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When the 2013 NFL draft takes place later this month you'll undoubtedly see many NFL pundits handing out grades to try and immediately quantify how a team did with its draft. However, they'll often admit that in reality it takes at least 3 years to truly judge a draft class.
So with a less than a month to go before the 4th anniversary of the 2010 draft class, let's take a look back at the class. The Eagles brought in a whopping 13 players that year and with all those lottery tickets you'd think the Eagles would have to hit on a couple right?
Well....
Before we break it down, I want to say how I'll do these grades. I'm not really interested in doing letter grades so we'll go with grading players kind of like stocks. Each pick gets either an "outperform" if the player has performed over expectations, an "underperform" if he either isn't on the team or hasn't played well, or finally a "neutral" if he's kind of incomplete or has pretty much delivered on expectations.
#13 Brandon Graham DE Michigan - Grade = "Neutral" - This one will certainly be controversial, but let's look at Graham's body of work. An injury robbed him of a good portion of his first two seasons. Last year he really came on strong and was incredibly productive, but in limited snaps. Going forward it still remains to be seen whether he can produce at a high level as a starter and whether he can fit in a 3-4 scheme.
#37 Nate Allen S USF - Grade = "Underperform" - So far Nate's peak was the first four games of his rookie season. Since then he's struggled both with injuries and his play on the field. This season likely represents his last shot.
#86 Daniel Te'o-Nesheim DE Washington - Grade = "Underperform" - Simply never made an impact and didn't hang around long. Te'o ended up being quite a miss in the 3rd round. Just to add insult to injury, he would go on to win a starting job in Tampa after being cut here. Granted, he's no standout there, but he's accomplished a lot more than he did here.
#105 Trevard Lindley CB Kentucky - Grade = "Underperform" - Has managed to hang on with the team by getting cut and re-signed over the summer a couple times. Still has never made any impact.
#121 Keenan Clayton LB Oklahoma - Grade = "Underperform" - Simply never made an impact or found a real position to make his own.
#122 Mike Kafka QB Northwestern - Grade = "Underperform" - I thought about giving him a neutral grade because he was just a backup and likely wasn't expected to be much more... But the fact is that he lost the battle for the 3rd QB job to Trent Edwards. No one would have expected Kafka to be a star, but he could at least still be on the team.
#125 Clay Harbor TE Missouri State - Grade = "Neutral" - He's shown a couple flashes here and there but overall hasn't made much of impact. He'll have a real fight to keep a roster spot on his hands this year.
#135 Ricky Sapp DE Clemson - Grade = "Underperform" - Came in injured, never really did anything.
#159 Riley Cooper WR Florida - Grade = "Neutral" - Cooper seems to have developed into a solid, roster worthy WR. He hasn't put up a lot of numbers, but he's improved every season and is a valuable contributor on special teams. As a 5th round pick, I'd say that's largely in line with expectations.
#200 Charles Scott RB LSU - Grade = "Underperform" - Did not make the team.
#220 Jamar Chaney LB Mississippi State - Grade = "Neutral" - Surprisingly, he's still on the roster and has started 23 games for the team over the past 3 seasons. That's more than anyone probably would have expected for a guy drafted at this point, but his overall performance in those games prevents him from being an outperform. In fact, he's a lot closer to underperform.
#243 Jeff Owens DT Georgia - Grade = "Underperform" - Hung around on the practice squad a while, but never made the team.
#244 Kurt Coleman S Ohio State - Grade = "Neutral" - I really struggled with this one because you wouldn't expect a 7th rounder to start 29 games over his first 3 seasons as Coleman has. However, context matters. Why did he start that many games? Is it because his play was so good that he forced his way into the lineup or is it because there was simply nothing better? I would say it's more the latter and the fact that the Eagles signed 2 safeties this offseason is proof that they kind of agree.
Overall, this is a pretty poor class that looks even worse given the fact that the team had so many shots at finding a gem. Brandon Graham is the only guy here with even a chance at becoming a regular or above average starter in this league. Last year looks like a sign that he's headed there, but he's not proven it yet.
Does anyone think Nate Allen is still salvageable? He'll certainly have to stay healthier to have any shot.
Other than Graham, Riley Cooper is likely the only other guy from this draft class that even has a better than 50-50 shot at making the 2013 roster. Even he has potentially stiff competition in the form of Arrelious Benn, who is really Cooper with more raw talent.
If you want to look at the start of Andy Reid's downfall, the loss of Jim Johnson was certainly part of that, but this 2010 draft class played a pretty big part as well.