Admitting Mistakes, Moving Forward

Howie Roseman talked with reporters on Thursday, and reiterated his pledge that the Eagles will draft the best player available, rather than the best player at a position of need. Here’s what Roseman said a month ago on the same topic, as reported by Paul Domowitch:

“At some point, you get entrenched into what your team needs,” he said. “And because we’re so determined to win a championship as quickly as possible, we wanted to address those [needs] as quickly as possible.

“When you look back at the moves, particularly in the draft, that we’ve made successfully, it was situations where we took the best players [rather than the best player at the position of greatest need]. It’s something I believe in.”

I think it’s great that Roseman can look at his track record without sugarcoating it and is open and honest about changes that need to be made. The Danny Watkins/Jaiquawn Jarrett 1-2 combination is not one the Eagles front office will be looking to replicate.

But other than not reaching for the one-eyed prospects among blind ones (Mark Barron?), I’m not sure how much we can really read into Roseman’s comments, especially in the first round. In later rounds, teams should never reach for anybody, since no late-round draft pick is likely to contribute right away — or ever, realistically.

In the first round, though, it’s not enough to hide behind “best player available.” Best player available isn’t a suitable rationale for selecting a running back, for example, or in my opinion, a quarterback. Offense in general just isn’t a good value proposition for the Eagles this year, especially compared to the long-term holes on defense. The first round pick needs to be on defense, and there multiple good options should be available either at pick 15 or within striking distance of it.

Still, it will be interesting to see if we can detect any substantial shift in the Eagles drafting philosophy this year, given Roseman’s continued assertions that the same mistakes won’t be made.

Photo from Getty.

Sale in Aisle 22

Mike Klis, the Denver Post:

The Broncos have expressed interest in acquiring Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Asante Samuel, according to two NFL sources. However, the Broncos no longer believe they can strike a deal, even though trade talks advanced to the stage where the team presented two proposals — one for a late-round draft pick and the other involving a player.

5th or 6th round pick for a Pro Bowl corner like Samuel? Considering they received offers in the second round range last year, this could end up being even more of a disaster than it was already. I’ll withhold complete judgement until we see the actual deal go down, but this is a real indictment of Howie Roseman.

Sign Those Letters of Intent

Jason La Canfora:

The Philadelphia Eagles began sending letters to borderline draftable players about a year ago, laying the foundation for signing them after the draft.

The letters detailed Philly’s interest in a player, and their intention to contact said player after the draft if he is not selected. The Indianapolis Colts, with rookie general manager Ryan Grigson having just left the Eagles a few months ago, have begun the process of sending letters to likely UFAs this year.

Weird story. It’s like college recruiting.

(via BGN)

Guessing the Eagles Draft Plans: A, B, and C

Andrew Luck
Robert Griffin III
Matt Kalil
Trent Richardson
Justin Blackmon
Morris Claiborne
Ryan Tannehill

Looking at mock drafts from around the web, the above seven players have emerged as consensus locks for the top eight picks. Collectively, draft experts would be surprised to see any of them drop beyond the Dolphins, who seem poised to select Tannehill.

If you take these mocks to heart, only one player from the “next tier” of prospects will be selected in the top eight (most likely by Jacksonville). Which player that is depends on who you read. Could be Melvin Ingram or Fletcher Cox or Stephen Gilmore.

But even putting aside that one spot, consensus like this on seven of the top eight picks is rare. Which, as I said the other day, makes it (slightly) easier to guess what the Eagles will be looking at when the draft comes to its first turn at the ninth overall pick.

To me, that’s the critical juncture for the Eagles. As of right now, operating on nothing but rumors and logical conjecture, I would bet the Eagles wish list — assuming the draft turns out this way — looks something like this:

Plan A: Fletcher Cox. Defensive tackle makes the most sense of any position and Cox is tailor-made for the Washburn’s scheme. The fact that they paraded Dontari Poe around and kept the Cox workout under the radar also suggests that something is going on. In order to get their top choice, however, the Eagles will likely have to trade up, perhaps as high as ninth overall.

Plan B: Luke Kuechly. Jacksonville or Carolina could easily spoil the plan for Cox, in which case the next logical player is KEEK-ly. The linebacker would be an immediate upgrade on the strongside and a long term solution in the middle after he apprentices next to DeMeco Ryans. Some mocks have him going in the 11-12 range, but given the reception 4-3 linebackers have received in the free agent market, that may be overstated. 

Plan C: Grab bag. Not sure that I see the Eagles trading up for Kuechly, but if he’s taken before they come up, everything breaks wide open. At that point you’re really talking about the “best available defensive player,” who is probably someone like Quinton Coples or Dre Kirkpatrick. 

