Assessing the Watkins situation
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Assessing the Watkins situation
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
The wait is over.
Eagles first-round pick Danny Watkins will make his first career start Sunday against the Bills, according to Geoff Mosher of The Wilmington News-Journal.
Watkins, the 23rd selection in April's draft, has been inactive in three of four games. But that will reportedly change when he replaces Kyle DeVan as the Eagles look to win their first game since the opener.
As I wrote in Man Up on Tuesday, DeVan really struggled in the second half of Sunday's loss to the 49ers, although he wasn't alone. The line as a whole did not play well and had trouble with San Francisco's talented front seven.
Overall, DeVan has had ups and downs in four games, which was to be expected. His best game was probably Week 2 against the Falcons, but he has been the Eagles' most inconsistent lineman.
Having said that, the move comes as a bit of a surprise, only because we have no idea if Watkins is ready.
How much can a guy improve during the week if he's not playing on Sundays? We'll find out the answer to that question soon enough.
After holding out during the start of training camp, Watkins took over as the starting right guard, but struggled in the preseason. Given that he turns 27 in November, I was one of many who assumed Watkins would be on the field right away.
But that didn't happen. And while the shortened offseason was a factor, Watkins is in the minority when you compare him to first-round picks around the league.
I took a look at snap counts from Pro Football Focus. Here's a chart of how much each first-round pick has played so far this season:
| Pick | Player |
Position |
Team |
Snaps |
| 1 | Cam Newton | QB | Panthers | 296 |
| 2 | Von Miller | LB | Broncos | 245 |
| 3 | Marcell Dareus | DL | Bills | 189 |
| 4 | A.J. Green | WR | Bengals | 247 |
| 5 | Patrick Peterson | CB | Cardinals | 226 |
| 6 | Julio Jones | WR | Falcons | 247 |
| 7 | Aldon Smith | DL | 49ers | 110 |
| 8 | Jake Locker | QB | Titans | 6 |
| 9 | Tyron Smith | OL | Cowboys | 288 |
| 10 | Blaine Gabbert | QB | Jaguars | 145 |
| 11 | J.J. Watt | DL | Texans | 216 |
| 12 | Christian Ponder | QB | Vikings | 0 |
| 13 | Nick Fairley | DL | Lions | 0 |
| 14 | Robert Quinn | DL | Rams | 140 |
| 15 | Mike Pouncey | OL | Dolphins | 270 |
| 16 | Ryan Kerrigan | DL | Redskins | 252 |
| 17 | Nate Solder | OL | Patriots | 249 |
| 18 | Corey Liuget | DL | Chargers | 101 |
| 19 | Prince Amukamara | CB | Giants | 0 |
| 20 | Adrian Clayborn | DL | Bucs | 166 |
| 21 | Phil Taylor | DL | Browns | 172 |
| 22 | Anthony Castonzo | OL | Colts | 200 |
| 23 | Danny Watkins | OL | Eagles | 0 |
| 24 | Cameron Jordan | DL | Saints | 136 |
| 25 | James Carpenter | OL | Seahawks | 247 |
| 26 | Jonathan Baldwin | WR | Chiefs | 0 |
| 27 | Jimmy Smith | CB | Ravens | 0 |
| 28 | Mark Ingram | RB | Saints | 90 |
| 29 | Gabe Carimi | OL | Bears | 100 |
| 30 | Muhammad Wilkerson | DL | Jets | 140 |
| 31 | Cam Heyward | DL | Steelers | 47 |
| 32 | Derek Sherrod | OL | Packers | 7 |
What stands out here? At first glance, it looks like Watkins has company. Ponder, Fairley, Amukamara, Baldwin and J. Smith have also seen no action this season.
But there's a catch. Ponder is a quarterback playing behind Donovan McNabb, so his situation is different. And the other four guys haven't been on the field because of injuries. In other words, Watkins is the only healthy, non-quarterback who hasn't played at all.
There were seven other offensive linemen taken in the first round: Tyron Smith, Mike Pouncey, Nate Solder, Anthony Castonzo, James Carpenter, Gabe Carimi and Derek Sherrod.
Six of them - Smith, Pouncey, Solder, Castonzo, Carpenter and Carimi - have all started when healthy. Watkins has company in Sherrod, who was the final pick in the first round. He was in contention for a starting spot but has only been active for one of the Packers' four games.
