Lots of Draft News
Posted: April 7th, 2014 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 144 Comments »There are a lot of little things to get to in regard to the Eagles and the draft so lets get started.
WR Kelvin Benjamin was at the NovaCare Complex today for a pre-draft visit. Some of you will love this news. Not me. I’m not Benjamin’s biggest fan, as I covered here. Just because I don’t like him doesn’t mean the Eagles agree. Bringing him in means one of two things…the Eagles have serious interest in Benjamin or they want people to think they do.
One thing we do know is that the Eagles have serious interest in adding a big WR. They already brought in Mike Evans, another huge target. Cody Latimer visited Philly on Monday as well. He’s got good size at 6-2, 215. Bob Bicknell was at Donte Moncrief’s Pro Day. He’s not huge, but is a big receiver. Chip Kelly was at Jordan Matthews’ Pro Day. Matthews is 6-3, 212.
And then check out this nugget from today.
I'm told Philadelphia Eagles receivers coach Bob Bicknell worked out Rutgers receivers Brandon Coleman & Quron Pratt this morning.
— Tony Pauline (@TonyPauline) April 7, 2014
Coleman is another big kid. He goes 6-6, 225.
Noticing a trend? The Eagles are serious about getting bigger at WR. You wouldn’t check out all these guys as part of a smokescreen. One or two of them might be smokescreens, but the overall trend can’t be ignored.
About the players…I hope the Eagles don’t see Benjamin as a 1st rounder. I just don’t think he’s athletic enough for a high pick. Again, the Eagles might disagree. Kelly is fascinated by uniquely big players (Clifton Geathers, Ifeanyi Momah). Benjamin at 6-5, 240 is a monstrous WR.
Kelly might see Benjamin as a great fit for the offense. He gained a ton of RAC yards at FSU. I question whether that will translate to the NFL, but Kelly could think so.
I’ll do a write-up on Latimer at some point, but he is a good prospect. He could go as early as the 2nd round or as late as the 4th. Latimer has size, speed and production. He fits just about any offense with his skill set.
One note here. Some of you get indignant when there is talk of a receiver falling. This is one of the most talented sets of receiver prospects in draft history. There are a ton of good players. Some will fall. We know Sammy Watkins is a 1st rounder. We’re 90 percent sure Mike Evans is as well. After that, nothing is set in stone. Don’t get offended if someone mentions a player possibly sliding. There will be surprises on draft weekend.
* * * * *
The Eagles had CB Aaron Colvin in for a visit. He tore his ACL at the Senior Bowl. The Eagles were showing interest in him that week. I could see the Eagles bringing him to town to get a medical update so they know where to value him in the draft and whether he’s worth taking a risk on at all.
Taking a player with an ACL injury is a gamble. The Eagles tried that with Cornelius Ingram and Jack Ikegwuonu. Both failed. That doesn’t mean you never try again. Each case is different than the others. You must find out the seriousness of the injury and then how well it was repaired. If the ACL tear was reasonable and the surgery good, there is every reason to expect a recovery. Ingram got crappy surgery. Ikegwuonu had a terrible tear.
I don’t know where Colvin will go, or if he’s worth the risk.
* * * * *
#Eagles are scheduled to work out G/T Laurent Duvernay-Tardif (McGill) today or Tuesday.
— Adam Caplan (@caplannfl) April 7, 2014
The Eagles looking into a Canadian OL…what could go wrong? This guy wouldn’t be an early pick. He could be the kind of player the team would like to develop behind the current starters.
And the Eagles have had at least one good Canadian OL. Mike Schad played here 20 years ago. He was from Belleville, Ontario.
_
Is that true that Ingram got crappy surgery? How horrible would that be to see your dream of playing in the NFL, your whole NFL career really, go down the tubes because of a botched surgery? Depresses me just thinking about it.
There was rumors that his first surgery was botched. Problem is botched surgery is almost worse than just retearing it because it can do a lot of uncorrectable dmg.
