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Offensive players in the 2013 NFL draft class took the podiums yesterday at the combine, including a number of guys that could be a target for the Eagles with their first or second pick. Here's a few highlights
If the Eagles took Chance Warmack, he'd be reunited with his OL coach at Alabama Jeff Stoutland, who he speaks very highly of.
"That's my guy right there," said Chance. "Real explosive coach. We work hand in hand, he complements me and I complement him. A real go-getter as a coach. That's all he preaches, come off the ball fast, so it works well for me. Kudos to him getting a job with the Eagles. Much respect."
Another Alabama offensive lineman that figures to go in the first couple rounds in April is Barrett Jones. Perhaps the most attractive thing about him is that you can't even peg him with one position because he's played them all and done well. Jones says moving around so much has made him a better player.
"When you play a lot of positions, it allows you to learn the offense from diff perspectives," he said. "You stop memorizing the offense and start understanding it. That's the biggest reason playing center mentally wasn't that big a challenge. I understood the offense and what we were trying to accomplish."
TE Travis Kelce is the brother of Eagles C Jason Kelce, which he says gives him a lot to live up to.
"Jason was noticed as one of the better rookies coming in and he started his entire rookie season. I'm going to have quite a few things to live up to my rookie year."
Kelce was also asked about watching Brent Celek, who not only played with his brother but also set most TE records at his alma mater.
"Definitely. Definitely. I knew of Celek when he was at UC just because my brother played with him at Cincinnati. It was one of my goals to beat all his records at Cincinnati. I said, ‘Hi," to him when I was in Philly doing the surgery. Yeah, for me to have a guy like Celek kind of walk the way to the NFL and show me the right way to do things and be able to definitely excel in the NFL is definitely a plus."
Florida State QB E.J. Manuel was recruited out of high school by Chip Kelly at Oregon.
It was great. Coach Kelly is a great coach and also a great coach off the field. Obviously I went to Florida State and played for coach (Jimbo) Fisher. Oregon was on the other side of the country. Maybe if I had been from California, I may have considered those guys more. But I definitely watched their games. I saw the success he had. He's in Philadelphia now, so we'll see what happens.
For more on this very subject, check out Southern Philly's fanpost The Re-Recruiting Trail.
Syracuse QB Ryan Nassib is from the Philadelphia area and says getting drafted by the Eagles would be a dream come true.
"Going home to Philly would be awesome. I've been a season ticket holder for a long time,or my family has. It would be like coming home. I'd probably have to go move to Jersey or something. Stay away from hometown friends . . . no, they're fine. It would be dream come true. They were my team growing up. Being able to play for the team you saw all the time would be great."
Geno Smith says he doesn't think the read option is necessarily "his game," but he's ran it and would be happy to do so in the NFL if that's what the coach wanted.
"Well, I played in three different systems in college. I've also played in the read-option system. I had to adapt because coming out of high school, I had no say in that system. So I had to adapt to it. I think that's something I've always been capable of.
I think I have the skill set that fits any offense. I can play within the pocket but I'm athletic enough to run that style of offense."