Can Graham have an instant impact?
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Can Graham have an instant impact?
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
Note: I wrote this post originally on March 11.
In the past five years, 34 defensive linemen and 18 defensive ends have been taken in the first round. Here are some numbers on how they fared:
* The average defensive lineman taken in the first round over the past five seasons had 2.69 sacks as a rookie. The average defensive end averaged 3.89 sacks. Note that we include guys described in that hybrid LB/DE role here.
* There have been few exceptions. The Redskins took Brian Orakpo with the 13th pick last year, and he had 11 sacks. The Browns took Kamerion Wimbley with the13th pick in 2006, and he also piled up 11 sacks in his rookie season. Penn State's Tamba Hali was in Wimbley's draft class, the 20th pick by Kansas City. He had eight sacks in his first season. Other than those three guys, no defensive lineman taken in the first round had more than six sacks as a rookie.
* I also took a look at the top-10 sack leaders from 2009. Their average experience was 5.5 years in the league. And nine of them had three years of experience or more. The only exception (again) was Orakpo.
It should be noted that these numbers only measure sack totals. As I pointed out many times during the season, sacks don't always measure overall performance. There's playing the run, consistent pressure on opposing QBs and other factors that should also be considered. Juqua Parker had eight sacks last season. Julius Peppers had 10.5. But they're obviously two very different players.
Looking at the top-10 sack guys from last season, though, it's hard to argue against many of those players being among the league's elite.
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Sergio Kindle.— ICDogg
memo to andy reid: trade up and draft either earl thomas or carlos dunlap, or stay at 24 and draft maurkice pouncey. all three players would be impact starters from day 1.— uscwee- Meaningless stats--- blah blah blah blah !— phillyjim7
- EARL THOMAS/TAYLOR MAYS/MIKE IUPATI/KYLE WILSON....All those guys could step in and play RIGHT away. Stay away from Dunlap...he's the new Pacman Jones. I like Brandon Graham too...high motor and just CRUSHED the Senior Bowl (though I'm not sure if he's good for the 4-3 scheme the birds run).— thomaspfoolery
- spoon— dabirds
- I don't have any stats to back this up but linebacker seems to be an easier position to make an immediate impact as a rookie (sort of like an RB on the offensive side). I think the ideal scenario would be to get better up front and at S (which we hopefully did with Jackson) via trade/FA and get younger/deeper in the early rounds of the draft at CB, LB, and OL...— jabostick
- whatever, just don't pick somebody who doesn't have the intelligence to tie his shoes. We've been trying to replace Parker for years, he's still hangin...— eagledon
- Oh, no I don't think so. There's no WAY Tony Romo is going to have all day to throw and be able to pick apart this awesome defense. I can't see that happening. And even if - by some freak of nature - it WERE to happen, there's no chance it could happen twice! Keep the pass rush just the way it is. Nice and easy ...— Tacklebury
Comment removed.- With the depth of the draft class, Birds need to make moves and come out with at least three prospects from the first 2 rounds and hope one, maybe two, will be contributors. If Marlin Jackson actually pans out, they got depth in the defensive backfield and should get DE and LB, whichever top rated player is on the board. But the obvious theme here is injured players getting better, Stacey A, Bradley, Ingram, J Jackson, and young players improving, Macho, Shady, Fokuo....that's alot of wishing.— Bleue
- There's some sentiment in the Eagles front office for the DE from South Florida, Jason Pierre-Paul. He's tall and fast but needs to fill out the upper 1/2 of his body more. It would be nice to get a difference-maker DE in the first round, not just a good one. They need to implode more QB's. Their pass rush is not good enough.— Bob1
- Useless comment dept: if they aren't trading McNabb and they didn't plan on keeping Dawkins, why the heck did they draft a QB in 07 instead of a FS?!?!? Didn't make sense then and it's biting them in the rump now.— alwaysanotherview
- It would have helped to have mentioned whether there were any good pass rushers available to draft. If there aren't, it's a moot question anyway.— atp2007
- Everson Griffin from USC would be a perfect fit and available mid first round. Trade up to get grab him and pray he's not McDougle.— Phillies1120
- Hell yeah get a Defensive end and with the first round 24th pick and if he's not available trade for him with a drafted player— xNBD-BlackCharger94
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