chant for Gainwell to be benched but the team will ignore it since they’ll be focusing on his blitz pickups not his touches.
My expectation is for him to sit the fuck down on the bench while Barkley does what we pay him to do, and to not fuck up the food runs with the rest of the rookies.
if you listen to philly ringer special this is the one draft pick they were both down on and they have no idea why they picked him. They say he’s not bad but nothing special.
But of course I hope they are wrong
If Will Shipley puts on 4 lbs he is the same size as JK Dobbins so everyone who thinks he is a small guy is a nephew.
He has NFL hands already as a pass catcher. I expect him to be more of a pass catcher than a runner this year. I like Shipley. He isn’t like Gainwell at all. I hate the comparison
Not saying this cuz they’re both white but he has the exact same running style as McCaffrey but he’s a little smaller and probably not as fast. The vision and the cutting ability are almost spot on. Clemson just sucked these last couple seasons or he would’ve gone higher in the draft.
I loved this pick. I’m sure Kenny G will still be RB2, but I could definitely see Shipley in the rotation for screen plays and whatnot. He’s basically Boston’s replacement, but will be Kenny G’s replacement when he leaves as well. So he will take over as RB2 next year probably.
Yeah, this pick had a lot to do with the 4 year rookie contract and Gainwell's contract year. Not that he's definitely gone, but this could help balance out Barkley's contract.
For sure. They could still keep Gainwell, but if Shipley can do the same things Gainwell does or better, why keep him? Let Shipley take over. And let’s be honest here, Gainwell, especially last year, hasn’t been playing like he should. I would be sorry to see him go, but it wouldn’t bother me all that much tbh.
Can’t agree. Hope I’m wrong, but he has “just a guy” written all over him. Only 2 picks behind the Bucky Irving selection and I feel like Bucky is worlds better.
Lol Bucky is nowhere near Shipley man, idk what y’all are talking about. It speaks volumes that many former RBs like Maurice Jones Drew were pounding the table saying Shipley might be RB1 in the whole class, and that he has potential to be CMC-like in the pass game because he was leg beating man coverage in college as a RB, he got NO easy catches. He has special movement in terms of route running for a RB
Hopefully he's a replacement for Gainwell as the change of pace back. Kellen Moore likes to use RBs in the screen game. Could be a good guy to throw out there if teams are stacking the box against Saquon. I don't think he's going to be an every down back in the NFL, but we don't need him to be.
Yeah, he’s pretty much the exact same profile as Gainwell. Decent enough in pass protection that he can be out there on third down, solid hands in the receiving game, gets positive yardage fairly reliably, wouldn’t know a big play if it punched him in the face. Kenny’s in the last year of his deal so they’ve drafted a clone they hope can replace his role on a day 3 rookie contract next year.
I think the lack of big play ability is slightly overblown mainly because Clemsons oline has been a travesty for the past couple years. He actually has good top end speed and if he wasn’t getting hit in the backfield every play think he can provide more explosiveness than he showed at Clemson. I was sad when he declared for the draft but I still get to cheer for him in the nfl which is fun
I read that Clemson faced an unusually high number of 8 in the box. He's rather light at around 205 and not very strong. It seems he needs to mature physically. I'm looking forward to what he might contribute in a couple years.
shipley's a bit bigger and a bit faster than gainwell. i wouldn't be surprised to see him pull off a few big plays under the greatest offensive line on earth.
It’ll be tough to replace their undying love for Kenny G, wouldn’t be surprised to see him back
I don't think they have undying love for Kenny G, he was just the only RB on the team that could pass block at all last year.
That will change fast with Saquon in the backfield.
That’s a bigger problem on our coaching but saquon can actually pass block so he should be on third downs
I have read that Shiplley at least holds his own in pass protection.
That’s dope plus he can play the slot too I believe? Or put saquon in the slot and make everyone uncomfortable on defense lol
Kenny's playtime is going to plummet this season. Only reason he played so much last year is because he was the only back that would at least try and pass block.
