NFL Draft: Philadelphia Eagles Team Draft Retrospective

This article is part of a series that looks at each NFL team’s recent draft history, with the hope of extracting information about the way they think and the players they value. The analysis is limited to the past five drafts in the interest of relevance and the first three rounds, because that’s where most impact players are taken.

This entry will focus on the Philadelphia Eagles.

DRAFT HISTORY

In the past five years, the Eagles have taken the following players in the early rounds. Their positions and the rounds in which they were drafted are listed next to their names.

2006:   Brodrick Bunkley, DT (1)

            Winston Justice, OT (2)

            Chris Gocong, LB (3) 

2007:   Kevin Kolb, QB (2)

            Victor Abiamiri, DE (2)

            Stewart Bradley, LB (3)

            Tony Hunt, RB (3)  

2008:   Trevor Laws, DT (2)

            DeSean Jackson, WR (2)

            Bryan Smith, DE (3)

2009:   Jeremy Maclin, WR (1)

            LeSean McCoy, RB (2)

2010:   Brandon Graham, DE (1)

            Nate Allen, S (2)

            Daniel Te’o-Nesheim, DE (3)

BREAKDOWN BY POSITION

Here is the number of players the Eagles have drafted for each position:

Defensive End: 4

Defensive Tackle: 2

Linebacker: 2

Running Back: 2

Wide Receiver: 2

Offensive Tackle: 1

Quarterback: 1

Safety: 1

IMPACT

Brodrick Bunkley and Trevor Laws have been fixtures at defensive tackle. Kevin Kolb has shown flashes that suggest he could be a very good quarterback, but he’s had to wait his turn behind Donovan McNabb, only to get upstaged by Michael Vick. Still, some team will probably part with at least a second rounder for him this offseason, so the Eagles don’t really regret drafting him. Stewart Bradley is an excellent linebacker. But the most impressive return for the Eagles has been their trio of offensive skill players—receivers DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin and running back LeSean McCoy.

The Eagles have also been solid contenders over this time frame, though not as dominating as they were for the first half of the decade.

TRENDS

Eagles coach Andy Reid obviously places a lot of importance on his defensive line, especially the ends. Like most effective defenses, they’ve realized the value of controlling the trenches. However, their scouting appears to be somewhat suspect. The defensive tackles have worked out, but none of the ends has really reached his potential and become a reliable pass rusher for the Eagles. Of course, two of them were taken last year, so the jury’s still out on them.

Conversely, the Eagles have neglected the other line. Their only selection there has been Winston Justice, a very shaky tackle who was benched in the playoff loss to the Packers. Reid’s inability to address the offensive line through the draft has made it the single biggest weak spot on this team.

Similarly, the secondary has not been replenished despite the exits of Brian Dawkins and Sheldon Brown. The Eagles have taken a lone defensive back—safety Nate Allen—in the early rounds. Free agent Asante Samuel has helped fill the void, but more help is needed.

The greatest area of strength, as noted above, is the offensive skill players. Jackson, Maclin, and McCoy, along with Vick, should terrorize opposing defenses for years to come.

2011 OUTLOOK

Clearly, Philadelphia’s biggest weaknesses are the offensive line and secondary. Not coincidentally, those are the positions they’ve neglected in the early rounds. Something’s got to give.

If they do decide to change their strategy, they’ll have a tough choice in the first round. They can take one of the top offensive tackles that are likely to fall to them, like Gabe Carimi (Wisconsin), Derek Sherrod (Mississippi State), or Nate Solder (Colorado). Or they can take cornerback Jimmy Smith (Colorado), who’s considered one of the top talents in the draft but has glaring character issues. The Eagles have been known to go after such players (e.g., Vick), so if they feel confident about his commitment to football, they’d be hard pressed to pass on someone with as much potential as Smith.

They also need to decide whether any of the slew of defensive ends they took last year has a chance of panning out or if they need to try again. Giving up on Brandon Graham would be a tough pill to swallow, especially after they moved up to get him last year. My guess is that they’ll take some insurance in the middle rounds, as this is a fairly deep class for pass rushers.

The interior of the offensive line and linebacker should also get some attention, but not necessarily in the first three rounds.