Class of 2005: From losers to winners

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Eagles lost to the New Orleans Saints in the NFC divisional playoffs the night earlier, a sour ending to a season when the Eagles won their final five regular-season games and the NFC East title and topped the New York Giants in the first round of the playoffs.

Head coach Andy Reid provided the usual end-of-season talk about how he's proud of the players and it was a good season. But then he added a different spin to the Eagles' leap from 6-10 in 2005 to 10-6 in 2006.

"You wanted to get things changed around this year, or you're dealing with two [draft] classes of players that had not had success," Reid said in January. "That becomes very difficult to change around. The guys that were here last year, that's all that they knew in the NFL."

Those "guys" Reid was referring to were the Eagles' 2005 draft class, one that came following a Super Bowl appearance and finished its first season with a losing record.

The Eagles have five listed starters from the Class of 2005: defensive tackle Mike Patterson, receiver Reggie Brown, safety Sean Considine, guard Todd Herremans, and defensive end Trent Cole. The roster also includes three reserves from that class: linebacker Matt McCoy (a former starter), running back Ryan Moats, and guard Scott Young.

"It makes you feel good to know the guys you came in with, the guys you know, the guys who are your closest friends on the team in general and the guys you were together with as a rookie are having a lot of success and are guys who are going to be here for a long time," Considine said. "You know everybody but you still stick closest with the guys you came in with."

The Eagles build through the draft, but even by their standards this class is abnormal.

"If you get three guys out of a draft class that are starters, we think that's a pretty good deal," Eagles general manager Tom Heckert said. "Any time you get more than that - you're just happy about it."

The Eagles have three starting position players from just one other draft class - the celebrated 2002 class: cornerbacks Lito Sheppard and Sheldon Brown and running back Brian Westbrook. Former starting safety Michael Lewis, now a starter with the San Francisco 49ers, also was in that class. Sheppard, Westbrook and Lewis have all reached the Pro Bowl.

The 2005 class doesn't have that same star power.

"There's a lot of teams that have Pro Bowl players that are not very good, so I think as long as you have solid starters who are obviously good football players, I think the more the better than just a few guys," Heckert said. "Especially our team, because we feel we don't need superstars. If we get them, great. But we feel if you have good, solid players all around, you're going to be a good football team."

The Eagles have already signed four of the 2005 class - Patterson, Brown, Herremans and Cole - to long-term contract extensions.

During their rookie seasons, Herremans and McCoy helped organize paintballing excursions. Considine and Cole go hunting together during the off-season. Brown and Patterson live across the street from each other.

"We stick together," Cole said. "We all just gather around one person's house. It could be my house, Todd's house, Mike's house."

They will likely be together for a long time. The Eagles are counting on this class both long term and short term.

"When we first started, I knew we were going to have good players," Herremans said. "I just didn't know we'd impact the team so quickly. I knew that down the road, we'd all end up being good players and being out there. I'm just happy we all did it so soon and now we can enjoy the rest of our careers together."

The Eagles have five starters and eight players overall remaining from the draft class of 2005. Here is the entire 11-man class.

Mike Patterson

DT            USC               1             31

Reggie Brown          WR         Georgia            2             35

Matt McCoy            LB            San Diego St.      2             63

Ryan Moats            RB            La. Tech            3             77

Sean Considine          S            Iowa               4             102

Todd Herremans       G            Saginaw            4             126

Trent Cole             DE         Cincinnati         5             146

Scott Young         OG         BYU               5             172

Calvin Armstrong      OT       Washington St.   6             211

Keyonta Marshall      DT            Grand Valley St.   7             247

David Bergeron      LB            Stanford            7             252

Starters are in bold.

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Today's philly.com video features NFL columnist Ashley Fox and staff writer Zach Berman discussing Donovan McNabb, L.J. Smith, and the punting duel between Saverio Rocca and Dirk Johnson. It is available at http://go.philly.com/eaglescampvideo.

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