That’s how I expect the Eagles to approach the draft from their perch at 15 overall. I would be surprised to see Cox selected in the 12-14 range without the Eagles moving up to snag him first. Failing that, I would be surprised to them pass on Kuechly if he were available at 15.

But then again, I could be completely wrong. What do you think?

Walkthrough Lick > Wonderlic

Mike Tanier, with his new standardized football test:

Good standardized tests set very specific parameters about what they are designed to measure. Bad standardized tests are designed to “measure general mental ability, widely accepted as being one of the single best predictors of job success.” General mental ability? What the hell is that? Why, it’s what the Wonderlic measures, according to the Wonderlic website.

Brandon Graham, Bust?

Dave Spadaro:

Graham is back at square one, in a sense. The Eagles are counting on him to deliver the promise that made him a first-round draft pick. Is he that special player who the Eagles coveted so much that they traded up in the first round to acquire? Or is he just not the right fit in the league?

Or is Graham somewhere between the two extremes?

“Day by day,” he says. “I’m just taking it day by day.”

Maybe I’m the only one, but this was the first time I read a puff piece on the Eagles website and came away thinking the profiled player was more of a bust then when I started reading.

On the Eagles Trading Up in the First Round

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Except when it comes to the NFL draft, in which case the smoke may be planted ten miles away to distract everyone from the actual blaze.

If you ask me, that’s what’s going on with all these rumors about the Eagles moving high up in the draft. First there was the report saying the team was in the hunt to move up to the fourth overall pick. Then there’s this nugget, from National Football Post’s Dan Pompei:

A buzz is building in NFL front offices that the Eagles are going to take a quarterback fairly high. If they don’t make a move for Ryan Tannehill in round one, the Eagles could wait until the second round and go after Kirk Cousins or Brandon Weeden. Such a move could indicate the Eagles have concerns about Michael Vick’s ability to stay healthy and how he fits in Andy Reid’s offense.

First of all, there is ample evidence to suggest the Eagles aren’t finished at quarterback. Mike Kafka is no sure-thing backup, and Trent Edwards didn’t receive more than the most token endorsement from Andy Reid as the third-stringer. They might be looking to draft another quarterback to develop or pick up another veteran.

But why would the Eagles move up to get Tannehill? He’s way overvalued as a top ten pick, and there’s no reason for the team to mortgage most of their draft to reach for a guy like that. To get up to the Browns pick, for example, would require three-quarters of the cost the Redskins paid for the rights to RG3 and you probably wouldn’t get half as good of a player.

Moreover, if the team really was interested in moving up to get Tannehill or drafting one of the other quarterbacks a little bit later on, it would be in their interest to keep such thoughts to themselves.

All of which brings us to Peter King, who Tommy noted yesterday is quite the Eagles prognosticator:

The Eagles don’t want to trade up from 15 to anywhere between three and eight. It’d cost too much, and I sense their interest in Tannehill has been overstated. Philadelphia has sniffed around the quarterback position through the offseason, which could be a sign they’ve cooled on Michael Vick as their long-term solution at the position, and the Eagles have been linked to the Texas A&M quarterback because they sent quarterback coach Doug Pederson to the school to work out Tannehill two weeks ago. The Eagles might pay something to move up for Tannehill, but it won’t be much, and the move won’t be far.

I think it’s interesting that King pegged ninth overall as being the highest the Eagles would be likely to trade up. That probably has something to do with the Dolphins pick at eight being about as far as Tannehill is likely to drop, but more importantly, the Eagles can move up that high using just one of their second round picks.

If I were sitting at 15, I’d probably be content to see how the first eight picks shake out. Three quarterbacks are likely to go that high, which could leave one or more elite position players within striking distance. If not, Howie Roseman can still watch the board and jump ahead of any team he thinks might be targeting his top player (say, Fletcher Cox).

The rest is just smoke.

Photo from Getty.

Eagles' Fletcher Cox Workout Comes to Light

Jordan Raanan, for BGN:

The Birds appear to have had a private workout some time in the past few weeks with Cox in Starkville. They sent defensive line coach Jim Washburn to run the former Mississippi State standout through some drills and get a better idea of what makes him tick.

“I talked to coach Wash,” said Cox, the current overwhelming favorite for the Eagles in the endless mock drafts at our disposal. “We’ve talked and he came down and saw me, worked me out a little bit. He just wanted to get to know me, see what kind of person I was.”

So Washburn worked out Fletcher Cox in private, and “accidentally” paraded Dontari Poe past the beat reporters at NovaCare. Hmmmm.