Rounding up Eagles draft grades
Draft grades from around the country are trickling in. How did the Eagles fare? Some give them an A-plus. Others a C. Here's a roundup:
Rounding up Eagles draft grades
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
Yes, I know that it's probably unfair to hand grades out right after the draft. Instead, we should probably wait until three years after the fact.
But this is 2010. Who wants to wait that long?
So here's a roundup of how people across the country are grading the Eagles' draft.
We'll do this in a couple parts since I know more grades are sure to trickle in today. If you have some that I missed, e-mail me.
And if you missed it, I offered some analysis with my thoughts on Sunday. Thanks for the kind comments on that piece by the way. Much appreciated.
The roundup:
We start locally. Paul Domowitch of the Daily News gives the Eagles an A-minus:
Graham and Allen should help a defense that gave up 27 TD passes last season. Added more speed at LB, but didn’t get a corner until the fourth round.
Rick Gosselin of the Dallas Morning News gives the Eagles a C:
Graham was the most polished pass rusher in this draft. The Eagles also had the best fourth round. Harbor gives QB Kevin Kolb a move tight end in the Dallas Clark mold, and Kafka gives Andy Reid insurance at quarterback.
ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. gives the Eagles a B-plus:
The Eagles were positioned well to take advantage of a deep draft, and they did, piling up seven productive picks between the third and fifth rounds. But Philly started well too. In Brandon Graham they have a potential Rookie of the Year on defense. They filled a need at safety with Nate Allen, and I like Trevard Lindley in the fourth. He has second-round ability. Ricky Sapp may be a tweener, but getting a guy who can get to the quarterback like he can in the fifth round is good value. He could be a solid situational pass-rusher early in his career. Riley Cooper is quicker than many people think to go with above-average size.
SI.com's Ross Tucker thinks the Eagles should have taken Earl Thomas in the first round, not Brandon Graham:
The Birds need second-round pick Nate Allen to step up and fill the safety spot next to Quentin Mikell. That spot remains a question mark at a very important position in the pass-happy NFL.
SI.com's Peter King offers his take on the Eagles' draft:
An OK draft some in the league thought should have been better. I knew one team with draft-managers who cursed loudly when the Eagles traded up and took Brandon Graham at 13 -- instead of Earl Thomas -- because these personnel guys thought Graham was by far the best pass-rusher in the draft. That's what Philly needs, a bookend to Trent Cole. Daniel Te'o-Nesheim is the best defensive end in University of Washington history and should enter the Eagle rotation quickly, and Clay Harbor (125nd overall) will be good alternative to Brent Celek, also quickly. But a few personnel types I spoke with over the weekend though Philly overpicked in a few spots, especially safety Nate Allen of South Florida at 37.
FoxSports.com's John Czarnecki gives the Eagles a B-minus:
The Eagles gave up a lot to move up in the first round to take Michigan pass rusher Brandon Graham (pictured), who was a dominant performer in the Big Ten. Andy Reid is hoping that second-round pick Nate Allen of South Florida can shore up the safety position, but he’s not an intimidator like Brian Dawkins was for this franchise.
CBSSports.com's Pete Prisco gives the Eagles an A-plus:
You look up and down their draft board and it's full of really good players. They had a lot of picks and the Eagles really did a nice job with them. That shouldn't be surprising.
Gregg Rosenthal of NBCSports.com gives the Eagles a B:
Shockingly, Andy Reid didn't pick a single offensive lineman. But the value was good at each selection, and Graham and Allen are certain to help in year one.
Rob Rang of CBSSports.com gives the Eagles a B:
For a team that some believe is as deep as any in the league, however, wouldn't packaging some of those lower round picks for top-tier talent have been a better use of them?
Chris Steuber of Scout.com gives the Eagles an A-minus:
The biggest surprise of the Eagles draft was third round pick Daniel Te’o-Nesheim from Washington. A tweener on defense who can play inside or outside on the D-Line, Te’o-Nesheim was considered to be a late round prospect.
