Is this the best Eagles draft?
What can you take away from a preseason game in which both teams tried to show as little as possible against their opening-week opponent? Well, one thing that has stood out during the preseason has been the play of the Eagles' rookies.
Is this the best Eagles draft?
What can you take away from a preseason game in which both teams tried to show as little as possible against their opening-week opponent? Well, one thing that has stood out during the preseason has been the play of the Eagles' rookies.
Which led to a question in the Eagles' chat during Friday's game: Is this the best Eagles draft class ever?
When considering that question, one massive caveat is needed: time changes everything. At some point, many Eagles' draft classes looked promising, particularly in the preseason when the draft picks are playing against the second, third, and maybe even fourth teams.
Remember the praise heaped on 2007's class of Kevin Kolb, Victor Abiamiri, Stewart Bradley, Tony Hunt, and C.J. Gaddis. Yeah, well, the best of that class was Brent Celek, who was picked after all of those guys.
Still, this year's draft class has been impressive—and it doesn't even include undrafted rookie Damaris Johnson, the team's starting punt returner who is a lock to make the team.
With yet another stellar game by Johnson and Nick Foles (3rd round), here are one man's rankings of the best Eagles draft classes since 1960. This year's class is included in the rankings…for now.
1973: Jerry Sisemore (1st), Charle Young (1st), Guy Morriss (2nd), Randy Logan (3rd), Joe Lavender (12th)
1986: Keith Byars (1st), Anthony Toney (2nd), Seth Joyner (8th), Clyde Simmons (9th)
2002: Lito Sheppard (1st), Michael Lewis (2nd), Sheldon Brown (2nd), Brian Westbrook (3rd)
1987: Jerome Brown (1st), Byron Evans (4th), David Alexander (5th), Ron Moten (6th), Cris Carter (a supplemental pick who was Hall of Fame-caliber when he played elsewhere)
1979: Jerry Robinson (1st), Petey Perot (2nd), Tony Franklin (3rd), Max Runager (8th)
2005: Mike Patterson (1st), Todd Herremans (4th), Trent Cole (5th)
2011: Danny Watkins (1st), Alex Henery (4th), Dion Lewis (5th), Jason Kelce (6th), Brian Rolle (6th)
2012: Fletcher Cox (1st), Mychael Kendricks (2nd), Vinny Curry (2nd), Nick Foles (3rd), Brandon Boykin (4th), Bryce Brown (7th)
The fans' take
What do Eagles' fans think of the team's preseason? Here are the best comments from Friday night's in-game chat.
When it appeared Nick Foles might start the second half: "Who would have thought at the beginning of the year that we would be worried about Nick Foles getting hurt? (from BobPhxville)
More on Foles:
"I saw Foles take one hit, while he had quite a bit of pressure around him while he played tonight. He is avoiding hits by moving his feet and throwing the ball, keeping his head looking downfield for his receivers. Vick doesn't do that. Take a look at Foles' TD pass to Celek…. He progressed thru his reads, went to Shady, to the receivers on the far side of the field, avoided a defender and passed to Celek for a TD. I have never seen Vick progress thru his reads like that. (from Cork)
Jaiquawn Jarrett was a popular target during the chat:
"Jaiquawn Jarrett is not a very good football player, maybe athletic but I don't see a single bit of instinctiveness in his game. It's frightening. He looks lost out there, always late or a step behind. (from Jon ft Washington)
If you can't declare it after 3 preseason games, then when can you?— AreaMan- LOL!!! ALSO, THIS ARTICLE WAS POSTED AT 1:10AM. THE GAME DIDN'T END TILL ABOUT 11:00PM. SO I'M TO BELIEVE THAT HE DID THE RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS AND RATING AND RANKING OF THE LAST 40 EAGLES'S DRAFTS AND WRITE THE PIECE IN 2 HOURS. WHAT IS UP WITH THAT??? J.R LIKE RICKY RICARDO WOULD SAY TO HIS WIFE, "LUCY, YOU HAVE SOME SPLAINING TO DO." — bedpan
- Dude, heard of Google? If he doesn't have an Eagle's Almanac he could have quickly looked it up and, based on name recognition, done a ranking. It's not a freaking research paper. But, if you have any other alternatives, this is a good place for them.