Yep.
Yeah – that is why it kept popping again…sad – I always wanted to see that guy become a receiving threat for us
I argue Ingram might have been the most talented guy of that Gators offense
Cornelius Ingram smh… I remeber that year i wanted chase coffman pretty bad… glad it didnt happen, kid has great hands, just cant block to save his life and not athletic enough. He is a free agent falcons let him go a couple weeks back.
Yo Charlie, shouldn’t you be off somewhere drifting with Kaijus?
movie of the year
shouldnt kaijus be off fighting me?
well played
Tommy: “[Benjamin] gained a ton of RAC yards at FSU”
Greg Peshek (Rotoworld, via Sheil Kapedia): “4.89 yards after the catch is the lowest among the top 15 WRs”
http://www.phillymag.com/birds247/2014/04/07/eagles-host-wr-benjamin-cb-colvin/#more-2389031
Is that on non-screens? The guy had several long RAC plays, but they came on screens.
That is total, including screens. On screens alone he averaged 8.92
in general this is great http://www.rotoworld.com/articles/cfb/46006/349/peshek-top-4-wr-metrics
his freshman year, he was used on end arounds and such and had some big plays showing a very impressive burst for a big guy.
Say what you want about Benjamin, but that 18.7 yards per catch says more.
I’m not sure it’s worth pulling out the bilion page books of succesful college WR being NFL failures. the Eagles picking him is currently my worst nightmare. If it was only my opinion I could get over it, but Tommy agree, and Matt Waldman agree too(he thnks he has very little chance of succeeding), and those 2 are the ones I trust the most regarding WR evaluation.
In related news, in his latest Rookie Portfolio, Matt is higher than most on S.Watkins(say he’s one of the best prospect he’s ever seen), Latimer, Beckham(that he prefers to Evans), Jeremy Gallon(he apparently grew on him the more he watched), Kevin Norwood, Abbrederis, Jarvis Landry. Quite down on Marqise Lee, very skeptical of Benjamin, Allen Robinson, and not convinced by Cooks ability to beat press coverage.
I don’t know about your opinion on Marqise Lee, or Norwood, Abbrederis, Jeremy Gallon, but your opinions are pretty similar regarding the top WRs.
Marqise Lee is the real deal. id take him over Cooks and ODB.
Benjamin is a stud. Can be dominate in red zone, esp with foles at QB.
Benjamin is big, slow, and apparently not the best guy or hardest worker. Reminds me of Mike Williams (the ex-USC receiver the Lions drafted in the first round a few years back, not the Bucs’ guy). He was a total bust in the NFL despite being similarly productive to Benjamin in college. No thanks.
Yes he is so slow he averaged nearly 19 yards a catch lol..
and the kid can throw some blocks
http://www.gifsicle.com/gif/fffaff4
Look not at the number on the stats webpage but the speed he moves at in video. It’s less running speed and more his horrendous cutting/acceleration.
so he got open due to horrendous cutting/acceleration? good talk.
He could despite that in college. He won’t be able to in the NFL.
He will get open in the NFL. watch.
watch his freshman highlights, he had a few end arounds and such and he showed a very impressive burst for a big guy.
College ain’t the NFL. He rarely went up against DBs in college that were both big and fast. In the NFL he’ll be facing guys who are both on a weekly basis. That doesn’t mean he has no chance of succeeding, but if he does it’s going to be as a physical receiver who outmuscles DBs for the ball and breaks tackles, not as a guy who gets open with speed. We already have a guy like that in Riley Cooper. Benjamin would be redundant. Add in the character concerns and I just don’t think he’s worth spending a high pick on.
so if we get a smaller fast guy he would be redundant because maclin is here.. lmfao.. and gop watch him vs florida vs an entire secondary that will be in the NFL.
