More draft love for Birds
I thought we were done with rounding up opinions of the Eagles' draft, but links continue to trickle in, so here are some more:
More draft love for Birds
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
I thought we were done with rounding up opinions of the Eagles' draft, but links continue to trickle in, so here are some more:
Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News ranks the draft performances of NFC East teams. He used different criteria than most, however. Vacchiano ranks them based on most-improved for 2009. He's got the Eagles No. 1.
The might have gotten the steal of the draft when they traded up to 19 for Missouri WR Jeremy Maclin. I’m told the Giants would’ve been more aggressive about moving up for him if he slipped a spot or two farther, but they weren’t prepared to pay the price to get above 20. Maclin isn’t the big target some thought the Eagles needed, but good luck to teams in the future trying to cover DeSean Jackson on one side and Maclin on the other.
Vacchiano lists the Giants second, the Redskins third and the Cowboys fourth.
ESPN.com's Matt Mosley spoke with national draft gurus, college scouting directors and two assistant coaches to size up the NFC East. The consensus was that the Eagles had the best draft in the division.
Trading up two spots to secure Missouri wide receiver Jeremy Maclin has been widely praised. One scout said Maclin "will be a more complete receiver than DeSean Jackson." And by at least midseason, the consensus is that Jackson and Maclin will be starting. You don't draft a kid at No. 19 overall to put behind Kevin Curtis.
Tom Herrera of Fanhouse gives the Eagles an A-minus.
NBCSports.com gives the Eagles a B:
To think LeSean McCoy will eventually replace Brian Westbrook is a stretch. McCoy has a lot of work to do as a pass blocker and inside runner. Philadelphia would’ve been better off with Chris Wells.
Football Outsiders did what we're doing, but they selected 10 specific graders and rounded up how all the teams in the league were evaluated. The Eagles had the highest GPA at 3.57. The lowest grades for the Eagles were B-minuses from ESPN's Mel Kiper and Yahoo's Charles Robinson.
just for laughs, scroll through old day-after draft grades from the past three or four years. they're almost never right (Texans will rue the day they passed up Reggie Bush for Mario Williams), and no matter how good you are at grading players, there's no way to account for everything until about 3 years. I choose to evaluate the entire offseason: Iggles got younger, better, deeper or some combination at every position of need with key vets (Hobbs, Peters, Andrews, Maclin, McCoy, Ingraham, Jones etc).... how can you complain?— bizurk- sumdumshmuck: Totally agree about Kiper. He's a joke. Mayock's opinion is the one worth listening to. If you watched the NFL Channel on draft day the former players obviously respected Mayock.— Lockyer
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- gordy i think your talking about Todd McShay— Dawk20
- NBC sports.com, that's not analysis. I think they look at the uniforms.— pigsofsunday
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- Just keep in mind, that Mel Kiper and the guy from Yahoo only looked at players drafted so they didn't count Peters and Hobbs in their draft grades for the Eagles...that's why their grades were lower than the others. I always crack up when I read comments from so-called "experts" like whoever wrote the NBC.com analysis. Some of these people have no clue about the teams, they are just ranking players in vacuums. Wells was a horrible fit for the Eagles because he can't catch...so he'd never be the main back in Philly, even after Westbrook is gone. They weren't going to waste a 1st round pick on a player that could never be a starter for them at some point.— JimG
- kiper is a joke— soliteryman
- Mel Kiper sucks.— arb
- ugh cusoraider, how about just being a little excited your team contends year in and year out. Or are you a raider fan? If so I understand your frustration.— bobf123
- get your popcorn ready!— sohagan28
- The Eagles always get a great grade for their drafts and what do they have to show for it 1 NFC Championship and NOTHING ELSE. Draft grades DO NOT MATTER— cusoraider
- I am sorry . . who did you say? Mel who? Oh . . LOL . . Mel Kiper, that retread from the 80's. Is he still around? man he must be a sad site today as he was a nobody when ESPN found him and has lost ground since then.— mdg625553
- Mel Kiper met his match when Mike Mayock burst up on the scene...— Ruiz the Great
- Mel Kiper had his hey day years ago, after all these years his pails got too many holes in it to hold any water anyway. Bottom Line : The Eagles had a great draft.— Reizorc
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