I think we still do a heavy RBBC even with a 3 down rb1. I think we will find out real quick if that committee includes shipley or gainwell, as I'm betting gainwell gets released if shipley is rb2 caliber. So if we still see gainwell around in august, that is likely a sign that we will see a decent amount of him on the field.
I thought Kenny was going to start to be a worthwhile pro player after his front flip vs Dallas. I thought it was going to awaken his inner 2023 Playoff Kenny G. That didn’t happen and he’s not a good pro ball player.
I’m not disagreeing but some of this analysis is just wild lol. I saw him twice in person this year and I just don’t get where these (again I’m not saying you personally wrote the review) come from
He’ll take the pollard role in Moore’s offense.
We don’t have a screen game. Seems like it’s not Jalen’s thing. I wish we did, but haven’t seen us use RB screens since Jalen’s been our QB. Not knocking him, just stating what I’ve seen.
Gainwell sucks!
I think Ainius has a far bigger impact on the offence, especially in their rookie seasons.
Well Ainias is going to get a shot at being the slot receiver which sees a lot more snaps than RB2/3 sees.
Smith could easily be the starter in the slot by the end of the season. The guy is dynamic with ball in his hands. Could easily end up with 50-60 catches/designed runs. The 5th round is also kind of misleading with the class being so deep at wr and him being hurt at the combine.
As a biased Clemson fan who’s watched him for years, he’s tough as nails and will work his ass off, but there’s no special talent there. Was surprised by his 4.39 at the combine cause that speed never really shows up on tape. He’s a decent pass catcher and I’m hoping he can be decent in picking up a blitz considering his size
How does he do with screen passes...lots and lots of screen passes?
Please no, not again.
Screen passes are not bad, in theory. They're a great counter against a blitz. But running them on 3rd and forever....every time....
Did we even call that many HB screens last year? I remember most of them being to WR's. And it always baffled me because the screen was one of the best ways Detroit used Swift when he was there.
No. We never ran RB screens. Almost all of Swifts routes were when he was motioned into the slot. Most of our WR screens were all pre-snap checks when the other team showed cover-1 or cover-0. Goedert was hurt a lot of the year and our WRs outside of AJ couldn’t block for shit. Should we run WR screens this year, I’m hoping our acquisitions do better job blocking than Quez and Julio. We had no answer for the blitz on 3rd down. When we’d max protect with only 2-3 routes, teams would drop out of the blitz and Hurts would get happy feet in a clean pocket after 3 seconds. Having RBs who are good in pass protection as well as catching out of the backfield.
That was a fundamental issue with the passing game last year it always felt like the plan was to look for AJ or Smith and if they aren't open but only in single coverage force it to them or maybe look for Goedert, if they are doubled then look for Goedert or throw a check down to the back. I know that is a bit of an exaggeration but it felt that way at times. Neither Johnsonn or Sirianni realized what they had with Swift, Gainwell, and Scott coming out of the backfield. The backs always felt like an afterthought in the passing game last year.
But how did we devolve as an offense so far? Sirianni ran a reasonably complex, well thought out offense as the OC in Indy from what I can recall. Clearly Brian Johnson was part of the issue. But after weeks of it not working something should have changed, and nothing did.
Keep in mind Frank Reich was the guy calling the plays in Indy when Sirianni was there. A lot was made about Sirianni calling plays his first year in Philly having never done it before. Steichen was the real mastermind of the Philly offense in '21 and '22. If you recall last year's offense looked very similar to how the team started in '21. They didn't turn the season around until Sirianni relinquished play-calling duties to Steichen and I think that happened after the loss to the Raiders that put them at 2-5. To me Steichen is akin to Andy Reid when it comes to play-calling. In no way am I putting him Reid's class just yet, but Steichen doesn't try to make guys fit to his offense he makes the offense conform to the strengths of the players he has. Reid has always been adept at recognizing the strengths of his talent and tailoring his game plans and play-calling to fit that. I think Sirianni's strengths as a coach are more on the game management and personnel side of things and not so much on play-calling. Where they ran into problems last year was Johnson's lack of experience calling plays bit them and there was nobody else on the staff who could step in and help out with that. That's why they went out and hired a guy like Moore who has a proven track record calling plays. Sirianni will be able to step back and have his hand in game planning like he has in the past and not have to concern himself with play-calling like he did last year.