What character concerns? lol
Its cool if you dont like him but just making stuff up is not a good look for you
The character concern is that he is 23 as a redshirt sophomore because he failed 2 grades
thats not a character concern, sounds more like an academic concern. cmon now.
It was first and third grade. You typically don’t fail first and third grade because of “academics”. Fingerpainting isn’t that hard.
hahahahahahahaha oh yeah but you fail 1st and 3rd grade due to smoking weed and getting arrested.. being a team cancer.. im cracking up over here..
I never potrayed him that way. Character concerns are vast and wide ranging, and basically just means off the field issues. However him failing two grades in elementary school is certainly something teams are going to extensively look into, if you think they aren’t you’re naive.
those are charactrer concers, failing 1st and 3rd grade are academic concerns. there is a difference. and will have very very minimal impact if at all with his draft stock. infact lets just get it out of the way it will have zero impact.
Failing grades in elementary school says a lot more about his parents than him, usually. Unless he was undiagnosed dyslexic.
Those were the two things I was kind of getting at. Any team that wants to draft him will want to know if 1. He was raised in a suboptimal environment or 2. If he has some kind of learning impediment.
My kids were raised by a single parent, with little money, but 3 could read before going to school. One son was improperly diagnosed in Grade One, struggled for years, finally dropped out before completing Grade 10. Strangely enough, he can read computer screens with no problem whatsoever, just not print. Nowadays he’s on Facebook, does email and drives an 18-wheeler in the oil patch. Makes a very nice living.
I mean by no means am I trying to disparage anyone, I’m just saying that before the team invest a large chunk of money in the kid they are going to want to know if there are behavioral, or learning situations so that if they do move forward they can have a plan to deal with these things.
I think Mike Williams got royally screwed by the Maurice Clarrett debacle. He lost a whole year of football and never really recovered.
hey Charlie, it’s totally okay to state your opinion once on one post and leave it at that. When you repeat it 4,000 times on every single comment on every single post it gets kinda tiresome. btw do you like Benjamin? how many ypc did he average?
i dont really care if its tiresome to you.. sorry not sorry… he had 18.7 😉
As far as receivers in this draft, if the Eagles go for one in the first 3 rounds, I’d be more than happy with either Beckham, Jr. or Latimer.
Mike Schad played football at Queens University, which is where I go to school in Kingston, Ontario. Represent!
Except you just proved that you’re better at typing that Mike Schad was at blocking. That dude sucked.
Nah. Schad was a good run blocker.
how good was he at putting out fires?
Well, can you think of any noteworthy fires during his tenure?
He was one of the better players on what on the whole was a bad O line. The tackle play on those late Buddy Ryan/early Kotite teams was horrible.. Antone Davis, Matt Darwin, Reggie Singletary. Ron Heller was the best player they had at tackle during those years and he was nothing more than a competent journeyman.
Isn’t that where they filmed the beerfest for “Strange Brew”?
Don’t know. But several of the “Police Academy” movies were filmed in a suburb of Vancouver. The first couple of them were even funny.
Wait Queens University is in Kingston? Are the graduates called Prince and Princesses too?
No, but i’m easily the biggest Eagles fan in the city. Maybe in all of Canada.
No you’re not the biggest Eagles fan in all of Canada. You’re just typical of people in Ontario who think the millions of other Canadians don’t matter. There are Canadian Eagles fans all over some of these boards. In B.C., Alberta, the Maritimes, etc.
Don’t see how me saying that (as a joke I should add) makes me think that other Canadians “don’t matter”. I am well aware there are other Eagles fans in a country with 33 million people, chill out.
If it was a joke, sorry. It just sounded a bit like an overenthusiastic, possibly uninformed opinion. Queen’s teams (is it the Golden Gaels?) do exceptionally well in university sports in this country, so you are probably used to bragging a little, lol.
