Roseman, Eagles again draft in bulk
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Roseman, Eagles again draft in bulk
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
Last week, when I wrote about what I thought the Eagles would do in the 2011 draft, I predicted that they wouldn't follow the same draft in bulk strategy that they used the previous year.
In 2010, the Eagles selected 13 players, more than any other team in the NFL. And not one of those players was cut before, during or after the season.
Brandon Graham, Nate Allen, Jamar Chaney and Kurt Coleman all got significant playing time.
Daniel Te'o-Nesheim, Trevard Lindley, Kennan Clayton, Clay Harbor and Riley Cooper all saw the field in some capacity (not just counting special teams).
Charles Scott was traded. Ricky Sapp was placed on injured reserve. Mike Kafka was a reserve. And Jeff Owens was active for one game before getting injured.
Thirteen players were drafted, and all but one have a chance to make the roster next season.
That's why I thought the Eagles might take a different approach this season. If they really felt those second-year players were capable of contributing, did it make sense to bring on a large number of rookies once again?
Apparently, the answer was yes. And I was wrong.
The Birds drafted 11 players last weekend, second only to the Redskins, who through a series of trades, ended up with 12 new players.
Typically, teams add slightly fewer than eight players in a given draft. But in the last two years, the Eagles have picked up a total of 24. Here's a table, with a team-by-team breakdown:
| Team | Total picks in 2010 and 2011 |
| Eagles | 24 |
| Patriots | 21 |
| Rams | 19 |
| Bills | 18 |
| Panthers | 18 |
| Broncos | 18 |
| Vikings | 18 |
| 49ers | 18 |
| Seahawks | 18 |
| Titans | 18 |
| Redskins | 18 |
| Bengals | 17 |
| Packers | 17 |
| Texans | 17 |
| Raiders | 17 |
| Steelers | 17 |
| Bucs | 17 |
| Browns | 16 |
| Chiefs | 16 |
| Cardinals | 15 |
| Ravens | 15 |
| Giants | 15 |
| Cowboys | 14 |
| Dolphins | 14 |
| Chargers | 14 |
| Falcons | 13 |
| Colts | 13 |
| Saints | 12 |
| Lions | 11 |
| Jaguars | 11 |
| Bears | 10 |
| Jets | 10 |
The Patriots are second to the Eagles with 21 picks, the Rams made 19, and no other team had more than 18. In other words, in the last two drafts, the Birds have added at least five more players than 30 of the 31 other teams.
The philosophy seems pretty clear-cut. General manger Howie Roseman explained it to reporters when he met with them before the draft.
"The more players you get, the better chance you have of hitting on guys," he said.
And this mindset isn't really exclusive to Roseman. The Eagles have picked at least eight players in each of the last eight drafts. In 2008, they took 10. In 2004 and 2005, they took 10 and 11, respectively.
The draft strategy speaks to a larger philosophy also: Forget where players were picked or how they got here. Let their play determine who gets on the field.
We've seen that play out over the years, specifically on defense, where a large number of late-round picks and undrafted free agents (Moise Fokou, Antonio Dixon, to name a couple) earned starting jobs. Another example was veteran Juqua Parker taking the starting job back from first-round pick Brandon Graham.
The number of players selected the last two years puts pretty much everyone on notice. On offense, Jamaal Jackson, Mike McGlynn and Winston Justice will face competition for their jobs.
Defensively, the same can be said of anyone not named Trent Cole or Asante Samuel. Stewart Bradley and Jamar Chaney may have the inside track on starting spots, but really, every linebacker position is probably up for grabs.
Mike Patterson and Antonio Dixon probably make sense at defensive tackle, but again, nothing's set in stone. Right cornerback and strong safety too.
The final evaluation of the Eagles' 2010 and 2011 drafts will have more to do with the performance of the players than the total number of picks, but after two years as the Birds' general manager, Roseman's draft philosophy is clear.
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It's a good draft strategy. Pan for gold and try to come out with 2 or 3 nuggets. Watkins and Henery will definitely start. Jarrett has a good chance of winning a starting spot. Casey Matthews will compete with Keenan Clayton for the weakside LB position. Watch out for Havili. Watch his game film on youtube. This guy has superb receiving skills for a FB. He can become a weapon for them at the FB position.— soulman386- Accountants love numbers. "The more players you get, the better chance you have of hitting on guys"??? Uhhh, okay. Yeah, that's right. The more cold calls I make, the more likely I'll make a sale. The more people I meet in the showroom, the more cars I'll move today. This tactic works... or, I should say compliments a strategy rooted in obtaining premium talent via trades or free agency. By it's nature, the philosophy of obtaining additional picks during the draft results in more picks the lower you go. And, the fact of the matter is, the premier players are at the top. Not the bottom.
