Instant vs Impact

The Eagles have a championship-level roster right now. It isn’t perfect, but there is a lot of talent and only a few holes. With that in mind, Howie Roseman is looking to add to the roster to help this team go pursue a championship.

Peter King’s final mock draft has the Eagles taking Marquise Brown at No. 25 https://t.co/oRnn8c7Og7

— Brandon Lee Gowton (@BrandonGowton) April 22, 2019

There is a ton of buzz around Jeffery Simmons to the #Eagles or #Colts at 25 and 26.

I'm curious if a team tries to jump them for him – as I've said before Baltimore and Seattle would most likely be willing to move back

— Connor Rogers (@ConnorJRogers) April 20, 2019

Interesting.

If the Eagles take either Brown or Simmons, they would be adding tremendous talents. But neither player would likely offer much help for 2019.

Brown is a clone of DeSean Jackson. But if you have Jackson, you’re not going to sit him for a rookie very often. You can certainly move receivers in and out to give them rest. Still, Jackson is the proven veteran and would be the deep threat you focus on.

Brown would provide insurance and there is value in that. If Jackson gets hurt, you’d hate to rely on Mack Hollins to take over as the vertical threat. While Brown may not have experience, he does have legit speed and defenses would have to account for that.

Simmons tore his ACL back in February and won’t be in action until mid-season at the earliest. He could offer some help down the stretch or possibly in the postseason. Or his rehab could take a full year and he’s not ready until the 2020 offseason.

Is there really any way Howie would spend a first round pick on a player who might not help at all?

I think both picks are realistic possibilities. Howie is looking for impact players. You can fill holes on a roster with Treyvon Hester, Richard Rodgers, Tre Sullivan and other guys like that. Finding impact players is a whole other story. You have to take them when you can.

I wrote about Simmons and how good he is in a previous post. He would certainly be a Top 10 pick if healthy. He might have gone Top 5. Simmons is a special player. Taking him at 25 would require patience and embracing some risk. You couldn’t count on him playing until 2020. If he gets on the field this year, that’s great. You just couldn’t expect it. And ACL injuries aren’t what they used to be, but there is always risk with a guy coming off a torn knee.

The general argument against Brown is that he’s 5-9, 166 and coming off an injury of his own. He had surgery to repair a LisFranc injury back in February. He is expected to be completely healthy by this summer. The presence of DeSean means there is the additional argument that he would be a luxury pick for the Eagles. Can you afford to do that?

You can’t think of Brown as just another WR. He has game-changing speed. We’ve seen first-hand what DeSean does to defenses. Look at what Tyreek Hill does for the Chiefs. These guys are difference-makers.

You can point out that there are other speedy receivers for the Eagles to take at better value spots. And that is true. But go watch Emanuel Hall of Missouri and compare that to Brown. Hall is bigger and still runs 4.39. He might be available in the fourth round. But just that statement should tell you the difference. Hall is likely to be a fourth round pick. He’s fast, but he’s not an impact player. He’s not Brown.

I’m not arguing that Howie should definitely take Simmons or Brown at 25. Heck, we don’t know that both guys will be available. I do think you have to identify special talents and strongly consider them. Both Simmons and Brown fit into that category for me.

I do have to say that the idea of taking Simmons has really grown on me. I just keep going back to the idea of how crazy it would be to add another Fletcher Cox to the defense. There are no guarantees Simmons would be that good, but it is a real possibility.

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