Is everybody in King of Prussia German? Or kings? And seeing as the name “Pennsylvania” means “Willie’s Woods” you might not want to go any further. ;~)
My big concern in this draft is that we definitely have certain positions that need to be addressed, but might get missed due to thinking oh this draft is so deep we will get one in the next round. I’m specifically talking WR, as I feel the team must get one that can impact week 1, especially as insurance if Maclin has a setback over the summer. If there is a run on WR early round two, and we picked a CB or DE in round 1, we might not find an impact WR left at pick 54.
Also, I think a good chance Ebron or CJ Mosely falls to #22. Wonder what peoples thought is on their fit with eagles?
I dunno. That’s EXACTLY the type of thinking I hope the team does not employ. First of all, it’s terribly short-termistic, secondly it can only lead to rash decisions.
No offense.
To your final question, if Mosely falls hopefully a team will want to trade up for him, opening the road to more picks.
There will be a WR worth picking at 15 in most drafts available at 22.
The WR talent pool is deeper than the market for WRs is going to be. There will still be talented guys available in the second and third rounds – teams are not going to draft 15 WRs in the first 45 picks.
I disagree that there are positions that need to be addressed. There are spots it would be nice to upgrade, but nothing like the Watkins situation.
I also don’t see WR as a particular weakness. There are at least five other positions where we are in much hotter water if the projected top guy at that position doesn’t play.
Defense gentlemen
“Dominated S’s and LBs in the slot” – Mike Mayock about kelvin during combine
The kid can throw some nasty blocks as well…
[URL=http://www.gifsicle.com/gif/fffaff4][IMG]http://yum.gifsicle.com/fffaff4.gif[/IMG][/URL]
Great block but standing over the guy like that is going to get you a 15 yard flag from Mr. NFL ref this year.
To build on that, I wonder if that only happens when someone is jawing and it gets heated or could he/is he just always nasty like that?
A WR who cannot not dominate Ss and LBs is a WR who can’t play in the NFL. And while it’s a nice bonus blocking ability is not what WRs get paid for. Show me Benjamin beating NFL-caliber cornerbacks.
OK, go watch him vs florida, he beat an entire secondary full of NFL talent lol
Purifoy and Roberson are bums. Go watch some real tape.
still NFL talent regardless of what yo think about them.
They’ll probably never start in the NFL.
they probably will.
Uh, isn’t their best player projected to go 3rd round?
BTW, this isn’t a contest. There’s nothing wrong with admitting you’re wrong and learning something. This is a safe place.
well then go ahead.. admit you are wrong.
See what I mean? You’re turning this into a fight. Am I wrong that their best player is Jaylen Watkins, who has a thirdround grade?
im not fighting, im passionate about my opinion.
You’re clinging to an untenable position. When a position groups best player has a 3rd grade, that group isn’t “full of nfl talent”. You could have possibly said that about a few SEC teams and maybe Michigan State.
thats not the position im sticking to.. my position is about KELVIN!!! You clearly are the one clinging to it tho
Oh, OK, so you were wrong.
oh and 3rd round guys make impacts all the damn time.. where did richard sherman get drafted? where did boykin get drafted?
NFL talent is NFL talent.
“Well, Benjamin looked good against that S/CB tweener who’s gonna go in the 3rd as well as his band of misfits for one game, so why would you be worried about how his game translates to matching up against the guy who goes 6’2 and runs a 4.4? NFL talent is NFL talent.”
yawn
when/if u think of something clever get at me!!
“I’m trying really hard to trick people that I have something to add besides a bunch of bombastic, poorly conceived and poorly supported opinions by taking up a combative tone. You know, like everyone else is the fool and I can’t help but own them.”
and yet here you are saying my opinions are poorly conceived.. lol.. when im correct.
funny how that works….
wait did that make you feel like a fool? aww man there i go again..
me so sorry.
“Because I have no way to defend my opinions, I’ll go on vapidly asserting I’m correct. I’m sorry you’re such a moron for not seeing that I’m right. Remember, if you reply to me I will have to get the last word in because I’m right and not because I’m trying to prop up my vacuous ideas.”
