Yesterday’s post questioned why the Eagles have gone after highly-ranked safeties, while sticking with mid-round projects at cornerback. Friend of the blog Sam Lynch laid out his view in the comments, that it’s the result of the Eagles failing to address defensive back in any substantial way through the draft since 2003:
“For example, in the five drafts between 2003 and 2007, the Eagles took 1 CB and 2 Ss in the first four rounds, and the second safety (Considine) was only taken after JR Reid had his accident”
I agree, although the next question is why. Why would a team that drafted Lito Sheppard and Sheldon Brown prior to the departures of Troy Vincent and Bobby Taylor fail to plan ahead this time? Even after they snagged Asante Samuel in free agency, they didn’t bother to even invest in one long term solution to play on the opposite side. Not sure I have a good answer for this one.
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Perhaps the strangest story I’ve read in the last week was the yesterday’s revelation that David Akers had pre-draft dreams that foretold the Eagles picking another kicker.
That piece reminded me about the reports that surfaced at the end of the season that Akers had turned down a three-year contract extension with the team. I wonder if that offer really was as good as McLane reports: “a deal that would have made him one of the top five kickers in the league.” Seems like lunacy that Akers would turn that down, unless he already wanted to move on.
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Non-Eagles note: the University of Nebraska was kicked out of the American Association of Universities last week. Many of you college football/Big Ten/Penn State fans may remember that Nebraska’s membership in the AAU was supposed to be a vital reason for their inclusion in the new 12-member Big Ten.
Of course, as I wrote a year ago, sticking to academic standards was never high on the Big Ten’s agenda.