During the past couple days, I've provided links here at MTC to what the national "experts" are saying about the Eagles draft.

Some of you have asked me for my opinion (while others could care less), so here's my take.

The LeSean McCoy pick at No. 53 in the second round made the draft for the Birds.

Going into last weekend, the Eagles needed to address running back. Regardless of what you think about Brian Westbrook or how many years he has left, the Birds had zero depth behind him.

And please don't bring up Lorenzo Booker.

If you looked at the running backs on the board, the top tier had four guys: Knowshon Moreno, Beanie Wells, McCoy and Donald Brown.

Moreno was the guy the Eagles reportedly targeted, but he got snatched up by the Broncos at No. 12.

And according to the print guys who cover the team, the Birds didn't really think Wells was a good fit.

That left the Eagles with several options. Take either Brown or McCoy at No. 21. Trade down and pick one of them later in the first round or early in the second. Go in another direction with their first pick and hope one of them dropped to No. 53 in the second round. Or target a sleeper running back in the later rounds and forget about Brown and McCoy altogether.

They went with the third option, gambling that McCoy would be there at 53, and it worked out perfectly.

You know during your fantasy drafts when a player you love somehow drops, and you pray that the guys ahead of you don't take him? That's what happened with the Birds.

When they traded up to get Jeremy Maclin, my excitement was tame. Not because I didn't like him, but because I thought they might miss out on one of the top four backs.

And I still wonder what their plan would have been had McCoy been gone at No. 53. Take a second-tier guy? Hope to sign a veteran? Rely on Booker to play a bigger role?

Talk about choosing among some brutal options.

But the Eagles don't have to worry about that. They got Shady.

My first job out of college was at PennLive.com in Harrisburg. McCoy was a senior at Bishop McDevitt. People couldn't get enough of him. Traffic spiked for any story that had his name in it, not only locally, but nationally as college football fans and alumni wondered if their schools would land him.

I remember putting together photos online at PennLive.com when McCoy fractured his ankle in the fourth game of his senior season. You probably know that part of the story, but I remember his distraught teammates with tears in their eyes when Shady went down.

I'm no scout, but the Eagles got their running back, and got him at a value that you have to be happy with at No. 53.

Without McCoy, the Birds would have still needed to address running back depth and would have been in a disastrous position if Westbrook went down.

When we look back in a few years and evaluate the '09 class, McCoy will be guy we zero in on. And that's a good thing.