Eagles Mock Draft
Posted: April 10th, 2011 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | Tags: Todd Herremans | 20 Comments »My PE.com column features my first Eagles mock of the year. Feel free to ask questions and be critical, but do understand that it wasn’t purely what I would want to happen. I always factor in what I think the team is looking to do and the players they like.
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Someone asked a few days ago about moving Todd Herremans from LG to RT. Won’t happen. We have a shaky interior. The worst thing you can do is move the one guy who is the stabilizing force. Todd stays at LG. We haven’t had a chance to find out what Howard Mudd thinks of his OTs, but I’m betting he is looking forward to working with Winston Justice.
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Key draft target Jimmy Smith is getting lots of looks right now. He’s visiting the Chargers and Saints, teams who could be willing to take him in the 1st. Cincy and Minnesota have also checked him out, but I think they might be looking at him if he slid to the 2nd.
I don’t know much about the players in the draft so I can’t be very critical but I can ask some questions.
With a guy like Matthews are scouts and coaches able to completely overlook the fact that his brother is Clay? Does it not affect his value the slightest that his brother is a beast at LB?
Anything to say about the players and special team? I guess April will love 3 fast LBs but what about the rest, especially Alex Green.
Someone a BGN thought you reached for Boling, Matthews, Searcy, Thornton and Rolle. Do you think you have any reaches or should they go around those picks?
And finally how likely do you think it is that Jimmy Smith is there at 23? And is he a guy you trade up a few spots for?
I dont know, but im starting to fear that Jimmy Smith might not last to pick 23.
I know most mock drafters overvalue skill positions and when we come to the draft d-line and o-line are the most popular positions.
RE: Matthews
He is a legitimate NFL prospect. Watch his FF from the title game. Great play. Watch him in coverage. Dude knows how to cover and play the passing lanes.
Does his name get him overrated? Maybe. I saw yesterday that Mike Mayock has bumped him up to his #2 ILB. I don’t think Casey is that good. He’s not a player I’m all that into. I think Castillo will love him and that’s why I put him in the mock. It sounds like he could go in the 2nd round, which is too early in my mind.
RE: STs
The LBs would all help. Da’Norris Searcy would offer help on the coverage units and also has return skills. Jimmy Smith can play STs, but isn’t ideal. Typical CB who is willing to tackle, but not in love with the idea. Alex Green? He’s got the size and runs well. He is a tough guy so I assume he could help. Some skill players struggle in the NFL when asked to play on STs.
RE: value / reaching ???
Outside of the top 20 picks things get pretty crazy in the draft. What I didn’t want to do was post some fantasy draft with all the players falling conveniently to our picks.
I tried to slot guys at spots where they would go at the earliest, aside from Matthews. I have a hard time knowing his real value vs media hype (due to the name). I hadn’t seen that Mayock had him up to #2 ILB when I did this. If I had seen that, Matthews wouldn’t have been in the 3rd.
Boling could be available with our 3rd rounder. Or he could go at pick 45. Thornton could go in the 4th or last to the 6th. I did think all the values were reasonable.
I have no complaints with your mock. The pick I’m most intrigued with is Stephen Burton. It does seem like we’ve taken a big WR late the last couple years. I loved Gibson in 2009 and I’ve become a fan of 2010’s Cooper. Jeremy Williams is a player I liked before last year’s draft and was happy when we signed him after he got cut from San Diego.
Also, before reading your article, I had forgotten all about Sinorice Moss.
The Eagles liked Moss a lot prior to his draft. I doubt he does anything here, but it doesn’t hurt to look. He was a good college player and has a skill set that we could use as a WR/RS role player. Go back several years and imagine him vs Chad Hall for a roster spot. That notion seems utterly ridiculous. Now Moss might be the guy on the outside of that competition.
Matthews is a guy that I think will be there in the late 4th and if he’s not I think there’s comparable in talent LBs that could be taken instead(Lawrence Wilson, Greg Jones, Ross Homan, Nate Irving). In the 3rd I could see one of the DTs like Jenkins, Drevis, or McClain dropping to our spot and if they did then DT in the 3rd and then LB at our second spot in the 4th round would be better value than Matthews and Thornton.
Wide range of opinions on Matthews. PFW has him as a mid-5th round value. True of most players in this draft I guess.
I would love Jenkins, Nevis, or McClain with our 3rd. I didn’t think they would last that long. That’s why I went LB there and DT in the 4th. I’d be fine to be wrong with that.
