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Evaluating Howie's Drafts: Part VIII

Previously graded:

2010 Draft Class: B Read the full review here.

2011 Draft Class: D- Read the full review here.

2012 Draft Class: A Read the full review here.

2013 Draft Class: A Read the full review here.

2014 Draft Class: D Read the full review here.

2015 Draft Class: C- Read the full review here. (Chip Kelly's Draft)

2016 Draft Class: A Read the full review here.

The 2017 draft is probably my favorite draft of all time, and it has nothing to do with the players the Eagles took that year. This is my favorite draft because it was held in Philadelphia, and I was able to go to the draft. I had never attended an NFL draft before, and the entire experience was unforgettable. There were a ton of events to participate in, and I personally thought it was just really cool to be able to watch draft selections take place in person. I hope Philly gets to host more drafts in the future, and then win the Superbowl immediately afterwards. If you've never been to an NFL draft, but watch it every year like me, you should definitely make an effort to go. Even if you only go for Day 3 of the draft, its just such a unique event to see in person. Pleasant memories aside, it's time to evaluate the 2017 class. As usual, if you know how I'm going to be doing things in the rest of this post, skip down to the evaluations, if not, read on: I'll be assigning a letter grade to each player the Eagles took in this class, give a brief explanation for each grade, see if there were any notable undrafted free agents, and then give the draft class an overall grade. The overall draft class grade is determined by calculating an average of the individual grades, with a different weight assigned to picks from each round, and undrafted free agents are treated as bonus points or 'extra credit'. A more in-depth explanation of this grading system is available here. (I am using the standard American Grading System, so for example an A+ would equal 100, an A would equal 96, an A- would equal 92, a B+ would equal 89, a B would equal 86, and so on. For the sake of grading, an F equals 59.) All stats referenced were found on Pro Football Reference.

Now let's take a look at the 2017 Draft Class:

Round 1, Pick 14: Derek Barnett, DE - I've seen some hate directed towards Barnett throughout this past season, and in the offseason, and frankly, I don't get it. Has he played at a Pro Bowl level? No, but you know who else hasn't? Any other DE selected in the 2017 class not named Myles Garrett. Speaking of the 2017 class, did you know there are only five players from that class with more sacks than Barnett, and only two of those players have significantly more, Garett and T.J. Watt (the others are within 2.5 sacks of Barnett). My point is, Barnett hasn't been great, but it's not like there were a ton of highly productive DEs taken after him in the 2017 draft. So far, Barnett has 14 career sacks in 35 career games, he's started 20, and guess what, all of those numbers are better than Brandon Graham after his first three years. And Barnett had his 2018 season cut short due to injury. I'm not saying Barnett is going to become Reggie White, or Trent Cole, or even BG. But I thought he looked good at times in 2017, he came up with some huge plays in the 2017 playoffs, he looked good in 2018 before he got hurt, and I thought as he got healthier during 2019, he started to return to form. Let's give the kid a chance next season on a stacked D-line (if he doesn't wind up getting shipped to Jacksonville for a certain disgruntled DE), and see how he looks. Grade: B+

Round 2, Pick 43: Sidney Jones, CB - If you watch Sidney Jones' highlights as a shut down corner for the Washington Huskies, it's hard not to get excited and think about how good he could be at the next level. If you've watched him as a pro, it's hard to get excited. He's rarely been healthy, and hamstring issues seem to crop up almost every time he gets burned. He did have two clutch moments during the Eagles stretch run at the end of last season... so maybe with a healthy offseason/training camp, and those moments to build off of in terms of confidence, we'll finally see a glimpse of the player the Birds thought they were getting three years ago. Or perhaps they just gambled on a player who will never be the same after suffering a pre-draft injury, and has struggled to get healthy ever since. Fun fact, Sidney Jones has as many career interceptions as Byron Jones. Grade: C-

Round 3, Pick 99: Rasul Douglas, CB - I liked what I saw out of Sul early on in his career. I felt like he would have been a good candidate to convert to a safety as the Jenkins/McLeod tandem aged, but the Eagles appear to be determined to play him at corner (or possibly trade him?). As a corner, he has not been great. Last season he gave up a passer rating of 115.3, 650 yards, and 6 TDs... and he only started 6 games. Maybe he plays better if the D-line improves its play, and the secondary overall improves with the addition of Slay and others. Speaking of Slay, if you were on the fence with that trade, consider these last two selections, and ask yourself if you'd rather Howie try to draft a starting CB in the third round of this years draft, or just get Slay. Grade: C

Round 4, Pick 118: Mack Hollins, WR - Aside from a disappearing act in the middle of his Eagles career, Hollins was a receiver whose potential was intriguing early in his career, and whose lack of development was disappointing at the end of his Eagles tenure. After contributing only 125 yards in 12 games for the Eagles in 2019, despite the team missing it's top 3 WRs for long stretches of the season, he was cut and picked up by the Dolphins, who he somehow contributed even less to. All told, his Eagles career spanned three seasons, he caught 26 passes for 351 yards, and a single touchdown. Grade: D-