- I STAND CORRECTED. SINCE THE LIST WAS OF THE BEST EAGLES DRAFTS SINCE 1960. I GUESS ONE COULD PULL TOGETHER THAT LIST IN ABOUT 5 MINUTES. NOW A RANK OF THE WORST EAGLES DRAFTS SINCE 1960. THAT WOULD BE A DIFFERENT STORY. THAT LIST WOULD TAKE WEEKS TO COMPILE. — bedpan
- That's a very good point. Not sure how many hours that would take. I am sure it would be a pretty grim task.
- Time will tell us what this draft class is ranked.i pretty much agree with you in your ranking as presented in this article.It is right on.Maybe the top four would be the one most debated as to their order.To me those four are too close to call.— Andrew Grier
- Lets reel it back in a little bit, its 3 preseason games.— waltv
- Seriously, I don't know how you could possibly have been an Eagles fan for more than about a month with the stuff you write. To answer your question: No, I don't remember any special hype over the Eagles draft class of 2007. In fact, in Philly, consensus was the Eagles wasted a 2nd rd pick on a QB they didn't need at a time when they had holes all over the roster, Abiamiri was considered a back-up who could possibly play 2 positions, Bradley was appreciated and no one cared about Tony Hunt or CJ Gaddis. They didn't have a 1st rd pick(or traded it, I don't remember) so it would have been amazing to have pulled off an "all-time" draft class. Can you at least explain why you believe the 2007 class was considered a monster at any time and by who? You have 4 comments at 9:18am, your predecessor would have 88 by now. The reason is because you write as if you have no real knowledge of Eagles history and are that guy at the office who tries to talk football but doesn't really understand it and he s the only one who doesn't realize it. You should just go back to writing a blog on geocity.— UncleStosh
- YOU KNOW I HATE TO BASH J.R. HE PROBABLY IS A DECENT, HARD WORKING GUY. BUT THIS PIECE TRULY IS AN INSULT TO EVERY FAN THAT HAS A BRAIN. — bedpan
- The list is too ridiculous to believe. When i saw 2011, I had to re-read the list toi make sure I hadn't missed the joke. Please leave Philly immediately, we deserve better.— UncleStosh
- THIS ARTICLE IS THE PERFECT EXAMPLE OF THE FACT THAT THERE ARE COMMENTERS LIKE YOU STOSH ALONG WITH CHARLIEGARNER, SEWELL, GUYGUY, NUGGETT, MARIO AND OTHERS THAT KNOW MORE ABOUT THE NFL THEN THE PAID SCRIBES. — bedpan
- I remember on draft day many Eagles fans were saying that the Eagles wasted a third round pick on Foles and that McNutt was going to be a good player.— zeke128
- STOSH IS ABSOLUTELY CORRECT. THE PAID SCRIBES ARE SO EAGER TO PLEASE LURIE AND KING ANDY THAT THEY CAN'T WAIT TO WRITE THIS NONSENSE. HOW COULD ANYONE POSSIBLY PUT THE 2011 DRAFT ON THIS LIST. ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MINE????? NONE OF THOSE GUYS FROM 2011 WOULD EVEN MAKE THE ROSTER OF MOST NFL TEAMS. IN 2011, KELCE HAD THE WORST PASS BLOCKING YEAR OF ANY CENTER OVER THE PREVIOUS 3 SEASONS. THE ONLY REASON THE 2011 DRAFTEES ARE EVEN PLAYING IS BECAUSE THE PREVIOUS DRAFTS WHERE SO TERRIBLE. HOW ABOUT WRITING AN ARTICLE ABOUT WHAT THE EAGLES WERE THINKING WHEN THEY MADE THE FOLLOWING EARLY ROUND SELECTIONS: DANNY WATKINS, BRANDON GRAHAM, DANIEL TEO NESHEIM, TREVOR LINDLEY, KEENAN CLAYON, TREVOR LAWS, MIKE KAFKA, BRYAN SMITH, JACK IKEGWUONU, VICTOR ABIAMIRI, JAIQUAN JARRETT, CURTIS MARSH AND TONY HUNT. OR, HOW ABOUT AN ARTICLE ON THE ALL PROS THE EAGLES PASSED-UP BY SELECTING THESE BUMS. J.R. I KNOW YOU READ THE RESPONSES, PLEASE TELL ME YOU ARE NOT BOUGHT BY LURIE/REID.— bedpan
- LAST NIGHT DURING YOUR CHAT WHEN SOMEONE ASKED, Is this the best Eagles draft class ever? YOUR RESPONSE SHOULD HAVE BEEN, "ARE YOU THE DUMBEST PERSON IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE?"— bedpan
- 2002 was the best. Sheppard,Lewis,Brown and Westbrook.They hit a grand slam.— Eaglejay