— Dave in Cincy - It's great the accounting office of Banner, Roseman and Reid pick a lot of players and that some of the undrafted free agents contribute but this strategy isn't filling the trophy case so how long do you keep doing it? The Tonner is flummoxed.
- Putting the best guy on the field is definitely the right approach. They should have dropped Matt McCoy after the 2nd preseason game, for example.
Draft in bulk? I guess, provided the top three guys are stellar picks. Half the secret is getting guys like Clay Matthews or Aaron Rodgers between #20 and #30. The other goals are solid picks in rounds 3-5 and mining for gems late and through undrafted players. If the Eagles can get part 1 right, then they may be on their way. There were doubts about Clay Matthews, which is why he fell into the late first round, and hopefully Danny Watkins will also be a star who was underestimated.— armchairGM - Eagles Braintrust says, "Quantity over Quality". Why draft someone with exceptional talent when they can draft 2 mediocre players for the same price. Accountants and Pro Football, perfect together!— younged
- All of you know much more than the Eagles front office....you are right, not them, that's why you are doing what you are doing and they are doing what they are doing....LOSERS!— jibberjab
- What league-wide percent of 6th and 7th rounders make impacts---net alone make a team. Coleman last year because of injuries.— Romus
- More UFAs make teams and last longer then stacking up all those 6th/7th rounders.— Romus
- More drafted rookies means lower personnel costs. Hope they spend it on a UFA CB this off season
I've watched Havili for four years. Very underated. No OLB can match him on pass routes. Reid will have fun with him.— LA Mike - Stanley Havili---from the state of Utah----Andy likes the kids from that state, ie Reno Mahe, Dallas Reynolds, 'False-Start' Scott.— Romus
- The draft is a crapshoot and the more picks you have the better your chances of getting a good player is a solid strategy. Coleman was an All American at Ohio State. Lindley was All SEC ahead of Haden in his Junior year, then he hurt his ankle in his Senior year. He is going to play, sooner or later. Marlin Jackson, if he is recovered from his injuries is a good DB and nobody seems to rememeber he is even on the roster anymore. I hope this idiotic lockout ends soon because I want to see the new guys on the field. That is the only was to truly evaluate a football player. All the combine BS means nothing.— Paul SoTX
- Hate this philosophy. It's fine if you're eyeing these guys up for depth, but the Eagles seem content to use these types for starting gigs. While it's true some guys will emerge from the middle rounds and become players, the Eagles seem to think it's the norm rather than the exception. Last year in the playoffs they had something like 7 defensive starters that were either 7th round picks or undrafted entirely. At the end of the day that's just not enough talent to get it done. There's a reason a 7th round pick is passed up 200 or so times during the draft. Oh well whatever. In free agency they better come away with a legit corner, linebacker and pass rusher. If they do that, then I could care less about the quantity of their picks because they won't be counting on some 21-year-old kid from Saginaw Valley State to come up with a big sack on third down, or an undrafted kid from Tuskegee to shut down Hakeem Nicks in the red zone
- You guys rip the Eagles draft tactics based on a false assumption. The assumption that the higher you pick, the better the talent. This is not always the case. The higher you pick, the better CHANCE you have, but its by no means guarenteed. This is a classic case of "risk pooling" and it is a very smart move in the long term. Want more proof? Top performers in 2010: Brady (6 rnd), J. Charles (3), M. Turner (5), B. Lloyd (4), M. Wallace (3) plus many more. How about Eagles own team? Celek 5th, Cole (5 or 6), Samuel (4). The point is, for every 1st or 2nd round talent, there is a later round gem.— penncrow19
- penncrow for every 1st or 2nd round pick there's a later round gem is simply not true. You picked 5 random guys and that's supposed to nail down your point? It'd be more accurate to say something like for every 4th round pick that ends up starting, there's a few dozen that end up getting cut unceremoniously, you just never hear all of them. Take the Super Bowl champs for example and some of their top players: Nick Barnett (1st), Rodgers (1st), Matthews (1st) Raji (1st) Jennings (2) Woodson (1st) Hawk (1st) Collins (2) Clifton (2) Colledge (2) Pickett (1).. the list goes on. They invested in talent and won a Super Bowl. Bottom line is if you draft well you don't have to rely on 6th round picks making you look like a genius
- Fact: Teams are built on early round draft picks. This strategy of compiling the most late round picks in the NFL is lame. It's no that you can't trade out of the first round, its just that you ned to compile a lot of 2nd and 3rd rd picks. 4th rd is okay as a throw in but 5th on his a total crapshoot so those picks have very little value, no matter how many you have.(Unless you have the whole round)— ccheung
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