Howie Roseman's 2014 Eagles draft picks began with a reach

Fifth in a series.

When the general manager spends most of the next day explaining why he chose his first-round draft pick and admits that he circled back with other NFL executives to make sure the player wouldn't have lasted another 10 spots, you know something went wrong.

Howie Roseman had made the media rounds after the Eagles made their top choice before, but he was never as defensive as he was the day following the Marcus Smith pick in 2014.

"We didn't want to get too greedy," Roseman said then. "We didn't want to get to no man's [land] where . . . all the players that we're targeting are gone, and we're picking from the next tier."

In retrospect, Roseman's reading of the first round with a dividing line between prospects he was willing to take with the No. 22 pick and those that he was willing to trade back for - as he did with Smith - wasn't entirely faulty. Where he and the Eagles went wrong, ultimately, was in their evaluation of the Louisville edge rusher.

All too often analysts and fans will impulsively praise or criticize draft selections only to later have those expectations subverted. But in the case of Smith, many - including the prospect himself - thought that he wouldn't be taken until the second day, and they were right.

Smith has yet to develop into a starter let alone a steady contributor, and after three seasons it's safe to say that he likely never will. As for the rest of the 2014 class (we grade the entire class here), the Eagles were able to pull only one starting-caliber player - Jordan Matthews - from a draft that was rich in wide receiver talent.

For Roseman, that draft was a significant setback. He had seemed to finally get the process right during the previous two years, or at the least stopped trying to impress the rest of the NFL with his value selections and stockpiling of picks rather than adding the best possible players.

That year, of course, wasn't entirely his fault. Chip Kelly was almost just as involved. How else would the Eagles end up selecting two Oregon products? But a year later, after Jeffrey Lurie shook up the front office and placed the coach in charge of personnel, Roseman sat in the war room and was merely a spectator.

Time will tell whether he took his comeuppance and used the time away to foster a more straightforward approach, one built upon evaluation and not competition. The jury is still out on Carson Wentz and the 2016 group. But Roseman hasn't been shy about confessing where he went wrong and how he could grow from those mistakes.

"One of the lessons I learned from that year was you're not trying to win the draft," Roseman said this past January. "You're just trying to get good players to fit the Philadelphia Eagles."

Heading into that draft, the Eagles had identified six prospects they were willing to take with the 22nd overall pick. While the team never identified those players, they were widely believed to be linebacker Anthony Barr (No. 9), receiver Odell Beckham Jr. (No. 12), cornerback Kyle Fuller (No. 14), linebacker C.J. Mosley (No. 17), receiver Brandin Cooks (No. 20) and safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix (No. 21).

"There were about six guys that we felt, if they were there at 22, we would have taken them," Kelly said then. "I guess, unfortunately for us, there are other people in the league that liked the same six guys we did. So when we got there, a lot of people called."

The best offer came from the Browns, who sent a third-round pick to the Eagles to move up four spots and draft quarterback Johnny Manziel. When the Chiefs took edge rusher Dee Ford with the next pick, the Eagles began to worry that Smith, who they had pegged as the best available from the next tier, would be gone.

Roseman said the next day that he spoke with other GMs who insisted that they were willing to take Smith late in the first and early in the second round. It was, of course, difficult to verify this claim. Could the executives have collaborated to hoodwink Roseman? Nevertheless, two GMs told the Inquirer then that they had only third-round grades on Smith.

There was a drop off in talent as Roseman had correctly identified, but the Eagles still passed on quality prospects such as receiver Kelvin Benjamin and defensive back Deone Bucannon at No. 26, and perhaps most damagingly didn't consider quarterbacks Teddy Bridgewater or Derek Carr, who went six and 10 picks, respectively, later.

"We think quarterback is a strength for us right now," said Kelly, who had Nick Foles, Mark Sanchez and Matt Barkley on the roster.