Maybe they are thinking of converting Kelvin Benjamin to OLB.
they should be thinking that with momah
To all draft nicks here, this is a great site
http://mattwaldmanrsp.com/ and the RSP is a great read (sadly it is only offensive players but still worth it imo)
Yea I been reading Matt since he started up fftoday.com ten years ago. Need to realize he isn’t a scout and has never been employed as a scout and never played football at a high level. he is a fantasy football player … and his obsession with that hobby led him into dynasty leagues and more player evaluation at the college level. I have found he is much better at rbs than wrs or qbs over the years.
With regards to Benjamin, is there a good reason not to be worried that he only had 30-495-4TD last season? He was still big last year, right? Was there an injury or depth chart issue that explain why this year was so different?
Well FSU was a ton better overall on offense going from Manuel (a QB Tommy didnt like) to Winston.
He was a Redshirt Freshman playing with an erratic QB.
I only saw 1 game with Benjamin, the National Title game. I was unimpressed. Dropped too many balls and looked slow. Great for red zone or jump balls though. I don’t care how big or small a WR is, I only care if he’s good.
Tommy, I would love to hear your thoughts on
Kevin Pierre-Louis. A lot of draftTwitter seems very high on him.
Short combine warrior. Quick athletic good tackler. injury concerns. tweener. More of a WILL LB in a 4-3. Doesn’t get off blocks well enough to be a ILB in a 3-4
Chip is doing what I’d expect him to do. His homework. He’s looking for the perfect WR who he wants here for years to come. That also means, there’s a chance he won’t find him. He might find someone serviceable. This is Chips team, I expect him to find “the one” and it may take a year or two to find him.
I don’t care how many people say “deepest wr class ever”. That means squat.
“The Eagles looking into a Canadian OL…what could go wrong?”
Stop stealing my material, Tommy. I made this crack to @BleedingGreenNation yesterday. Wisely, they ignored me.
The more I see and hear of Latimer, the more I like him. I think if you pass on a WR in the first round, he’s got to be strong consideration in the 2nd or 3rd.
I really do think the Eagles will try to trade down to add more picks. In my perfect world, Jeremiah Attaochu is our first overall pick in the early 2nd round.
I commented that we all want to know if he fights fires the other day. Maggie responded with a link to a Canadian wildfire that left people homeless and killed people. Kinda took the shine off the joke.
LOL @ ” Kinda took the shine off the joke.”
The link left people homeless and killed people, or the fire? Or both?
I haven’t seen a link do that much damage since this guy…
He’s like a force of nature. Such indiscriminate destruction…
Didn’t mean to bring anyone down, just a little tired of the Canadian fireman jokes. Maybe Watkins wasn’t the best choice for a pro guard, but he didn’t draft himself, you know. Then there are those who talk about how much money he made. On a rookie contract? The 2003 fire season was horrible right through the western half of the continent. Firefighters from California, Montana, British Columbia, Alaska, Washington, Alberta, Oregon, etc. spent the summer dashing madly back and forth between horrendous wildfires, without regards for borders. In the cases where the fires overran towns and cities, the urban firemen joined the fight, of course. The pic attached shows a whole neighbourhood. After.
Yeah, my desire to grab Latimer is growing…
Latimer could replace Cooper if we decide he`s not worth his contract next year.
Call me crazy, but I want a WR with good hands, who doesn’t just body-catch everything, and isn’t another big-body who routinely drops difficult but catchable passes in big moments during the game. Good hands are the #1 requirement for a WR, IMO.
I find it funny too how much people dismiss hands (and body control) when discussing WRs. People always say things like, “he drops a lot of balls, but he just needs time on the jugs machine…that can be coached up.” In my experience good hands is almost as uncoach-up-able as verticle leap or some other skill that most people assume is static. You can improve for sure, but having really good hands is a lot harder to develop than people think.