Within the NFC East, Tyron Smith is reportedly making a name for himself in Dallas. And Ryan Kerrigan was named rookie of the month in September. He has 2.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, an interception and a touchdown in four games with the Redskins. Amukamara, meanwhile, has been sidelined with an injury.
In other words, other teams are not using the lockout or the shortened offseason as an excuse for their first-round picks not being on the field. Just last week, we saw 49ers rookie Aldon Smith give the Eagles all kinds of problems with 1.5 sacks and three quarterback hits.
Watkins has been waiting. He was given a chance to win the starting job in the preseason, but couldn't hold on to it. Now he gets another shot.
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I guess if you're going to lose, Andy wants to lose with his top draft choice playing. That way Reid can say Watkin's is a starter and he was right for drafting a 27 yr old Canadian firefighter that took up football as a hobby (2 steps back, 1 step forward). I'm sure Howie the Accountant is searching the nations universities for that 2012 hidden gem, the non-american football hobbiest. Keep it going guys!— younged- At least if someone has a heart attack on the field, he knows CPR.— J H
- rookie lineman, new oline coach with new system, new lineup of players AND no offseason to teach and mesh.... no big surprise he was not ready until now... how will he do? Time wil tell, but NO way can you cal him a bust or a bad pick at this point.— dennismithusa
- Okay fine, but I am sure that none of these other draft picks have high motors.— charlievhenry
- boy 100 years old and still not ready.
WOOT!
— depressed - carimi was the obvious pick at OL. if you have a brain and functioning eyes that is.— snakeplissken
- yep.......let's compare him to the first OL taken with the 9th pick
and a defensive player taken with the 16th pick. Let's ignore the Packers first pick has only played 7 snaps and Carimi has only played half the time.— bleedgreen - I think Watkins is taking an unfair amount of criticism here. It's not his fault that he was drafted where he was drafted. I think in the long run he will be good and will be revered around here. He is a prototypical "Philly guy." He isn't arrogant, he doesn't have an attitude, he is eager to learn, he works hard, and he wants to succeed. You have to fault Reid or the front office for the pick not Watkins. The main problem with the pick is that he was not ready to play and this was supposed to be an all-in year. Also, in regard to drafting, I would love to have Earl Thomas, Sean Lee, and Navorro Bowman rather than Graham, Allen, and Te'o-Nesheim, but complaining isn't going to suddenly make those guys appear on this team.— Penfold18
- I'm with you kchaz. I wanna hear what ol' Limp-wrist has to say also. I bet he's hiding somewhere under his solid mahogony executive desk playing the Boston Red Sox on XBox 360 with Major League Baseball 2K11.— essell
- This whole draft seems like a waste already, I know its early but the front office doesn't get the benefit of the doubt now after the last couple of years. But one thing is for sure after looking the this impressive list is that the eagles can't draft for $^!+.— FROM THE BEACH
- Not saying it was a great pick, but you can't compare him against those drafted ahead of him. Who is to say the Eagles would not have drafted that person if still available. Time will tell.— Why?
- If you've watched the games and seen how DeVan has played, you would know that Watkins can't be that much worse and has (hopefully) the potential to be better.
I also agree with one of the other posters that Jamaal Jackson needs to play center. If you love Kelce so much, move him to LG. Am I really to believe that Jackson isn't one of the five best OL on the team? Oh, how AR loves to prove what a genius he is with his out of the box thinking!
Also, I don't understand why the #2 pick gets a pass from this criticism, since the safety play has been terrible. You mean the guy you totally reached for in the second round can't beat out Paige at SS? It would be nice to see a safety actually tackle somebody.— dlivesay - Jamal Jackson was never rated better than 18th of the 32 centers at any given time before 2009, and in 2009 with Jackson as the center, the Eagles allowed 40 sacks of their quarterback. Ranking 20th in the leagues.
When running the ball the Eagles were ranked 18th when running up the middle and 3rd over the left tackle, as a measure of comparison.
Can anyone now make a case why Jackson is still in the NFL?
— Dexter - Okay say it with me... And with the 5th pick in the draft the Philadelphia Eagles...— paulNC
- the eagles don't give a sheil. they are smarter than you.— brucemines
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