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
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