You can develop muscle memory and focus through hard work + time.
True, but you have to wonder if a guy who is set to get rich from playing football either (a) already put in that time and effort and this is close to his max or (b) lacks the drive to do so.
Just point them to our past sob stories. Cris Carter and Djax? You don’t really…want to be like them here off the field.
You can also develop quick twitch muscle fibers and increase your verticle jump and 3 cone drill. How come people don’t say, such and such is a great prospect but he only had a 25 in VJ, but that’s ok he just needs to train really hard and he’ll develop that skill. I know they’re not identical comparisons, but my point, as a former WR, is that good hands and ability to make great catches as well as routine catches is not as easy to develop as people think. If your response is to just say, yes actually it is that easy to develop, then you are the type of person I was originally talking about and we simply don’t agree.
No, I’m just saying it’s not as “impossible” as you think it is.
Never said impossible…just harder than some people think
“almost as uncoach-up-able ”
that’s pretty close to impossible in context.
Here’s the context your talking about, “You can improve for sure, but having really good hands is a lot harder to develop than people think.” It’s literally the very next sentence.
glad youve picked up on the size thing with regards to who they are looking at tommy. Ive been trying to convince people for a while now that we are looking for size at the outside WR positions. I always reference the transactions they have made at WR since Chip has been here, and the guys who they are looking at in this years draft- all big. Im prety positive Cooks will not be on our radar. Many people do not want to believe that.
Im not sure Beckam will be either.
Benjamin may be. Of course he is raw, and nobody likes rawness in combination with his age.
I am a Benjamin fan. But the 2 most perfect fits I see with the size and skillset are Matthews and Latimer. Im sure the eagles will like the special teams ability Latimer brings. He played in kickoff coverage.
Chip will allow for some smaller players in the slot. But even those guys are not that small. Maehl was primarily a slot guy for us and he is 6’0”. Shepard was brought in last season and he was around 6’0”. I think Maclin would be Chips perfect slot WR but I dont see it working out contract wise.
No matter how you cut it–we are short on picks. I think it is likely we trade back in either round one or two, and add some picks in the mid rounds where we might be able to steal a couple nice prospects. I still would not count out a draft-day trade for Dion Jordan, either. This team really needs an impact player on D.
“And the Eagles have had at least one good Canadian OL.”
This looks like classic ACViking bait.
Good luck Avant on your next adventure. Glad you were signed.
Several red flags w Benjamin. First, he is old. 23 years old vs 20 yr old evans, robinson, cooks, odb. that is why he came out so early. same w martavius. Second, one real year of good college experience. That isn’t much at all to learn routes, improve skills. Third, he had okay production that one year and most of that was towards the end of the year in a handful of games. Aside from the Florida game, he never really dominated. Even in the national championship game, he did little till the end. Fourth, he is very “unathletic”. he has a horrible vertical leap and his agility is comparable to an athletic olineman. Seriously his vert and three cone were horrible. It translates to the field where he has a major hitch in his routes that corners catch up on and little after the catch prowess. Fifth, really really bad hands. 11 percent drop rate is horrible. Sixth, he ran mostly go routes and deep posts. didn’t run the entire route tree. Seventh, little RAC. mostly a deep threat (aside from that one play in the Florida game). Eighth, may be a reps guy vs someone who picks up the offense quickly. had troubles learning fsu offense.
The eagles already have a player really similar to Benjamin in seemingly every way, Momah. I don’t think they’re about to blow an early pick on another one.
smh
Momah’s actually the more athletic of the two.
but sucks as a WR… hence why he should be moved to OLB (plus he played OLB in college as well)
No argument from me there, but I do wonder if Benjamin has the athleticism to play WR despite his skills. Maybe he could play TE. Against NFL corners, he might be able to make some plays just outmuscling/reaching them, but he’s never going to be able to get more than an inch of separation.
smh, he is much more athletic then people give him credit for…. go watch his freshman highlights, they used him on reverses and end arounds, he shows a GREAT burst for a such a big guy.
