Murphy: Draft a wideout? Careful what you wish for
THE NOTION that the Eagles need to come out of this draft with a starting-caliber wide receiver makes sense if you think reverse-order drafts are like clothing stores and Howie Roseman can simply stroll through the showroom until he finds the size and style that fits right.
THE NOTION that the Eagles need to come out of this draft with a starting-caliber wide receiver makes sense if you think reverse-order drafts are like clothing stores and Howie Roseman can simply stroll through the showroom until he finds the size and style that fits right.
Excuse me, sir, do you happen to have any more of these in the back? I'm looking for something in Green. You know, like A.J.
Ah, to live in a world of unlimited resources. Sorry, kids. It doesn't work like that. Other people want things, too, and when 13 (or 14) of those people get to pick before you, you'd better make the best of what's left, instead of making an imperfect situation worse. That means if one of those 13 (or 14) people wants Mike Williams as much or more than you do, then it's time to move on. The worst thing the Eagles could do in such a situation would be to round up whatever grade they've assigned to somebody like Western Michigan's Corey Davis or Washington's John Ross because of their desperation to surround Carson Wentz with some weapons. If Ross or Davis – or even Williams, if he falls that far – isn't the best player on their board, they should not take him.
That might sound like a bit of wisdom so conventional that it isn't even worth stating, but the notion that the Eagles must, must, must draft a wide receiver seems to have reached that threshold, as well. Part of the blame goes to the interminable buildup to the draft, which leaves us four months to wonder about a pick whose most important variable will not be known until the Eagles are on the clock; i.e., who is still in the board. That aside, people around these parts sometimes sound as if they forget that the last time the Eagles entered a draft determined to draft a wide receiver, they ended up drafting the guy they're currently trying to replace. This was way back in 2015, but let's refresh our memories. By most accounts, Nelson Agholor was the best receiver on the board when the Eagles snagged him at No. 20. The pick wasn't hailed as the sexiest thing in the world, but such is often the case in the latter third of the first round. Agholor was widely regarded as safe if not spectacular pick, and certainly the best of the remaining bunch at the Eagles' biggest position of need.
The latter characterization still hasn't proved definitively wrong, as most of the receivers off the board in his immediate wake have equaled or exceeded his disappointment: Breshad Perriman (Ravens at No. 26), Phillip Dorsett (Colts at No. 29), Devin Smith (Jets at No. 37), Dorial Green-Beckham (Titans at No. 40) . . . not until the Seahawks snagged Tyler Lockett with the fifth pick of the third round did a team draft a receiver who has eclipsed 1,000 yards two years into his career. And the Lockett pick was followed by Jaelen Strong, who was barely on the Texans' depth chart for the majority of this season.
The warning extends to the two receivers drafted immediately before Agholor, who has 59 receptions for 648 yards in his first two seasons: DeVante Parker caught 26 passes for 494 yards as a rookie and 56 passes for 744 yards in 2016 after the Dolphins picked him at No. 14, while Kevin White has 19 catches and 187 yards in his first two seasons after the Bears took him at No. 7 overall. At the Senior Bowl, Roseman spoke of the 2014 draft as an outlier with regard to the crop of wide receivers who have blossomed into stars, and he could have followed that observation with a nod to 2015 as its opposite. Only three receivers taken that year have averaged more than 700 yards a season in their first two years, with Amari Cooper as the only potential superstar (Stefon Diggs and Jamison Crowder, drafted in the fifth and fourth rounds, are the other two).
None of this serves as evidence that the Eagles should enter the draft intending to ignore the wide-receiver position. It simply illustrates the danger of prioritizing one position above all others. If the Eagles don't take a wideout in the first three rounds, it shouldn't be interpreted as proof of Roseman's incompetence, particularly given the glaring deficiencies that exist at other positions. That's the good thing about a team in the Eagles' situation: Unless they come out of this draft with a kicker, a punter and three or four quarterbacks, they will have addressed a position of need. It's like the old saying: Practice alone doesn't make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect. The Eagles don't need a wide receiver. They need a good wide receiver. To see understand the difference, just look back a couple of years.
@ByDavidMurphy