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The sound coming from the bird's nest after their 2nd pick was 'cheep, cheep, cheep'.— CodeMonkee
Comment removed.- codemonkee-that doesn't even make sense.— yantastic
Sean Lee not so much- barring anything unseen, this draft is a total win. can't believe anyone would be down on the 13 guys that we managed to pick up...even the late round guys have some good upside.— romano
CodeMonkee -- Is that 'code' that you're as dumb as a 'monkee'? If anything, trading UP to 13 in the last uncapped first round shows a willingness to spend more. If you don't like their choices, that's fine- but cheap has nothing to do with it.- They wanted more speed on defense and they got it. I like the competition they created after blowing up last year's D and bringing in some nice players on paper. Time will tell, but last year's D was a bust so nowhere to go but up. Might take a year or two, this is what rebuilding looks like despite what AR says. Let's see what they do on the field before trashing the entire draft.— Z-Force
i thought they did well. Remember that half these guys might not even make the team.— azguz- Sheil, this kind of roundup is a great read and much appreciated.— Falkirk
- Comment removed.
- I can live with Brandon Graham in the first round because if the opposing QB has all day to throw (as they have had in recent years) shoring up the secondary really won't help much.— El Tel
- hmm, people closer to the players in the draft give the Birds good reviews, while the morons on this post play ignorance on parade.— jalinsgs
- I think Mays is going to be a better player than Allen. I would have picked Mays with the 37th pick and Allen would have been available with 55 pick. Only the Eagles had him that high on the draft. We just have to see these guys on the field; I can't wait for the season.— ColombianEagle
- Love that Gosselin said the Eagles had the best 4th round. That's like taking home the 5th hottest girl in a group consisting of 3 supermodels and 4 of their cousins. Yeah, she's a cousin of a supermodel, but she's not the real thing. Domo is also hilarious b/c he grades the Eagles so high, but then writes an entire article on how badly they screwed up the CB position. As usual, Andy and Howie think they're smarter than everyone else. The NFL has no patience for that. 6-10 here we come....— thomaspfoolery
- Emphasis on "foolery" thomas. Every pick is important, especially in the later rounds. Come back when you get a clue.— jonnyb0916
- When you draft 13 players you're acquiring a lot of wild cards. How big is the practice squad? We're going to have some depth there.— Rick Wise Guy
- In the middle of the draft on Sheils chat, I asked what people thought the grades for our draft might be from the natl media. Then comes in Sheil, "who cares about draft grades and what the natl media thinks" and now heres an article about it. Ha, I guess its only ok to ask on his time. I just thought it would be a good subject to get people talking about instead of reading rude comments the entire chat. I was getting irritated as we kept trading down and no cb's.— peteike
- I think they get an A plus. I wish they had addressed the CB position a little better...and perhaps grabbed a center. Also, it would have been nice to get another young running back and perhaps a backup mlb. Other than that they get an "A plus" Oh, and a maybe another receiver too.— SouthJerseyPhantom
- I can't wait to see what Cole & Graham can accomplish from the End position. They may even make Bunkley/Peterson look better. If Te'o can be part of the rotation and maybe Sapp? Pretty good infusion of young, speedy talent. Or could Sapp possibly be part of the answer as the strong side LB? Also, Riley Cooper is intriguing as a big, Athletic WR to go with Jackson, Maclin, Avant, Basket.— ericyshel
- It is clear the Eagles trading down in the second round was all about money. They were willing to pay Graham and Allen...but no one else. That is what they are going to get too. Two starters and maybe one or two out of the rest, but way down the road. The rest are subs and practice squad. Eagles economics. We can only have and only pay so many players, otherwise our payroll might grow too big or we might actually win a SB. Instead, we want to be mediocre and keep drawing the fans in with one and done in the playoffs. I don't see this mindset changing anytime soon. If Kolb and some of the younger guys pan, maybe they go all in later? We'll see. The history of T.O./Kearse going all in suggests it, but maybe the Eagles still feel burned from that even though it was the last time they were ever in a SB since 1980. The Joe Banner/Roseman/Lurie model = mediocre/above average...but fans keep buying tickets. So enjoy it.— DrZ88
