They traded up to the 13th pick in the draft to take Brandon Graham. The Giants took JPP at #15 and I believe the Titans (who wanted JPP bad) took Derrick Morgan at #16 if I'm remembering correctly.
When the Eagles moved up, I was sure they would take Earl Thomas..
To be entirely fair, there's no guarantee JPP develops into the player he is if he was drafted by the Eagles either. It's still too early to make a call on Graham, too.
Everyone in Eagles land thought they were picking Earl Thomas who could have turned out to be the true successor to Brian Dawkins. Of course they don't value Safety high enough to ever use a first round pick on it so they passed. Graham I am not too down on because a lot of analysts at the time had him as the #1 DE over JPP and Morgan. Can't fault them on that and then he had a serious knee injury so the jury is still out. Though he wasn't that impressive when he did play as a rookie and obviously this year after his injury. I want to see a lot from him this coming season.
It could also simply be that a DE going to the Giants has a better chance at developing since they seem to excel at doing that.
I read that this morning. Made my blood boil.
Casey looked really good at the end of last year. It is like you just made up your mind after he played 3 games in the NFL at a new position with no OTAs. We will see what Jarret does this year, but he showed some flashes last year. The Eagles have not done well drafting defensive players, but the offensive players drafted have turned out great. Watkins and Kelce from last years draft is incredible. Anyway you are completely into negative mode now, which I can understand. It sucks they missed the playoffs, especially after seeing how the playoffs went.
Bought into the 4 game winning streak against some terrible teams and QBs have you?
I didn't make up my mind just after 3 games though anyone could see from a mile away that Casey Mathews might one day develop into a starter
BUT he wasn't ready to start especially at MLB which is a position he never played before.
And even if I did make up mind, it would be still 3 whole games more than the Eagles, who made up their mind in the lockout period that they would just insert him into the starting lineup @ MLB without even seeing him play or practice. It was a disaster everyone saw coming, just like Juan. And especially because they let Bradley sign with Arizona and had no depth or veteran.
And while the team played better D overall at the end, again they were facing mediocre offenses, a breakdown of the tape reveals LBs still out of position, not able to get off of their blocks, missing tackles, and wrong gap coverage. Brian Baldinger broke down the tape and mentioned that if they were playing better QBs, they would have been picked apart. Maybe the talent is there, but we wouldn't even know since we don't have a real DC.
And I am not in complete negative mode, this is reality. You are really naive if you think the Eagles would have made any sort of run similar to the Giants in the playoffs. The Eagles four game win streak was referred to as "fools gold" by the owner himself and we want to invest our hopes into that?
Also a part of this reality is the Eagles complete lack of ability to draft a impact defensive player. Again the last time they did was in 2005 in the 5th round with Trent Cole. Since then they have hit on some offensive players but none on Defense.
Graham might turn out to be something, we don't know. Doesn't look too bright yet. Nate Allen regressed in his 2nd year. Safety is still a weakness. Jarrett showed absolutely nothing and looked lost when inserted into the line up. Maybe they just need a full-offseason and camp but where as other teams are seeing immediate returns from their drafts we aren't. The reason we had to sign so many FAs in the off season is because the draft, which they rely on primarily, has failed them for a # of years now.
And Watkins and Kelce is incredible? Really? Incredible is the word you would use for a draft that produces 2 starting linemen? They aren't pro-bowlers. And Kelce only started over Jackson because the new OLINE coach preferred smaller athletic guys. Watkins, a Guard, in the first round is a low value return. Most teams shy away from guard in the first round. But I am glad they got him and it panned out, though initially he looked lost as hell himself. But even with these two guys, the Eagles biggest weakness the last few seasons has been defense, and it still is. The OLINE is improved but the defensive drafts are still abysmal and I don't see how it will improve when they handicap themselves with their insane philosophy that doesn't put enough value into LB and Safeties. Oh and our DC is still the guy who never coached defense in his life before Reid decided to hand over the job to him. HOORAY FOR BRIGHT FUTURE!
