Pound the Table: Trade Down Scenario 1

Pound the Table has covered several player options for the Eagles at pick number 4, but now the feature is going in a different direction. BGN has tasked three members to come up with creative ways to get value for the Top 5 pick. Long-time BGNer, mycatsnameismilk, took the creative license a bit too literally. Here is what he thinks the Eagles should do in a trade with their first round pick:

An argument as to why the Eagles need to trade down from the 4th pick in the 2013 NFL draft in eight ascending steps.

1. I love the Eagles more than my wife.

Meaning I love the Eagles more then I love my wife. She hates football and the Eagles and BGN.

2. Because I love the Eagles more than my wife I would trade her wedding ring to see them win a Super Bowl.

Along with Shady, Jerome Brown's grave stone and my ability to digest both gluten and dairy.

3. Winning a Super Bowl requires winning playoff games.

and pizza, lots of pizza...

4. Winning playoff games requires superior talent.

The favorites to win the NFC this coming season are no surprise. The 49ers, Seahawks, Falcons and Packers simply have better players than the rest of the NFC. In pretty consistent fashion, at every position group; the players they put on the field out perform the guys lining up across from them. The weakest roster of the bunch, the Packers with only four pro bowlers, have arguably the best QB in the League.

5. In order to win playoff games the Eagles need to drastically increase the talent level of their roster.

The 49ers sent nine players to the Pro bowl last year, they might as well have sent twenty nine considering the Eagles didn't have one. There isn't a single position group on the Eagles roster that wouldn't drastically improve with the addition of a starter let alone a pro bowler. With the coaching and scheme changes; the recent injury history and age of the offensive line along with the absolute fucking plague of personal in the secondary for the past few years; this team needs as multiple players at multiple positions.

6. The most efficient way to increase the talent level of a roster is through the draft.

How do the 49ers end up with nine pro bowlers? They draft them that's how. In the last ten years the 49ers have drafted ten pro bowlers, in the past five years they have drafted three. Of the ten teams favored to win the Super Bowl this season six have drafted three pro bowlers in the past five years, the only team to draft four pro bowlers over that time period are the odds-on favorite: The New England Patriots.

It's not just the correlation between drafting pro bowlers and winning, but also drafting starters. Over the past ten years teams that won twelve or more games started players they drafted at nearly a 10% higher rate then teams that won less than eight games. 10% may seem insignificant but taking into account that over ten years there were only 84 twelve win teams and 267 sub eight-win teams makes two things clear: I failed college statistics twice and we are NEVER beating the 49ers!

The 49ers had fifty two more starts by players they drafted last year when compared with the league average. The Packers had thirty one, Falcons twenty four and Seahawks eight. The raw data points to one conclusion, The Seahawks are whooping our ass up and down the field for the next five years if we don't get some guys who can play.

7. In a draft that lacks elite talent but has depth trading back gives you more draft picks and a better chance at increasing your talent level.

What is the difference between Eric Fischer and Lane Johnson?

A) San Diego's second and fifth round picks

B) Miami's second and fourth round picks

C) 3 lbs

D) all the above

Every player considered a top ten pick in this draft has question marks. Health concerns, lack of experience, playing against inferior competition, incomplete skill sets, limited up side... There is no consensus, can't miss all-pro in this class. Even if there was, that's not what the Eagles need, The Eagles need multiple players at multiple positions. Over the past five years a greater number of starters have been drafted in the 2nd and 3rd rounds combined then in the first round alone. That fact is easily fudged into the idea that by trading a 1st round pick for a 2nd and a 3rd your essentially keeping the same odds of drafting at least one starter and adding the upside of a second player. Take a closer look at the numbers 2 + 3 = 5, now plug them into this equation... We are about 5 defensive players away from not being down 3 TDs in the 2nd quarter to the Falcons.

8. Because I love the Eagles more than my wife, I'm trading down.

So there you have it, a few red herrings, a slippery slope, nonsensical stats sandwiched between non sequiturs, appeal to emotion, appeal to ignorance and appeal to all things idiotic.

If you don't trade down you hate the Eagles; don't be like my wife...

Well, that was fun. Next up, we have Imp with his trade scenario. What we will he have in store for pick number 4?