Looking At The Leap Year Prospects Of The 2011 Eagles Draft Class (Part 2)

Earlier, we looked at the "leap year" prospects of the first half of the 2011 draft class, so now we'll take a look at the rest.

Dion Lewis - RB - Lewis showed some flashes running the ball last year averaging 4.4 yards per carry, but the Eagles brought in some competition for him this season. But here's where the leap year guys should stand out. Dion Lewis should know the offense better than Bryce Brown or Chris Polk. He should be more patient and he should understand pass blocking better than those guys. This is exactly what we look for in second year guys. Dion Lewis looked like a pretty good runner when he had a chance in rookie year, so now we'll get to see if he's added all those other dimensions to his game.

Julian Vandervelde - OL - There's really only backup jobs up for grabs for a guy like Vandervelde, but what we look for from his is really the same as Watkins. Get stronger and refine technique.

Jason Kelce - OL - Unlike Watkins in year one, Kelce really showed marked improvement as the year went on. The strong way he finish seems to have made a lot of people forget that he was struggling at times early last year, but that's really not a big deal for a rookie. This season we want to basically see him pick up where left off and progress with the strength and technique just like any lineman. However, for Kelce there's one other big thing we want to see this year. Last season, Michael Vick was making the line calls when normally in this offseason it has been the center. Obviously the Eagles did not want to give that responsibility to a rookie who had no offseason. This year it appears that they will put the responsibility on Kelce to make the calls. So this is a big offseason for him to be able to recognize where blitzes are coming from and adjusting the protections.

Brian Rolle - LB - Rolle was an exciting player last season when he broke into the starting lineup, but that excitement and fun attitude kind of masked that he missed a lot of tackles. Just like Casey Matthews, it's going to be interesting to see how much muscle Rolle has put on this offseason. He would get swallowed up in blocks just like Matthews at times. He's already got a tremendous motor, so if he could add some strength and shore up his tackling technique he could really be a player. The starting WILL job may very well come down to who makes the biggest year two jump between he and Matthews.

Greg Lloyd - LB - For Lloyd, the path to a roster spot is probably through special teams. So that's where we probably want to see how he's progressed.

Stanley Havili - FB - At this point, he's the starting fullback. He showed up to the rookie camp having put on some bulk and muscle so clearly he has known what his job was this offseason, which is a good sign. Havili was a good runner and very good receiver at USC, but he really didn't do as much blocking as you might expect a fullback to do. So it will be good to see how he's progressed there, but the added bulk is certainly a good sign.