Eckel teaches us about the draft

by JasonB on Apr 29, 2008 2:35 PM EDT in Philadelphia Eagles News

I'd just like to thank Mark Eckel for exposing the Eagles real motives in this year's draft... because clearly the Eagles were trying to hide it.

The Eagles will say all the right things during and after the NFL Draft.

They will tell you how happy they are with all their picks, how they were surprised some of them were still on the board, and how they couldn't believe others were there

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What they won't tell you about this draft is how pick after pick after pick were made to seemingly correct the mistakes or misevaluations of the past few drafts.

True, Mark... they didn't tell us that...

Start with the Eagles' first overall pick, Trevor Laws, a hard-working overachieving type from Notre Dame, who is expected to rotate as the third defensive tackle behind Mike Patterson and Brodrick Bunkley.

Patterson and Bunkley were first-round picks. Granted you need depth on the defensive line and the Eagles had little behind their two starters, since free agents Ian Scott, Montae Reagor, and Kimo von Oelhoffen couldn't get it done.

So do you understand kids? The Eagles are drafting players because other players they have aren't good enough. It's about time someone blew the lid on this one! Eckel goes on to list all the reasons why the Eagles took every other player in this draft and how it relates to a "failure" or as some call it "position of need" on the team.

Now, Eckel is correct. The Eagles do draft players to replace those on the roster currently that aren't good enough. What makes this completely farcical is how he implies that this is somehow wrong or unique to the Eagles. Raise your hands if you think the Falcons drafted Matt Ryan for any other reason than they felt their current QBs weren't good enough?

DeSean Jackson, the second second-rounder comes in with great speed, no size and questionable off-the-field character issues.

He figures to take time to develop as a receiver, but promises to solve the team's gaping need for a punt and kickoff returner immediately.

That is such a need because Jeremy Bloom, a 2006 pick who promised to be the punt and kickoff returner, was released last year.

Is he kidding us? Seriously, was this column some sort of joke? Does he think the only reason teams draft players is to replace retiring hall of famers or something? Isn't replacing former free agents or draft picks that didn't work out the whole point of the NFL draft? I can't possibly wrap my head around the motivation for writing something so blatantly disingenuous. It's an insult to our intelligence.

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you are 100% correct. that’s the whole point of the draft. you replace players that suck or ones that leave. it’s not rocket science. if all teams drafted perfectly every year, we’d have it only once every 10 years. i think it’s just another case of a journalist trying too hard to be original…

by ringordietryin on Apr 29, 2008 3:23 PM EDT reply actions

Eckel is a loser

Eckel is such a hack. I was proud of him for spelling everyone’s names correct in this article. What I want to know is: What are Desean Jackson’s “questionable off-the-field character issues?”

Some scouts have questioned his work ethic based on his weight or lack thereof. Since Jackson has supremely dominated every level of competition he’s ever played, I don’t see it.

by Eaglescout on Apr 29, 2008 3:50 PM EDT reply actions

the only thing that i heard about jackson was when he played against usc, the trojan players were giving him a hard time for rejecting usc and playing for cal and jackson pretty much “pinkstoned” the game. that’s when critics began questioning his heart.

this is strictly based on what i read through various internet sources leading up to the draft so it could be a rumor. i’ll try to get someone from the west coast to confirm this story.

by ringordietryin on Apr 29, 2008 5:08 PM EDT up reply actions