Eagles: Where's The Talent?
Philadelphia Inquirer Sports Columnist Bob Ford writes about the Eagles, the Phillies, the Sixers and the Flyers.
Eagles: Where's The Talent?
Bob Ford, Inquirer Sports Columnist
The guys who identify talent for professional football teams and put their suggestions in front of the head coach and general manager are not the guys who get their names on the covers of magazines.
They are the guys, however, who get their teams on the covers of magazines.
Whether the players are found at the NFL Scouting Combine or on film of their college careers, or on flashes they show with other team, the assessment of those players is what makes the real difference in organizations.
The Eagles director of player personnel is a man named Ryan Grigson and, more than likely, you have never heard of him. He was promoted to this job by new general manager Howie Roseman not long after the 2009 season, and was in place for the 2010 draft, along with a new director of pro personnel and a new college scouting chief. All of those guys are qualified and all, including Roseman, work hard to get the right players on the roster.
There are other considerations, of course. Finding a gem in the lower rounds of the draft or by signing undrafted players as free agents can be a very cost-effective way to put together a team. That's always welcome.
Although the Eagles had a lot of injuries and many bench players were forced into larger roles than expected, the team that finished the season against the Packers simply wasn't that talented. If you consider Andy Reid the CEO of the football operation, that is his fault, which was the subject of a column earlier this week.
Against the Packers, 10 of the 22 starters came into the league either as 7th-round draft picks or as undrafted free agents. That seems high and you can make the observation that perhaps the Eagles spent too much time picking the low-hanging fruit. I tried to make that point in one of those Noah Coslov hostage videos.
Look specifically at the defense (and I included Joselio Hanson as a starter because the Eagles play a nickel as their base defense more often than not). Among the group that played against the Packers, Juqua Parker, Quintin Mikell, Hanson, Dmitri Patterson and Antonio Dixon were undrafted free agents and Jamar Chaney, Kurt Coleman and Moise Fokou were 7th-round picks. That's 8 of 11 starters. Too many.
It's no wonder the Eagles' defense allowed the most points of any defense in the Andy Reid era. You can scream about Sean McDermott all you like. He didn't have any talent to work with by the end. It's almost a miracle the team got as far as it did. Was it a successful season? In this video, Marcus Hayes seems to think so. I'm not as sure.
I do think it's obvious the Eagles have to do a better job of making sure the depth on the roster is not just comprised of low-budget fill-ins. That might mean some hard decisions at the top of the roster if the salary-cap money is going to be spread around, but it will also mean the team doesn't end up relying on a bunch of guys who sneaked into the league by the back door.
Vote: Eagles: Stay or Go?
The Eagles seem to have taken a lesson from the T.O. era - don't get any prominent FAs. They also seem to have decided they don't want to draft talent either, especially on the defensive side. While they always play up their draft choices, it has been clear for years they really want mediocre guys.— 4thand10- In 12 years, has this regime drafted dominant defensive player? Andy tries to cut corners at certain positions, he does it in his teams salary structure, in the free agents he signs, and I think he even does it in the draft. he looks for type at certain positions. he did it at WR forever, goes for a type of player rather than a guy with huge upside.. It's a joke. And those shortcuts, haunt him when playoffs come and they are in a tight battle against another quality opponent.— gee1971
- To be honest, I did like Corey Simon. I think he was a top 3-5 in his position for a while. Other than that, not much. — rvb2321
- The Eagles often tout themselves as being great talent evaluators by stating this very fact but I like to turn it around when I hear it. I think gee your early round picks are huge busts that they cant beat out 7th rounders or undrafted free agents.— rvb2321
- Thanks Bob, for basically repeating verbatim what I've been saying on these boards for months
- I agree the Eagles' D needs more early-round talent, but injuries had more to do with the starting defense against the Packers.
Early round draft picks:
M. Patterson-1st
B. Bunkley-1st
Ernie Sims-1st
B. Graham-1st
Asante-4th
Nate Allen-2nd
Stu Bradley-3rd
That's 7 out of 11 supposed starters in the first 4 rounds.— BrenReg 
Comment removed.- BrenReg, out of this list none of them provided the impact they are expected to for being picked that high with the exception of Asante Samuel and Nate Allen, and maybe Bradley.— cleansports
- Not sure I understand what the article is trying to say. It has a picture of a 6th Round QB who may be the best in history, then says starting late rounders is a bad thing. Who cares where they are selected or not selected. Production is what counts, and the D did not produce consistently this year.— PhillyPhantastico
- welker, woodhead, and green-ellis were all undrafted. don't really care that coleman and chaney are from the lower rounds. we need guys who can play and we don't seem to have enough of them.— notch44
Eagles do appear to look at lower cheaper rounds a little too much....but then that's Banner's doing with the frugal budget $ and how they assign $ to certain positions (ie LB). The veteran 1st rounders Patterson & Bunkley are solid, not spectacular. Sims was cast off from....the Lions...so 'nuff said there...Graham hit the wall so to speak because the NFL is not the Minnesota Gophers each week & then he hit the IR....we all know that Asante was brought in to pick balls...Nate Allen was learning on the job before the IR...Bradley looks too fragile now too many injuries & he couldn't cover swift tight ends anyway. So, surround these guys with undrafted & 7th rounders and you end up with a disaster on D with the injuries...plus an unproven Asst Coach thrust into the role of Head D Coach who apparently lost the notes while tutoring under the great Jim Johnson. Red Zone Defense stats don't lie!- Since Reid has been the coach, we've heard that the organization most values the offensive and defensive line positions and the cornerback positions. Where are they now? Despite high draft picks for both lines, both lines are mediocre. Samuel, a free agent, is at the top of his class, but how good are the other defensive backs? Linebacker "has never been seen as an impact position". I guess that Laurence Taylor, Brian Urlacher, Clay Matthews aren't impact players. I believe that the biggest problem in the Eagles organization during the Reid ere is the lack of a strong, independent, knowledgeble GM responsible for player selection.— Mandela
- Bingo! — coloradoeagle
First Off them rounds do not mean anything because at the end of the day you are judging these players in the draft by hype and the combine. There were some great players they were all americans in college, but did not do well in the combine and got dropped in the draft. Eagles talen scouts suck. Need to hire Buddy Ryan as a consultant on how to draft good defensive players. The eagles also need to realize that speed does kill, but not in the red zone. In the second round I say draft Casey Matthews.- PhillyPhantastico the point was that it's great to find a gem or two in the later rounds, but building your entire starting defense from the bottom of the scrap heat isn't exactly a recipe for success... Roseman and his staff targeted last year's draft to do a lot of bargain bin shopping, which is fine for depth purposes and infusing younger players during a rebuild. Now (pending the new CBA) they are going to need to target free agency to get some actual players, by all accounts there is going to be a ton of talent to be had, and the Eagles should have the coin to make a splash. Even after franchising Vick and extending Desean, their payroll is still in the bottom tier of the league. They really need to take a long hard look at the roster this offseason -- stop paying for marginal production (I'm looking at you Ernie Sims, Nick Cole, etc), stop waiting on 'projects' to pan out (I'm looking at you King Dunlap, Moise Fokou) and get some honest to goodness players in here