People get caught up in the combine tests too much and fail to watch him actually playing football.
Link?
go to youtube type kelvin benjamin freshman highlights.. lol.. youll see it
You forgot the ‘f’ for furry.
Hoping we bring Jeff Janis in for a visit…6’3 220lbs, runs a 4.46, and this white boy CAN jump…
…
Colvin is worth a look, problem is team like the Niners who have too many picks and not enough roster spots can afford to draft and stash him earlier then we can…Clemsons T/G Brandon Thomas one of my fav OL in this draft tore his ACL yesterday. Hope we snatch and IR him. If he falls to the 5th..
…
G, you added 0.04 of a second to his 40 time! I agree with you I hope the Eagles bring Janis in or send some officials out to Saginaw Valley to see him. Janis was a beast against his level of competition but his measurables are impressive (I’m thinking a young Jordy Nelson).
Aaron Colvin intrigues me a lot. Sounds like he was highly regarded and at least had a good first day at the senior bowl before tearing his ACL. The injury is obviously a concern, but if he can be had at a discount, and medically he is clear at least in terms of recovering fully, he would work well in the sense of drafting a talented CB but having him sit for a year behind the starters. Sounds like he does have injury concerns (even beyond just the ACL) though, so the medical stuff needs to be looked at carefully.
Seen a lot of comments regarding his production…or lack thereof. What I don’t see is anyone talking about the options on that FSU offense and how it impacted Benjamin as well as other players. 3 RBs over 500 yards rushing. Basically 3 receivers with over 1000 yards and a TE with another 500+. That’s a lot of balls to go around. I’d say it’s remarkable he had what he did. Too bad we won’t know what it would have been with more targets or if he was only receiver like say Jordan Matthews.
Great points!!! upvote
Re: Mike Schad-bait (h/t Ark87)
T-Law:
Who could forget former Eagles’ OG Mike Schad? Not only the first-ever Canadian-born NFL 1st Rd pick by the Rams in ’86. But also the ONLY player drafted in the 1st Rd by an NFL team from a Canadian University.
Only three others 1st-Rd Canadian-born players: OT Tony Mandarich, Mich St-U; HB Tim Biakabatuka, U-Mich; and an OG whose name rhymes with “Watkins.”
___________
Schad came to the Eagles in ’89 as a street free agent. One of Buddy Ryan’s better efforts at trying to build a semblance of an O-line. (Ron Heller, Ron Solt were others.)
In fact, the great “Dr. Z,” Paul Zimmermann, of Sports Illustrated picked Schad for his 1993 All-Pro team, which was also Schad’s last in the NFL.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1004729/index.htm
___________
Who were the other Canadian-born Eagles?
The greatest was No. 88 DT Gary Pettigrew — certainly, the longest tenured. Pettigrew came to the Eagles as a 2nd Rd pick in the 1966 draft, 20th overall (1966 was the last of the pre-merger drafts). Pettigrew was a 6-5 250 lbs Stanford All American. He looked like a future star. Wasn’t to be — as with most Eagles draft picks of the ’60s. Pettigrew played 8+ years for the Eagles as an on-and-off starter. Huge guy. Had talent. Never played up to it.
In 1968, the Eagles signed a Canadian-born center named Gene Ceppetelli — who’d played his college ball at Villanova. Ceppetelli came to the Eagles from the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger Cats . . . and was gone in the middle of the ’69 season after just 21 games in green. Ironically, the coach who cut Ceppetelli was 1st-year HC Jerry Williams, who’d also come to the Birds from the CFL that season, after leading the Calgary Stampeders to a couple of titles.