Round 4, Pick 132: Donnel Pumphrey, RB - Sigh. He never played in an NFL game for the Eagles. He last suited up in the XFL, where he wasn't exactly lighting the world on fire. The pick was bad enough by itself, but it gets worse when you consider who the Eagles could've had... Jamaal Williams and Aaron Jones have both contributed for the Packers, Marlon Mack has looked, at times, like a solid back for the Colts, Chris Carson went all the way in the 7th round to the Seahawks. Not to mention that going back to the third round, Kareem Hunt, Alvin Kamara, James Conner and Tarik Cohen could have all been had at some point during that round (Conner and Cohen were both on the board when we took Douglas). It's almost impressive that Howie walked away from this draft with arguably the worst possible RB option. Grade: F

Round 5, Pick 166: Shelton Gibson, WR - He's appeared in 20 career games for the Eagles. He hasn't contributed much. All you really need to know about Gibson is that when the team was desperate for WR help last season, he was available all season, but the team waited until January to sign him, and didn't play him after bringing him back. Grade: F

Round 5, Pick 184: Nathan Gerry, S - He was a safety in college, but converted to linebacker after being drafted. He played mostly on special teams his rookie year, but has gradually seen his snap counts raise on defense, all the way up to 61% of all defensive snaps last season. The team seems pretty high on him, considering they let two veteran linebackers go during the season last year, and another this offeseason, along with letting Kamu Grugier-Hill follow Hollins to Miami. I honestly don't think he's been bad, and hopefully, he continues to grow into his role as a linebacker in our defense. Grade: B

Round 6, Pick 214: Elijah Qualls, DT - He appeared in 6 games in 2017, and played sparingly as a part of the Eagles deep championship D-line. The team elected to move on the following training camp. He's bounced around the league since then, and hasn't appeared in another game. Grade: D-

Notable Undrafted Free Agents:

Corey Clement, RB - I loved this signing when it happened in May. I loved it more during the 2017 season, and I definitely loved it during the Superbowl when he had 100 receiving yards and a hand in perhaps the greatest play in Eagles (Maybe even Superbowl?) history. What's happened since February 4, 2018 is really unfortunate for Clement, he finished each of the last two seasons on IR, and his future with the team has seemingly gone from definitely part of the RB plan in 2017 to currently being an unrestricted free agent. I hope the Eagles bring him back for one more shot. His performance in 2017 deserves it. If he can't stay healthy, or if he's lost a step because of the injuries, it shouldn't cost much to figure that out. But give him one more shot. Grade: A+

Cameron Johnston, P - The birds found Donnie Jones' replacement in Johnston, and he might be even better. During his time with the Eagles, Donnie 'Bag of Bones' Jones averaged 45.4 yards per punt, and had four punts blocked. Johnston's averaged 47.2 yards per punt, and has never had a punt blocked (Hopefully I didn't just jinx him). Grade: A+

Greg Ward, WR - I remember Greg Ward back when he was terrorizing opposing defenses in the American Athletic Conference as Houston's QB. When the Eagles signed him as an UDFA, as a WR, I thought there was little chance he'd ever make the roster. I think you know the rest of the story, three years later he was a mid-season addition to a depleted Eagles WR corps, and proceeded to show everyone that he should've been called up sooner than he was. I do want to keep things realistic here, it wasn't like Ward looked like the next coming of Calvin Johnson, or even Hines Ward, in the second half of 2019. But he did look like a competent NFL WR. Which is an accomplishment in itself for a former college QB, and apparently a rarity among Eagles WRs last season. If he's fighting to make the roster next season, that's a good sign that Howie rebuilt the WR corp, but if he's playing, at least we know he can catch. Grade: B+

Jomal Wiltz, CB - You probably don't remember this guy. I know I didn't. His pro football reference page is pretty bare, so I can't even tell you how many teams he tried to make before winding up on the Dolphins. I do know that despite being a 2017 UDFA, he didn't see his first game action until this past season. He played 14 games for the Dolphins, and started 6 of them. He actually played half of the Dolphins defensive snaps last season, but, as someone who's father is a huge Dolphins fan, I can tell you that this was likely more of a reflection on how poor the Dolphins were last season than how good Wiltz is. He had one INT, but gave up a 63.6% completion percentage, and 98.2 QB rating when targeted last season. Which is.... not good. Grade: D+

Tre Sullivan, S - He's been cut by the Eagles several times since signing with the birds after the 2017 draft. He played 12 games in 2018, and was cut for a final time during last season's training camp. He provided decent play in both special teams and as a reserve safety, but Eagles elected to move on after a year. We probably would've been better off keeping him around this past season then employing Sendejo for half a year. Grade: C

Overall 2017 Draft Grade: B (85.64) 8 picks, 5 notable UDFA's, eight current Eagles (realistically 7, but Gibson is currently on the roster as of writing this). This draft, and every one graded after this one, has greater potential to rise, or fall, than previous drafts because it was more recent, and the 'book' isn't written yet on most of the players taken. Sidney Jones could finally stay healthy and be a solid starting corner opposite of Slay this year, that'd definitely improve his grade. If Shelton Gibson makes the roster next year and contributes something, that'd improve his grade. If Derek Barnett continues to develop, he could have a Brandon Graham like rise and eventually be considered an A or A+ pick. But for now, this feels about right for this draft. Howie got a few solid, so far unspectacular players at the top half of the draft, and really crushed the UDFA market this year. Overall, you'd like to see more production out of the guys taken early in the draft, but considering how terrible other former top picks have been, a class like this is certainly easier to stomach than 2015 or 2014.

Next time I'll be taking a look at the 2018 draft class, which means my exercise of evaluating Howie's draft classes is almost over. Let me know how you'd grade the 2017 draft class below, in the comments, by voting in the poll, or both!