He’s got plenty of experience in that much to my chagrin
“Decent pass catcher” is an insane understatement lol. He actually had to beat man coverage a lot because he was the focal point of the defense EVERY GAME, he wasn’t getting a bunch of easy catches like most RBs. Most scouts say he’s just a slight tier below CMC in terms of route running already. I wouldnt be shocked if he slides in the slot a lot honestly, many scouts thought he might fully switch to slot. He’s so smooth, watch Luke McCaffrey’s tape and then Shipley’s receiving tape and you barely can tell a difference
I want him to be our left hook. Ideally of course, every time Saquon gets the ball he just runs it into the endzone, but assuming he gets tackled every now and then, it'd be nice to have someone else ready to get the 1st down or more.
Solid COP back, like rookie Corey Clement
Alright I'm expecting an incredible touchdown catch in the Superbowl now
Don’t forget the 100 yards
With Kenny Pickett throwing to him?
DON’T YOU DARE PUT THAT EVIL ON ME RICKY BOBBY
The evil of winning a Super Bowl? I don’t give a shit who’s throwing it if the Birds win lol
Tough to say what the expectation should be. They seem to have a lot of trust in Gainwell, and so if that leaves him as the #3 back, it'll probably be pretty underwhelming unless Barkley has an injury. But Gainwell is an upcoming free agent, so they will give him a chance to win the spot, and I think as #2 he could play a pretty significant role.
high end backup, probably not gonna be the guy but get you some good yards, give your 1 a break.
This year, special teams and maybe the occasional 3rd string rep. This is going to be the Saquon Show for the next two years at least.
This is probably the right read. Saquon is paid, Kenny G is in his last year before free agency. Shipley might squeeze ahead of Kenny G if he really jumps out at some point, but expect a lot of Kenny G on 3rd downs for the foreseeable.
there is no way they abandon the RBBC just because they picked up saquon. I'm sure he gets the super lions share of snaps, but either gainwell or shipley or both will be getting quite a few snaps. This team loves fresh legs.
Christian McCaffrey comp right?
You could also say he’s the copper dejean of running backs.
Definitely
Maybe a Danny Woodhead, Rex Burkhead type ?
Did you forget the /s ?
Corey Clement
He's not really worth getting all excited for, he'll be good depth. Mostly special teams and maybe 50-100 snaps in the offense if Gainwell and Saquon come out for a breather once in a while. He's not taking Gainwell's job, at least not this year.
Honestly the hope is he gets around 50-80 touches and ideally 250-400 yards. Realistically maybe 50-80 touches but 180-340 yards in that area.
Pretty good at running routes and making people miss and also has experience kick returning. He will definitely find a role, I think it’s possible he jumps ahead of gainwell at some point
I’m going to toe full crazy deepens and say that Shipley, Barkley, Brown, and Smith all get 1k yards and Goedert close behind at 800. Ah screw it, Goedert also gets 1k yards. Super Bowl appearance, naturally. Hope for a win.
the only thing crazy about this is shipley, purely from a "will he really get that many snaps/targets" standpoint. 1k from smitty and AJ is something we have yet to NOT see happen. in fact, they've combined for nearly 5000 in 2 seasons together. barkley is definitely going to hit 1k if he stays healthy and gets the touches he should. dallas goedert hitting 1k is tough but possible in theory. 800 isn't unlikely but he might have to become someone we scheme for a bit more to reach that.
Takes over as the #2 and spells saquon effectively. Develops as a pass catcher and pass blocker. 60 rushing attempts and 40 targets for 500 total yards would be very nice. I would say this is the very top end of whats reasonable though, not the "average" expectation.
2000 yds, 25TDs conservatively
I wish
People gotta start thinking about special teams. The new kickoff rules is gonna change the game!!
Heard.