Matthews is a hard player to gauge, but there is no way he will last to the 5th round. Will. Not. Happen. My personal grade on him is 3rd or 4th. Still trying to finalize my thoughts. He’s just one of those guys that some coaches will love and take higher.
Tommy,
I’ve been meaning to ask you about Jeremy Williams for some time. What do the Eagles think of this guy? He carried Tulane’s offense as a senior, played well in the senior bowl, and was a guy I was hoping the Eagles would draft in the 4th or 5th last year. I was amazed he went undrafted and was disappointed we didn’t sign him. I was very happy when we got him on our PS. Then when we really needed a RS last year I was sure he’d get a shot. Williams seems like an ideal WCO WR and can return both punts and kicks. Why was he passed over in favor of Lawson?
Also on the WR front, do you think the Eagles would be interested in adding guys like Niles Paul or Greg Little if they are sitting there in the 4th or early 5th round? Both have character concerns so they could fall, but both also are bigger bodied RAC type WRs that could really round out our WR group.
I liked Jeremy quite a bit coming out. I had him listed in a couple of Eagles mock drafts (PE.com readers weren’t too pleased at the mentioning of a Tulane player). He has size, skill, and enough athleticism to be a good role player.
With 4 young WRs in place, I don’t think we can spend a pick in the first 4 rounds on that position. Beyond that, if the guy fits, go for it. I don’t think Greg Little falls that far, but his character issues might not even have him on the Eagles board. Niles Paul would be a good target with his RS ability.
RE: Lawson?
I think he had done well in the UFL and was “game ready”, so to speak. Just a guess. No scoops on Mr. Lawson.
Tommy, if this draft is not as deep as last years, when we drafted 34 players (or at least it seemed like it), would this be a year where you would want to employ a Quality over Quantity approach?
Yes and no. Since we don’t know if UDFAs will be available, the 7th round picks essentially will take the place of them.
But your perspective is right. We aren’t likely to find good Big Ten and SEC talent in the 7th this year. We’ll be getting mediocre players from big schools or athletic projects from medium and small schools.
I do think we need the picks of the first 4 rounds at least to add talent and depth to the roster so I wouldn’t be doing too much trading.
I like the idea of quality over quantity this year, considering we have so many young guys that we are not sure of already and the reality that the off season teaching time is going to be short.
A poster by the name of no1pipelayer did a fair analysis of our trading picks on BGN. One takeaway he found was that we do well dealing picks for future picks. Link: http://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2011/4/6/2094128/trader-andy-a-study-of-reids-success-in-draft-pick-trades
If we can fill a couple holes by picking our spots and then deal some of our picks for better picks next year, combined with Kolb possibly bringing us picks for next year, we could really have the ammunition to go and get some special guys to push us from good to great.
Since there is a good chance that the limited off season means that the fringe guys wouldn’t offer much this season anyway, the cost of doing so seems pretty reasonable.
To be clear, by “fair” I meant without an agenda or biased to a predetermined conclusion, not “fair” as is so-so or average.
I’d love the Jimmy Smith pick. I’d rather swing for the fences with a guy like that than “settle” on a Brandon Harris or Danny Watkins guys. I’m not saying those guys wouldn’t contribute, but they’re at best solid starters.
If this team is going to win a Super Bowl, we need more “impact” players. Smith could provide that. Of course, if you DO spend a 1st rounder on Smith, then playing it safe at RG with a solid guy like Boling makes sense. You don’t have to go boom/bust with every pick.
I like Jimmy Smith in the first round but I’m scared about those “character concerns”. It might be better to take Brandon Harris or Aaron Williams. But I agree that CB is the position they need to target in the first round. That or OL, at least.
I don’t like the Matthews kid as a prospect at all. It’s all just name recognition because of his brother’s star power. He’s too athletically limited to be an impact player in the NFL.
A LB I really do like, however, in this year’s draft is Scott Lutrus of UConn. He has off-the-charts athletic ability but played for a bad team in a non-premiere division, so he’s under the radar. He could be a great 4-3 LB in the NFL. I’d love it if the Eagles took him in the 3rd-5th round.
Assuming we get to the draft without a CBA being agreed upon (which seems to be a certainty at this point), how much of an impact do you think that will have on the draft? Most years, teams fill at least some of their holes with free agents, and by the time the draft comes around, there is a lot more flexibility to draft the best player available. This year, without free agents to fill holes before the draft, do you think teams will be more aggressive in targeting players early on to fill those holes? In other words, do you think we are likely to see more teams reaching on picks so that they can fill a hole they may have otherwise filled by FA?