Roseman had believed that two or three quarterbacks would be chosen before No. 22, but Blake Bortles ended up being the only one to go before the Eagles' selection. The safer plan would have been to bite the bullet and trade up as the Saints did when they leapfrogged the Eagles for Cooks.

"Trading back and getting extra picks but not having someone who can affect the game . . . " Roseman said this past January as he looked ahead to this year's draft when the Eagles have the No. 14 pick. "You're watching these championship games, and you are seeing that there are difference-makers making big play in these games. We got to make sure that we come out of that."

In recent drafts, when the Eagles have had success in the first round, it's when they have moved up or had a top-15 pick, such as Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox, Lane Johnson and Wentz. Smith hasn't been as disappointing as the Danny Watkins selection, but four sacks in three seasons just hasn't cut it.

Roseman already began lowering the bar for Smith the day after the first round when he said that the linebacker would have time to develop behind starters Trent Cole and Connor Barwin. Both the GM and Kelly focused on the former quarterback's "upside" and his "athleticism." The coach liked Smith's 34-inch arms.

"I think his ceiling is very, very high," Kelly said. "We're excited. He's a tough, hard-nosed football player. A little bit new to the position."

Kelly dove headfirst into the predraft process that offseason. He was seen at virtually every major Pro Day. He instantly fell for Matthews, who was widely considered to be a second-round prospect. However, there was a Yahoo.com report that Kelly wanted to take him in the first round and that Roseman had to convince him that Matthews would be there a round later.

He was, but the Eagles had to package a fourth-rounder to move up 12 spots for the Vanderbilt receiver at No. 42. Kelly had driven the decision to release DeSean Jackson that March, and when asked for a reason he often cited needing receivers to beat man coverage. He said Matthews was a man beater, and while he would begin in the slot had the skill set to eventually move out on the wings

"He's got the speed to play on the outside," Kelly said. "He's got the size."

Matthews has averaged 75 catches for 891 yards and six touchdowns over three seasons, but the majority of those catches have come from inside, and his best moments have come against zone coverage. A round later, the Eagles took another receiver - Oregon's Josh Huff - with the pick they received for trading back in the first round.

Kelly said that he stayed out of the evaluation process of his former players.

"You can ask Howie and those guys," he said then. "I think there are points in time where they've got to convince me this is the direction we're going in because I try to divorce myself from that situation."

After the Eagles took Oregon defensive end Taylor Hart two rounds later, Kelly said they were prepared to draft him even before Huff.

"We would have taken him in the third," Kelly said. "We're fortunate. I think Howie did a great job of how we ordered it today. The other guy would be gone first, so let's take him. He guaranteed me Hart would be there in the fifth, and he was right."

Neither player would pan out. You would have to suspend all logic to believe Kelly's claim that he had no influence over the Huff or Hart selections or that his stature didn't have an effect on the evaluations of others on the Eagles.

Kelly would often belittle the hype surrounding the draft, and in many ways he had a point. In 2014, 256 prospects were drafted, and only approximately 20 percent would go on to become consistent starters.

"Everybody goes crazy about the draft, and he's a first, he's a second, he's a third," Kelly said then. "And then on Monday, it doesn't matter. It's who is the best player."

For Roseman, the draft played a significant role in his youthful desire to become a NFL GM. He would construct his own draft boards and pick players as if he was the lead scout for his beloved New York Jets. To him, there was a science to it. To Kelly, it was mostly a means to get players that he could coach up.

Still, Kelly said that there weren't many times when he and Roseman butted heads during that draft.

"I think everybody wants to know really what happens in there," Kelly said. "But it never gets to that point. I think we look at it, analyze it, and kind of come to the same conclusion. But I haven't yet sat there, and I want him, and he wants him, and then, you know, are we going to box for it?"

And yet, seven months later, Kelly squeezed Roseman. And the following April, he would get to run the draft himself.

jmclane@phillynews.com

@Jeff_McLane