More Eagles draft grades
One more rundown of Eagles draft grades and evaluations.
More Eagles draft grades
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
One more rundown of Eagles draft grades and evaluations.
We've done this twice already: part one and part two.
And finally, I'd like to start up a weekly reader mailbag here at MTC. I respond to every e-mail (if you haven't heard back from me, it's coming), so I figured I might as well do so as a blog post.
So send me your questions, funny comments, observations, etc. and we'll try to get this thing going. I'll pick some of the e-mails and respond to them every week.
Here are the draft links:
Rick Gosselin of The Dallas Morning News gives the Eagles a B:
Andy Reid has his offense of the future locked into place with QB Kevin Kolb, McCoy, WR DeSean Jackson, Maclin and Ingram. The Eagles had the best fifth round of this draft with Ingram, Harris and Tupou.
Vinnie Iyer of the Sporting News looks at nine first-round moves that created the most interesting aftershocks, including the Eagles trading up and getting Jeremy Maclin:
It helped: Philadelphia Eagles QB Donovan McNabb. DeSean Jackson had an immediate impact last season, and with him and Kevin Curtis flying around, Maclin can make his mark as a big-play threat as well. It hurt: Cardinals WR Anquan Boldin. The Eagles traded up to get Maclin, all but ruling out them going after a veteran No. 1 receiver. Boldin will be "stuck" with the reigning NFC champions.
Clifton Brown of the Sporting News gives the Eagles an A:
Their offense has become more dangerous. Jeremy Maclin is a threat as a receiver and a returner. Running back LeSean McCoy can make people miss and can catch the football. Tight end Cornelius Ingram fits their system as a receiver. And they traded Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters before the draft.
Matt Bowen of the National Football Post compares Maclin to DeSean Jackson:
Maclin was as high as No.7 on some experts boards, but he fell because he isn’t a polished route runner worthy of a top-10 pick and is more of an athlete learning the position out of the spread system in college. I think Philly took him because it had him rated high, but to me he’s the same player as DeSean Jackson.
Scott Wright of draftcountdown.com wonders whether Maclin is the best fit for the Birds:
Almost everyone viewed Jeremy Maclin as a Top 10 talent and if the Raiders weren’t being run by a crazy man that is probably where he would’ve gone. The Eagles jumped at the opportunity to provide Donovan McNabb with the playmaker he has been asking for, even trading up a couple of spots just to make sure they got him. This is a great value pick and the Eagles definitely needed a wideout, however I have some reservations about whether or not another speedster like Maclin is the best fit. If they were going to use their first round pick on a wideout anyway then why not just trade it to Arizona for Anquan Boldin ?
The Boldin non-trade was about not wanting to pay him $10mm a year which I agree with totally— JBP
No way can you pay Boldin $10 million per year. That is why you don't make that deal.- Let me get this straight. I don't have to listen to every loud mouthed preseason prognosticator talk about how the Eagles don't have a receiving corp? I don't know how to handle that! I hope Ingram can become the red zone threat he appears to be. And I'll definitely take that risk over trading for Tony Gonzalez. Gonzalez had a great year last year and an amazing career but how many can he have left in the tank?— birds4ever
Atlanta had no TE at all and a vet to help Ryan was a good move for them. It was not something the Eagles needed to do and since they passed on Pettigrew [opting for Maclin]they must feel Celek can do the job as a starter. The addition of Ingram adds depth. As of now I'd rather have the #2 next year and the TEs we have now. I'd also rather have Maclin and the cap space than Boldin. The Eagles O looks to be scary good next year.— tpizza- You see uninformed comments like those from this clown at the National Football Post and you start to understand why fans were calling in complaining that Maclin was a duplicate of Jackson. The so-called "experts" should do their freakin homework before they spout off. Like some of the others have said, that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. Is there any team in the NFL that could cover 3 or 4 Jackson? But the truth is that Maclin is 6'0 and 198 lbs. Jackson is 5'10 and 175 lbs. That is a HUGE difference in WR terms. At basically 6'0 and 200 lbs, Maclin is pretty much in the middle of the pack when it comes to NFL WR sizes. He's not small at all. In fact, Boldin was 6'1 and 205 lbs when he was drafted. He's now 6'1 and 217 lbs. So Maclin is almost the same size as Boldin was coming out of college and, certainly, a lot closer in size to Boldin than he is to Jackson. Maclin is only 20 years old and he'll get bigger just like Boldin did. Also, I totally agree with t_dmanns, I don't think Boldin was ever really available. I think the Cards just went through the motions so they could go back to Boldin and say "we tried" to keep him happy. They said they would listen to offers but I never once heard a single report of them initiating conversations with any other teams or making any concrete offers or demands.— JimG
Comment removed.- Comment removed.
- Maclin is bigger, legit deep threat. Perfect for the X receiver in the West Coast offense. DeSean is better suited at the Z spot. He's a more accomplished route runner. Boldin, who was never going to be dealt, and who is asking for 9 million per year, is more of an inside receiver. He's good, but is he a good fit in the Eagles' scheme? Not so sure. At any rate, he isn't coming here, so get over it.— StopThePanic
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