The NFL Draft is in the Books. How did the Eagles do?

As with most drafts, we probably cannot truly assess its effectives for a minimum of three years. After all, this is the same event that had all Eagle fans, including yours truly and the now governor of the state, booing mightily at the selection of Donovan McNabb instead of Ricky Williams. Well, it turns out that the Eagles administration was smarter than the masses then, and has been right far more than they have been wrong under the Banner/Reid regime.

The Eagles were successful in upgrading both lines in the draft, actually getting two guys they would have been happy with on the 14th pick, DT Brodrick Bunkley and OT Winston Justice. This was not that big of a surprise, since in addition to being need areas, we all know Andy Reid likes lineman almost as much as he likes a good cheese steak. They then attempted to upgrade the linebacking corp with a converted DE out of Cal Poly, a 1-AA school. In the fourth round, they continued to address need areas with Max Jean-Gilles, an OG out of Georgia followed by Jason Avant, a possession type WR (i.e., SLOW) out of Michigan.

It is very interesting to note that the first two picks, Bunkley and Justice, are both guys whose stock fell due to some off the field problems. These are two of the types of guys that the Reid/Banner duo has typically stayed away from. I wonder if a 6-10 season makes you think that sometimes those character issues are not so important. It will be interesting to see if those decisions comes back to haunt them at all.

In general, championships are won in the trenches, and both lines had become needs areas for the Birds. They have a big question mark at left tackle which they addressed with Justice and Gilles (the OG from Georgia) will provide some depth and competition on the interior line. Bunkley is more multi-dimensional than Haloti Ngota, the DT from Oregon who went two picks earlier, in that he can stop the run, but also led the country in tackles behind the line last year at Florida State. If Bunkley can start along the line with 1st round choice from last year Mike Patterson, it enables Darwin Walker to float and provide depth at both tackle and end. The defensive line, if it stays healthy, seems very strong, which will in turn make the secondary look a lot better than it did last year. The offensive line should be adequate as well, although OC and RG are still question marks.

Finally, the Birds made what on paper feels like a great pick-up in the 5th round, getting return specialist (and maybe wide receiver) and Olympic skiier Jeremy Bloom. I watched this kid play at Colorado, and he just looks like the kind opf player that will make 2-3 huge plays that could help alter games next year. This is the kind of kid that will have more impact on the team's winning and losing next year than anyone else they could have possibly gotten at this spot. It also filled a need area, as there are no guarantees J.R. Reid (not the Tar Hell hoops player from the '80s) will return from a bad leg injury. Great pick here.

The Birds still have some holes which they may or may not be able to fill before the season kicks off. They have no wide receiver, and were outbid for the only one left with start quality when Denver gave up a second round pick to the Pack for Walker (#37 overall). It is hard to blame the Birds for not paying a higher price than this for Walker, who has had one great year only and is coming off a torn ACL, suffered in last year’s opener (trust me, I know, he was on my fantasy team!). It still would have been great to make Walker an Eagle, but you can’t get it all. The brass keeps saying that Reggie Brown can be a #1 this year. Let’s hope they are right. Brown, Pinkston, Gaffney, Avant, and McMullen (hopefully not Greg Lewis) are certainly better than the receiving corp of Thrash, Pinkston, and Lewis that took then to a couple of championship games before the mercurial one arrived two years ago.

The Birds could also use a big power back that can be a reliable converter at the goal line and in short yardage situations. It was tough to watch LenDale White drop into the mid second round when he would have been a perfect fit, but again, you cannot get it all so it is tough to argue. I am still not sold on their depth and talent at linebacker, and do not understand why they did not at least try to bring Lavar Arrington in.

Overall, the Eagles have done a good job at putting themselves in a position where they can compete in the NFC next year. They just better get off to a huge start as their last six games are very difficult. Hopefully they are playing well into January this year based on their offseason efforts. Time will tell.

One more note on the draft. When did this become a bigger event that a Presidential election? Do we really need a month of wall-to-wall coverage that attempts to identify who each team may take in the 5th round, or what a second rounder likes to eat on Wednesdays when it is raining? It is especially maddening since the teams are less honest than the politicians involved in said presidential election, so you know that at least half of the stuff you are reading is smoke screens and lies. Let’s go back to when we start honing up on our football in mid-August, learning just enough to be dangerous when we draft our own teams for fantasy football. I am almost sure that knowing that Vernon Davis likes to escort little old ladies across the street in his hometown is not going to help me know whether I should pick him or a wide receiver in the 5th round of my draft come Labor Day……

Note: pictures courtesy of philadelphiaeagles.com