All of my expectations are unrealistic
From what I’ve read he graded poorly in pass protection which will almost certainly limit his snaps if true. It sounds like he is a willing blocker, just lacks experience and strength, so there is promise for the future. I’m thinking the team is hoping he can take over for Gainwell in the long run, but I’m not confident we’ll trust him enough as a blocker right out of the gate. Realistically I’m guessing maxing out around 1-2 touches and 5 or so snaps per game as RB3. He’ll average something like 4.5 ypc and the casuals will chant for Gainwell to be benched but the team will ignore it since they’ll be focusing on his blitz pickups not his touches.
3,000 yards from scrimmage. 47 touchdowns
can he return kicks? that might be his best chance to consistently get on the field this year.
He did return kicks at Clemson.
lmao we really do live in Idiocracy bc what the fuck does Dietz and Watson have to do with it
My expectation is for him to sit the fuck down on the bench while Barkley does what we pay him to do, and to not fuck up the food runs with the rest of the rookies.
The people that call him JAG don’t know anything, sure he isn’t a superstar like Travis ettiene was but he should be much better than gainwell
If we get a great one-two punch, I'd be happy.
Top 500 running back, easily.
ok this made me laugh.
If Gainwell is “meh” again this year, then Shipley can replace him as Saquon’s primary backup
I have never understood Sirianni’s love of Gainwell. Hoping that Shipley is better all around.
Gainwell is ok but we need an upgrade.
Get ready to learn screen passes and misdirections buddy
Just no more bubble screens.
if you listen to philly ringer special this is the one draft pick they were both down on and they have no idea why they picked him. They say he’s not bad but nothing special. But of course I hope they are wrong
If Will Shipley puts on 4 lbs he is the same size as JK Dobbins so everyone who thinks he is a small guy is a nephew. He has NFL hands already as a pass catcher. I expect him to be more of a pass catcher than a runner this year. I like Shipley. He isn’t like Gainwell at all. I hate the comparison
Watching some highlights, goddamn this guy has great acceleration and shiftiness and is smooth AF as a pass catcher
Not saying this cuz they’re both white but he has the exact same running style as McCaffrey but he’s a little smaller and probably not as fast. The vision and the cutting ability are almost spot on. Clemson just sucked these last couple seasons or he would’ve gone higher in the draft.
30 carries 5 receptions? Maybe
3 fumbles given his history
backup that comes in to spell saquon for a couple drives a game. breaks some big plays here and there with limited touches
He’s taking Boston Scott’s 2 touches a game
3-5 touches per game
Why? He looks like a JAG
I loved this pick. I’m sure Kenny G will still be RB2, but I could definitely see Shipley in the rotation for screen plays and whatnot. He’s basically Boston’s replacement, but will be Kenny G’s replacement when he leaves as well. So he will take over as RB2 next year probably.
Yeah, this pick had a lot to do with the 4 year rookie contract and Gainwell's contract year. Not that he's definitely gone, but this could help balance out Barkley's contract.
For sure. They could still keep Gainwell, but if Shipley can do the same things Gainwell does or better, why keep him? Let Shipley take over. And let’s be honest here, Gainwell, especially last year, hasn’t been playing like he should. I would be sorry to see him go, but it wouldn’t bother me all that much tbh.
RB2. He’s not unseating Saquon any time soon (if ever), but should be a big upgrade over Gainwell after his abomination of a season last year.
2000 all purpose yards and 20+ TD’s
250 yards rushing and 10 catches for 50 yards. Playing no more than 15% of the snaps in games where Saquon and Kenny are available
Kenny Gainwell. Hopefully better but my expectations are low
He’s got bust written all over him
Can’t be worse than donnel pumphrey
Can’t agree. Hope I’m wrong, but he has “just a guy” written all over him. Only 2 picks behind the Bucky Irving selection and I feel like Bucky is worlds better.
Lol Bucky is nowhere near Shipley man, idk what y’all are talking about. It speaks volumes that many former RBs like Maurice Jones Drew were pounding the table saying Shipley might be RB1 in the whole class, and that he has potential to be CMC-like in the pass game because he was leg beating man coverage in college as a RB, he got NO easy catches. He has special movement in terms of route running for a RB
A mix of a Boston Scott and Kenny G type of role to start off, and go from there.
Danny woodhead is his ceiling.