Eagles 2009 NFL draft grades
by JasonB on Apr 27, 2009 10:28 AM EDT
in Philadelphia Eagles News
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PrintNow that the draft is done it's time for the experts to weigh in with their grades of everyone's draft. The grades are based more or less on the perception of value for a pick and whether the person handing out the grades thinks a team filled the holes he thinks they had...
No doubt that players some people call bad picks will be great and vice versa... but these grades are usually fun to read anyway, especially when they say glowing things about your team like the Eagles' grades do.
Mocking the Draft averaged out various draft grades and found "The clear top drafting team was Philadelphia, which landed weapons like Jeremy Maclin and LeSean McCoy. By no surprise, Oakland finished last by a wide margin."
Pete Prisco from CBS sports gives the Eagles an A+ saying "If you count adding left tackle Jason Peters and corner Ellis Hobbs, they had an amazing week."
Jeffery Chadia from ESPN calls Jeremy Maclin one of the 10 "best fits" of the draft.
Jason Cole of Yahoo sports lists the Eagles as one of his big winners from the draft.
Paul Domowich gave the Eagles an A+ saying "All in all, a helluva draft."
The Sporting News gives the Eagles draft an A saying "their offense has become more dangerous."
John Czarnecki of Fox Sports scores the Eagles an A. Like almost everyone evaluating the Eagles draft this year, he counts Jason Peters as the most significant addition. He also said that 18 teams apparently had Maclin as the #1 rated WR on their boards.
Dennis Dillion of the Sporting News lists Cornelius Ingram as one of the ten rookies "primed to make an instant impact."
Todd McShay counted the Eagles and Packers as his best NFC teams on draft day.
Matt Mosely, ESPN's NFC East blogger, liked the Eagles draft and said "somehere McNabb is smiling."
Peter King said the Eagles did "the best value picking of any team on day one of the draft"
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I think the reason the Eagles grade so well in these
is that, IMHO, those graders tend of grade based on how many skill players you sign, not on overall talent. This is the first draft in a while where the top of the Birds’ draft was skill player focused, and the upside of both players is what the graders seem to be focusing on.
I give the draft a high grade more on the trades which landed a starting LT and a proven starting CB than anything else. All you are trying to do is turn draft picks into starters, and barring injury the Eagles have gotten such a head start over all other teams based on these two trades it’s a mismatch.
If Cincinnatti, for example, turns Andre Smith into a 16 games starter who doesn’t get his QB killed, they will have had a very successful draft. The odds that the Eagles have accomplished that are far greater with Peters. Therefore, in no almost no way can you consider the Bengles to have had a better draft than the Eagles, without considering any contribution from the Eagles’ actual first two picks.
"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog." - Bear Bryant
Draft for personality, not for talent.
The past two days have reminded me why I’m an Eagles fan (other than the fact that I’m a Delaware native).
Our team drafts for PERSONALITY and not just on raw talent. Last year, a lot of other teams passed up on DeSean Jackson, believing that a 5’9" WR who looks like he barely weighs 160 lbs would be a flop in the league. But Andy and the F.O. guys had faith in a guy who was so highly lauded by his coaches in college as a hard worker and a great teammate.
The Bengals, in contrast, did what they usually do: draft purely on talent. Good luck, Cincinnati… you’ll need it. Or at least Andre Smith will.
Let’s hope that Maclin and McCoy and company turn out to be as good as we all hope!
by cybourgeoisie on Apr 27, 2009 10:42 AM EDT reply actions
I agree mostly with what you said
But Andre Smith’s coaches also spoke very, very highly of him. Plus the argument that Andy always drafts great guys is lost on me when I remember that Idiot Mitchell they drafted years ago.
its amazing
first that our 5th round pick is an “Immediate Impact player” thats frekin crazy.
also 2 years in a row we drafted someone who was injured during their entire final year
Andy usually likes to find that small school kid that no one ever heard of.
This year he just picked the best player availible on almost everypick. Happened to be possitions of needs for us.
I expect them to sign some undrafted TE to block. Lets see what else is up their sleeves as far a trades and Veteran cuts in June for the 3rd TE Spot who can block.
City of Champions!
by yophillybro on Apr 27, 2009 11:02 AM EDT up reply actions
+1, I was worried about the Andy Reid interview though.
He kind of counted him out when he considered the CB. When asked about Sheldon. He said that he has 3 CB that should start. [refering to Hanson/ Hobb/ Samuel]. No mention of Ikeguano. Not that he should be a starter, but Andy didn’t even put him in the mix, untill a reporter asked. Then Andy said that Ikeguano will be in the mix.
City of Champions!
by yophillybro on Apr 27, 2009 12:01 PM EDT up reply actions
i saw that differently
i saw it as there are 2 starting spots and there being 3 people who would ALSO like to start meaning jack hobb and hanson
Peter King said the Eagles did “the best value picking of any team on day one of the draft”
I wrote a post showing how much value, if anyone is interest
http://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2009/4/27/855814/breakdown-of-draft-and-value
For the first time Andy did not try to find that hidden gem, we picked the highest ranked player on almost every picks. Ingram is a steal.
City of Champions!
we have so many
really good picks this year. we will have a great offense and allready a great defense, so the only thing to stop us is us and bad play calling. alot of times on short yardage plays, you have to give the ball to your biggest back, just because he wears #5 you use him.
D.C. YATES
I think most make the team
Topou takes Justice spot
Harris takes JR Reed Spot
We know Ingram, McCoy, Maclin are all on the squad
Paul Faneica gets cut, no way he beats MJG, McGlynn, N Cole.