- Also, it should be no surprise where they got the cheap model from. Ed Snider, who has done the same with the Sixers/Flyers. Get one star player, maybe a couple, but then sub-par for the rest or not the right people around them. They will be good, but never win the whole thing. That model doesn't work anymore. It is a 70's/80's strategy. Teams like Detroit Red Wings, Celtics, Lakers, Yankees/BoSox, etc. put out and pay many stars again and again...guess what...they compete every year and win the big one. Until this town does that with its teams, good luck. Unfortunately, the Phillies may be an anomaly. Please prove me wrong, but over the last 30 years that is what I see. A bunch of hard workers/lucky guys that almost get there. The Phillies were just so bad that finally their 1st round picks accumulated to the eventual win in 2008. Now, they can't pay them. Bye Bye Werth = bye bye Championship.— DrZ88
- Daniel Te’o-Nesheim from Washington - a very peculiar pick as the Eagles just traded his clone, Chris Gocong, to the Browns. Gocong came out of college as one of the best pass-rushing DE's in the draft, so the Birds set him up to fail by attempting to make him a OLB. He'll have more success in Cleveland, bet on it. As for Te’o-Nesheim, we'll see whether Reid learned his lesson with Gocong.— Common2Sense
Gosselin is a clown, his team had a B- draft and our team had an B+, period. Why a WR in the 1st? Cowkissers gave up all those 1st rd picks on 2 guys who will fight for the ball! Roy is gonna lose out and cry like TO, and ride the pine or get cut, watch. We got 13 players, most of which were valued higher than where they were picked, but every one questions Dan Te'oh neshiem, who may turn out to be the sleeper in this draft, a guy you can move all over the line and get in the backfield with Cole and Graham, could be a tough D-line period. Not getting a corner with that pick, is why they get a B from most draft"experts" who obviously are so good at it, that hey either never worked for an NFL franchise or were booted from one or more. Cowboys needed a better draft as they lost more players then they were able to sign. Imagine this, Doug Free one on one now with Trent Cole, if he is doubled Romo is gonna get blasted, either way, and these guys can get off the field on 3rd down now.
You'd think from most of the dummies that post here that we should've just stopped after the 2nd round and forfeited the rest of our picks. Never mind the fact that many good players are found later in the draft (T.Cole, Celek) or even as RFAs (J.Jackson, Mikell). I think we found some real keepers in this year's draft.— phillychaos- Brent Celek (5), Jason Avant (4), Omar Gaither (5), Todd Herremans (4), Trent Cole (5), Correll Buckhalter (4). Just to name the most successful of their picks in the later rounds in recent past. Many other starters from 4th round or later.— bmack
The Eagles over-picked Nate Allen according to sources. Okay, the big board at CBS.com has him rated the 45th best player in the draft, the Eagles picked him at 37, big deal, 8 picks ahead of where he was rated is nothing. The Eagles had him rated higher, and Gil Brandt who has been doing the draft for 50 years and built all those dynasty teams for the Cowboys, said on Sirius NFL that there's not a lick of difference between Nate Allen and Earl Thomas. As for the Eagles being cheap, that's blatantly false. All you have to do is look at the high priced free agents they've signed: Runyan, Kearse, Samuel etc. And by moving up those 11 slots in the first round, I'm pretty sure the MILLIONS they'll wind up spending for that move is more expensive than signing a couple of 3rd rounders. Get off the cheap thing. You can say with some measure of credence that it was a bad move because of the players you could have gotten there, but it had ZERO to do with saving money. By the way... http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/eagles/Pick_the_Pick_winners.html?posted=y&viewAll=y#comments all bow before zog.- I liked Sean Lee.......maybe a project but we have had many in the last 10 years.......no one with more spirit, heart, knowledge of the game.......a natural leader........This kid will be all-pro one day; a shame it won't be in green.— ox
- i give the eagles draft a C+...would have been a B if they had taken Carlon Mitchell over Riley Cooper. He'll receive rookie of the year consideration with the Browns.— sedale
- They addressed the 2 biggest needs first. Now the #55 pick comes up should they have picked a corner or lb maybe but i like what they did and turned that pick into a 3rd, 2 4s and 3 5s. Could you imagine all the complaining if we traded those 6 picks for the #55 pick— all religion is fairy tales
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