Hands tied by labor strife, Eagles take an oldie

OK, SO THE NFL lockout has officially screwed the Eagles more than any other team.

Forget Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Cam Newton going first overall to the Carolina Panthers as the NFL draft started last night in New York.

Ignore Washington quarterback Jake Locker going eighth to the Tennessee Titans and the Jacksonville Jaguars trading with the Washington Redskins to draft Missouri quarterback Blaine Gabbert 10th overall.

Simply focus on the fact that the Minnesota Vikings, a team that still has Super Bowl talent in a lot of areas, used the 12th pick on Florida State quarterback Christian Ponder.

By the NFL.com draft analysis, Ponder graded out as a 6.5 and the final comment about him was that he "has slowly climbed up boards, and he is almost certain to go in the second round."

Ponder went 20 picks before the first pick of the second round.

In a year where no quarterback was deemed NFL ready, four went before the first round was half over.

And, meanwhile, because no trades involving players currently in the NFL could be made due to the lockout, the Eagles still have Kevin Kolb, who completed 60.8 percent of passes and threw for 1,197 yards and seven touchdowns against NFL teams last season, as their backup quarterback.

The big run of first-round quarterbacks, and the Birds are left sitting on one who is probably better than all of them.

But, hey, Jeffrey Lurie is one of those owners who think they can't survive with the way the NFL is cutting up a $9 billion pie, so you get what you get.

Unfortunately, Eagles fans who haven't seen a championship from this franchise in more than a half-century also get what Lurie and his crew down at the NovaCare Center get.

"It's what we've been dealt, and everybody has to deal with the same thing," Eagles coach Andy Reid said of the impossibility of trading Kolb.

Last night, Eagles Nation had to deal with getting nothing for something.

Of course, the Eagles probably exasperated the situation with their faithful by using the 23rd pick in the draft on 26-year-old Baylor offensive lineman Danny Watkins, who has played only 4 years of football at any level.

Offensive linemen are never a popular pick with fans, and drafting one who is older and inexperienced can't be pushing the enthusiasm envelope.

Watkins fell into football.

Growing up in West Kelowna, British Columbia, Watkins played hockey until he was 17 years old.

He worked as firefighter for 5 years and didn't take up football until he went to Butte Junior College in California to study fire services in 2007.

"The coach there said, 'Why don't you try football?' and I said, 'Why the heck not?' " Watkins said of how he was introduced to the game.

Watkins transferred to Baylor and now joins offensive lineman Tony Mandarich, running back Tim Biakabutuka and offensive lineman Mike Schad as Canadians drafted in the first round.

"[Watkins'] clock started a little later but he took to [football] right away and was so productive," Reid said. "He's a heck of a player in both the run game and pass game.

"I can't tell you how happy we are to have him in our program."

Pardon me if I don't share in the glee.

The Eagles have a lot of needs and offensive line was definitely one of them, but a 26-year-old relative football novice?

Watkins was projected as a first-round pick and might turn out to be an excellent football player, but the initial reaction has to be that this is a gamble.

Because Watkins is an offensive lineman and they tend to have longer careers, his age is mitigated, but, in a young man's game, he is closer to 30 than 20.

Of course, the Eagles' unwritten 30-year-old rule doesn't seem to apply to offensive linemen.

"My body feels fresh and I feel good," Watkins said. "I've lived the life of a working man with a 30-hour-a-week job.

"I'm very surprised. This is unreal. I spoke with [the Eagles] at the combine and the Senior Bowl and on the phone a little bit, but that was a about it. A lot of teams talked to me and showed interest.

"I thought it was a wrong number when I got the call [from the Eagles]."

Reid said Watkins will bring a "blue collar" work ethic to the offensive line and should be able to start as a rookie.

That is, of course, assuming the NFL gets its labor issues under control and Watkins has a rookie season in 2011.

If not, he could be 27 before he takes his first NFL snap. Again, offensive linemen tend to last longer but that's still a lot of lost years in a NFL career.

"I don't see it as an issue," Watkins said.

"I just took a different path to get here."

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