There’s only room for one Defensive Rookie of the Year

I don’t know, or really care, who is going to win MVP this season. But the Bills beating the Chiefs last week certainly helped Josh Allen’s case. When two candidates go “head to head”–really their teams–it gives voters an easy out on ranking them. So this week we have, potentially, a Defensive Rookie of the Year show down in the (NFC) West.

An award winning day?
Quinyon Mitchell “vs” Jared Verse, and both will have their opportunities to state their case. Eight of the last ten Defensive Rookies of the Year have been either an edge rusher or a cornerback, and these two are the odds on favorites to win.

Verse actually trails teammate and former college teammate Braden Fiske in sacks, 4.5 to 5.0. Perhaps the Rams moving up in the draft to draft Fiske specifically because he played alongside Verse at FSU (though just for one season) was a good idea?

In early April, the staff held a series of meetings that argued for and against “pods” of defensive linemen and outside linebackers as potential tandems. Verse and defensive tackle Braden Fiske, teammates at Florida State, were identified among those tandems as having a unique chemistry. If the Rams could get Verse, they would also go after Fiske.

Verse will get his chances against a QB who has been holding onto the ball for too long too often recently. Jalen Hurts has been sacked multiple times in four of his last five games, and 3+ times in three of them. The whole defense will have a shot at Hurts, the Rams enter this week 9th in sack rate, one spot ahead of the Eagles. Verse is also 6th in the NFL in tackles for loss, (behind three players who have played an additional game) he will get his chances to show his run stopping ability as well.

Mitchell too will get his chances against a Rams offense that is back to full strength and loves to throw the ball. In six games with Cooper Kupp, the Rams are throwing the ball 38 times per game, which would lead the league in passing attempts over a full season. Since returning to the lineup four games ago, Kupp has been targeted at least 7 times in every game; and Puka Nacua has been targeted 9+ times in three of four games.

The outcome of this “duel” feels kind of predictable. Verse will get on the stat sheet with a sack, and a tackle for loss. Mitchell will keep whoever he’s covering to something like 3 receptions for 32 yards and no TDs, and Verse will have “won” the matchup because he got on the stat sheet because he’s an edge rusher. We’ll know for sure in February.

Two birds, one stone
Earlier this week Temple fired its football coach. You may not have noticed because no one really pays attention to Temple football. And for good reason, Temple is simply not a good program and doesn’t have the infrastructure, fan/alumni base, location, or school alignment to ever become one.

There are a lot of harsh realities that are hitting and will hit college football programs at every level as we rapidly accelerate towards the end point of schools having to pay student athletes as employees. Some hard decisions will have to be made. Some schools, such as UMass who also fired their coach this week, or Kennesaw State, who fired their coach last week and should never have been in FBS, may be better off moving back down to the FCS level. (They will not move down.) Some might be better off not having a college team at all. Temple may be one of such program. The unfortunate truth is that few would miss Temple football if it no longer existed.

Calls to end Owls football are nothing new, and this week Marcus Hayes wrote another piece echoing that. I’ve got a solution that would appease everyone:

Temple will fold its football team if the Inquirer fires Marcus Hayes.

Everyone wins. Temple Owls Football, never a source of joy, would end on the highest of notes, uniting everyone in a celebratory moment. Temple basketball wouldn’t create this kind of excitement if they made a Final Four run, because fans of other Big 5 teams wouldn’t find joy in that. But the end of Marcus Hayes having any kind of relevance is something that can unite an entire region. Oh and if the Inquirer ever brings him back, the football team comes back.

College Football Week 13 Watch List
QB Kurtis Rourke, Indiana

I doubt the Eagles draft a QB, having traded for Kenny Pickett. But the QB Factory needs materials, and Rourke fits the profile that the Eagles generally like, as he’s big (6-5, 223), and mobile enough, though his arm strength is lacking. He checks a lot of the same boxes that Pickett does.

Rourke is also one of the oldest prospects in the draft, he turned 24 last month. A sixth year breakout QB who doesn’t do anything at an elite level (again, like Kenny Pickett) shouldn’t go high (though Kenny Pickett did), though this QB class is going to see a few QBs taken higher than they should be. If he’s there on day three, he could be an Eagles target.

RB Ollie Gordon, Oklahoma State

Gordon could fit a different type of player that the Eagles have tended to draft over the years: an early season potential top prospect who, come April, isn’t a top prospect. Jeremiah Trotter Jr., Kelee Ringo, and Nakobe Dean all fit that profile recently, and Jalen Mills and Matt Barkley in earlier drafts.

In August, Gordon was RB1. Now, he might not even be top 5. Gordon was near unstoppable last year, blowing away almost every one Oklahoma State played after they rotated through three QBs in their first three games and struggled in the air and realized they had something special on the ground. This year the Cowboys can’t block anybody and Gordon and the team are having a miserable season, the worst team in the sixteen team Big 12. Gordon may have fallen from potential 1st round pick to a high day three pick. That’s the kind of player the Eagles have jumped on.

DT Dontay Corleone, Cincinnati

Corleone, predictably but still coolly nicknamed “the Godfather” is a massive human being. Cincinnati lists him at 6-1 320, they may be hiding some pounds there, he’s got to be 330+, in high school he says he weighed over 350. As you can probably imagine from that alone, he is a run stopping nose tackle. Perhaps he can be more than that, coming in 31st this year and 16th last year on Bruce Feldman’s Freaks List, with quick 10 and 20 yard splits and an 18.7 mph top speed. He missed the summer with blood clots in his lungs; and he was injured last week, he may be a late scratch this week. Corleone won’t go high, but if tests well he could be a mid round pick at a role the Eagles could use depth at.