By Matt Rappa, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Even if the Philadelphia Phillies cannot sign Manny Machado this offseason, it appears the club will still make at least one more addition to its infield depth chart.
Not only are the Phillies interested in Mike Moustakas, but according to Jon Heyman, they are one of five "in" on veteran utility infielder Josh Harrison, who is a "great and versatile defender."
Continue reading "Report: Phillies Interested in Josh Harrison" »
By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor
The Eagles appear likely to have their franchise quarterback return sooner rather than later.
On Sunday, Adam Schefter of ESPN reported that the Eagles expect Carson Wentz to be back and healthy by April and be able to participate in the offseason program.
Obviously this is good news for Eagles fans as the last time we saw a healthy Carson Wentz he was on his way to earning the MVP award. In just 13 games, he amassed 3296 passing yards, 33 touchdowns and only seven interceptions. He also lead the league in QBR (77.2) and touchdown percentage (7.5%) even though he missed the final three games of the season.
Although he was still recovering from a torn ACL and MCL as well as dealing with a fractured back, Wentz still managed to improve his completion percentage from 60.2% to 69.6%. Rhar improvement may have beet the reason we saw an increase in yard per pass attempt from 7.5 to 7.7 and his yards per game (253.5 to 279.5).
What I am attempting to prove is that while it certainly seemed like a down year for Wentz, he was able to put up some decent numbers as well as improve in the some of the areas that he was worried about all while playing through multiple injuries, spending no time in training camp to get back into the swing of things and develop chemistry with new teammates and playing the difficult schedule that typically comes with being a Super Bowl Championship team, especially in the NFC East.
While we await the Eagles decision on what they will do with back up quarterback Nick Foles, fans should feel confident that their signal caller of the future should be healthy and can continue to build his game with a full offseason to prepare.
By Matt Rappa, Sports Talk Philly editor
The Arena Football League, whose newly released logo last month marked "the path moving forward as a next-generation sports league," is preparing for expansion ahead of the 2019 season.
With rumors of imminent announcements to bring a team to Atlantic City and to a yet-to-be-reported city, Philadelphia Soul head coach Clint Dolezel is "hearing nothing but great things" about where the AFL is headed.
"That's all I can ask for. Coming from last year where we didn't know if we were going to play the week before we started training camp, I was a little scared," Dolezel said before the Soul's last open player tryouts Saturday at Total Turf Experience in Pitman, New Jersey.
Continue reading "Soul's Dolezel Optimistic on Future of Arena Football League" »
By Matt Rappa, Sports Talk Philly editor
Since its inception in 2004, the Philadelphia Soul have been guided by former Philadelphia Eagles Pro Bowl quarterback, Ron Jaworski. Now the Philadelphia-headquartered Arena Football League's Chairman of Executive Committee, "Jaws" has positively and significantly impacted both the team and league overall amid its expansion and "new direction."
RELATED | GM Beau Bell to Tryout Attendees: ‘Keep Playing'
At the Soul's last open player tryout on Saturday at Total Turf Experience in Pitman, New Jersey, Soul General Manager and Assistant Head Coach Beau Bell said Jaws, the team's Majority Owner, a "great mentor" for himself, as well as a "great inspiration."
"He's a great leader. He's a great individual and great person, and I'm blessed to be able to have a relationship with him and with the Philadelphia Soul itself," Bell said.
Continue reading "Soul GM Beau Bell: Ron Jaworski Is ‘Great Mentor, Inspiration, Leader’" »
By Matt Rappa, Sports Talk Philly editor
The Philadelphia Soul held their last of two open player tryouts this offseason on Saturday at Total Turf Experience in Pitman, New Jersey. With an estimated attendance of between 150 and 200 Arena Football League hopefuls, Soul Head Coach Clint Dolezel said the team is "doing good" and "excited" when they can find a player from an open tryout.
“Great turnout ... way better than we thought, we were a little worried about the weather," Dolezel told Coffee Jones. "We’re happy to have the numbers. ... I think the first tryout was maybe a hair better than this one as far as overall talent, but a good turnout for us.”
Dolezel said he thinks the Soul will invite four players from the first tryout to training camp in March, along with "a player or two" from Saturday's tryout, according to General Manager and Assistant Head Coach Beau Bell.
“I’m excited to be able to get forward to the season, but I was even more excited to come up to this tryout because we got a lot of good players show up," Bell told Jones. "Great body types, great athletic skills. We definitely found a player or two here at the tryouts."
Continue reading "Soul Head Coach Clint Dolezel: Top Priority Is 'Signing the Right Guys'" »