{"id":1634,"date":"2010-03-22T12:33:52","date_gmt":"2010-03-22T17:33:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/?p=1634"},"modified":"2010-03-22T12:33:52","modified_gmt":"2010-03-22T17:33:52","slug":"espns-matt-williamsons-take-on-tapp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/?p=1634","title":{"rendered":"ESPN’s Matt Williamson’s take on Tapp"},"content":{"rendered":"

Interesting article here… good read.\u00a0 Check it:<\/p>\n

The Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> sent a fourth-round draft pick and Chris Clemons<\/a> to the Seattle Seahawks<\/a> in exchange for Darryl Tapp<\/a>, whom they then promptly signed to a three-year extension.<\/p>\n

Tapp is an undersized defensive end who plays stronger than his size would indicate. He is at his best when attacking upfield. He is very fast, gets off the ball well and plays with a tremendous motor. Tapp will track down running plays from behind and has the get-off and acceleration to beat offensive tackles off the snap while staying low to the ground and maintaining excellent leverage.<\/p>\n

Trent Cole<\/a> is a terrific football player who stands to gain quite a bit with Tapp\u2019s arrival. Defensive end was a big need before this acquisition and even though Tapp is a quality player, surely the Eagles will address the position in the draft. But as it stands now, I would assume that Tapp will line up on the edge opposite Cole on passing downs. He is the type of counterpart who can thrive if the Eagles\u2019 opponent consistently rolls protection in Cole\u2019s direction — which has become common practice against the Eagles. Heavier right tackles could struggle with Tapp one-on-one.<\/p>\n

But ideally, Tapp isn\u2019t an every-down player. The Eagles would be wise to keep him fresh and allow him to best use his speed and motor by not forcing him to play too many snaps. If used in rotation with other Philadelphia ends, including Juqua Parker<\/a>, who isn\u2019t as dynamic and doesn\u2019t have as much pass-rushing upside as Tapp, the combination can be effective.<\/p>\n

Tapp is no slouch against the run though; he holds his ground well with a low center of gravity and good hand play. He is now the Eagles\u2019 second-best defensive end. Tapp still can improve his all-around game, particularly if he\u2019s used properly and can avoid some nagging injuries that have given him trouble since joining the league. He is an aggressive player though who fits this aggressive attacking defensive scheme. Adding yet another playmaker at defensive end should remain a priority on draft weekend, but all in all, this is a good investment by the Eagles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interesting article here… good read.\u00a0 Check it: The Philadelphia Eagles sent a fourth-round draft pick and Chris Clemons to the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for Darryl Tapp,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1634"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1636,"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1634\/revisions\/1636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}