Moises Fokou has a little chance to beat out Tank Daniels. Tanks Special teams play, and seniority helps him.
Brandon Gibson has a rough road ahead of him. How can he beat out Hank Basket? Its gonna be rough for him. If he does manage to beat him out. I would be sad to see Hank go.
City of Champions!
by yophillybro on Apr 27, 2009 12:06 PM EDT up reply actions
Cornelius Ingram
I dispute that he is too small. He is the same size as Gates coming out of college (acutally 5 pounds heavier). Gates bulked up to 260 and this guy can as well.
Grading the draft at this point is kind of pointless
I think it’s amusing that all the experts rush to grade the drafts before the players ever play a down in the NFL. Only time will tell if the players live up to their expectations.
There are only a few things that can be said for certain about the Eagles’ 2009 draft.
1. In Peters they got a left tackle with a high proven level of ability. There are some question marks, but it’s clear that he can play at a very high level in the NFL.
2. In Ellis Hobbs they got a player with proven NFL ability: average cornerback, excellent kick returner
3. In Maclin, McCoy and Ingram they got players who fill positional needs on the current team and who appear to have skills that mesh well with the other offensive skills currently on the team. Whether any of them becomes a good NFL player or a great NFL player remains to be seen.
4. The team did an outstanding job of using its picks to get the players they wanted (or at least players they could live with at positions of need) while maximizing picks in future years — very similar to what the Patriots did. Really excellent pick management.
Based on those factors, I think the FO did an excellent job, but whether they will have been successful in evaluating the talent remains to be seen. Because I have a reasonable basis to believe that Peters will be an improvement over Tra Thomas for the next five years, I predict that this will be a decent draft on that basis alone. If any of the other top three picks becomes a great player or if all three become good to very good players, then I think we can call it a great draft. But for now it’s just a draft with great potential.
by MJW on Apr 27, 2009 2:02 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Like I said, the grades are based solely on “perception.” If a guy was perceived to go higher or lower than a writer will grade a team accordingly. In reality, it doesn’t really matter. Like you said, in 3 years we’ll know who had a good draft and who didn’t. At that point, no one will care whether a guy was a “reach” or “value.”
by JasonB on Apr 27, 2009 2:04 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Grading the draft
has always been about fun, but also to figure out who made the right call years later. There’s also a lot of fun in learning how to assess ability and if a player fits a team’s scheme.
Otherwise we’d have fantasy experts like Matthew Berry…..oh wait…
yeah just do the opposite of what Berry says.
BTW
Mocking the draft averaged out the grades of all top guys and found…
The clear top drafting team was Philadelphia, which landed weapons like Jeremy Maclin and LeSean McCoy. By no surprise, Oakland finished last by a wide margin.
is it just me
or does jeremy maclin have a striking resemblance to marshall faulk?
I saw us get a B+ in the Washington Post ...
… and I was like WTF?
Everyone else I saw gave us an A. And for good reason, mostly.
If it ends up being a B+ draft class, I’d take it. But I think the proven guys (Peters and Hobbs) make it a good draft for immediate impact even if the rooks are slow to develop.
Just thought I’d mention.
Still waiting for the Eagles to Bring It Home For Jerome
I Find Myself Agreeing with a Giants Fan
Not sure why everyone is so excited. The Giants fan is right, we didn’t fill our holes. We still have no improvement in the red zone and we have not replaced Dawkins’ leadership. This is a B to B- draft.
Weaver and the new Ts ...
… could go down as improvement in the red zone.
And he’s right about Dawkins’ leadership. Plus, you lose a little bit of cohesiveness when you change so many parts in an offseason.
But leadership can’t be quantified. Some teams need it more than others, and some players provide it differently than others. (He should know that, since Eli’s leadership is much different from Strahan’s or Tiki’s was) …
One can argue that this team is so much more deeper, versatile and talented — potentially — that it will offset the losses in leadership and the lack of a huge red-zone WR target.
Still waiting for the Eagles to Bring It Home For Jerome
celek emerged as our RZ guy in the postseason. i believe we ran the same Goal Line play 3 times throughout the playoffs and it was a TD all 3 times. and a few times this year we ran a QB boot intended for the FB, which resulted in a throw-away everytime. weaver will make that play. i wouldn’t be surprised to see celek lead the team in Rec. TD’s.
also, our leadership role looks to be up in the air, but I see bradley taking it with him. he just seems like that type of guy.
by eaglemaniac814 on Apr 27, 2009 9:13 PM EDT up reply actions
Not going to argue that leadership isn’t important, but how are you suppose to draft leadership. It needs to be earned, some 21 year old kid can’t get drafted and fill that void. It has to come internally from a Bradley or Cole type.
And as mentioned we help out the redzone by bolstering the O-line and running game. Then hopefully Celek and Ingram help out. WR height is often overrated at times. We could have drafted another Hank Baskett for the redzone.
Also in the red zone ...
… it seemed last year we were much more comfortable running McNabb from inside the 5 than we’d been the previous year.
I think the Eagles can give several goal line looks now: spread you out and go quick slants or quick-hitters to Westbrook, line up big and go with Weaver or whoever (Cole/Klecko as FBs again?) and sneak or QB Draw McNabb.
As noted, we already have a big tall WR on the roster we don’t use down there, so not sure if drafting one who wouldn’t get on the field otherwise would have been of any practical help.
Having both Andrews and Peters and Weaver all healthy should improve the inside the 5 plays anyway.
Still waiting for the Eagles to Bring It Home For Jerome
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