In 1988, Buddy Ryan signed CFL star PK Dean Dorsey. Dorsey lasted only 3 games before getting cut, after going 4-7 in FGs. Talk about adventures in PK’ing . . . . By the way, the PK for the great Steelers teams of the ’70s was Canadian-born Roy Gerela — one of the NFL’s first soccer-style kickers — who was All Pro a few times. Gerela was originally a Houston Oiler but cut after 2 seasons of mediocre soccer-style kicking. The Eagles passed on him in favor of 1971 rookie 4th-Rd pick Happy Feller from (mythical) national champion U-Texas. Feller was cut after 9 games in ’71 and replaced by Tom Dempsey — whom the Saints had cut before signing Feller after he was cut by the Birds. [The list of players whom the Eagles passed in the ’71 draft to take Feller includes QB Joe Theismann from nearby Toms River, DE Dwight While who won 4 SBs as the Steelers starting LDE, and Raiders HB Clarence Davis, who’s best remembered for (i) running through monster-sized holes behind Upshaw and Shell in the ’76 SB against the Vikings, and (ii) catching the game-winning TD in a ’74 playoff game against the Dolphins that ended Miami’s run of 3-straight SB appearances and 2 wins in the “Sea of Hands” game.]
There was also punter Mitch Berger. Drafted by Kotite in the 6th Rd of the ’94 draft. Cut after one season . . . only to go on to a become a 2-time All Pro in a 15-year career. So Kotite.
In fact, Kotite went for the daily-double in ’94. He brought in 38-year old Canadian-born Eddie Murray, a 14-year veteran, to be his place kicker. I’m not sure there’s another NFL team that had both its kicking specialists in the same season born in another country. Murray was 1-and-done in green.
QB Mark Rypien, born in Canada, made a brief appearance with Eagles in 1996 in Ray Rhodes second season as HC. Rypien played in one game, going 10-13 for 76 yards, 1-0, in a 37-10 blow-out loss to the Colts. He signed after starting QB Rodney Peete was mangled by the Cowboys early in the season and lost for the year. Ty Detmer took over for Peete and, under OC John Gruden, looked like a pretty good QB. Rypien? Not so much.
Then there was OG Ian Beckles. Spent a couple seasons at the end of a 9-year career, starting all 16 games of Ray Rhodes horrible final season as the Eagles HC in 1998. Beckles had a pretty decent seven seasons with Tampa before coming to the Birds.
The most recent Eagle from Canada — before the guy whose name rhymes with “Watkins”? From 2004-05, we had Toronto-born MLB Mike Labinjo from MichSt — a rookie free agent.
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I believe there’s only 1 NFL HOFer born in Canada: Bronko Nagurski, who played from 1930-43.
So the lesson, it seems to me is, DO NOT DRAFT or SIGN CANADIAN-BORN PLAYERS. EVER!!! Unless they’re named Bronko Nagurski.
Great stuff, but how bored are you today? 🙂
I learned a long time ago to enjoy down-periods at work.
Haven’t been commenting lately because I’ve been buried. Today, happily, I’ve been able to take a breath.
Gotta love it.
You can never go wrong when a player has a name as awesome as Bronko Nagurski. Its just perfect: The power of Bronko and the weird and funny Nagurski, provides a name that isnt so short its ignorable and not so long that you can’t assert your dominance thoroughly. And of course it spiced up by all the crazy ways you could pronounce a masterful name like that.
Allen Robinson beasted his pro day… Just give one of Kelvin Lee or robinson and im good!!!!
(in regards to K.Benjamin) “I just don’t think he’s athletic enough for a high pick.” – Which areas does he give you this impression?
Change of direction, Dexterity? Reach?
His athleticism would have to be in his strength as in his ability to take hits and gain that extra yardage, footwork to dodge shoe string tackles of smaller defenders right?
Is he althletic enough..im unsure. For his size i expected more physicality from him on his tape. there was maybe one or two plays that i saw that impressed me as far as him using his size.
It seems he relied on his agility and quickness along with his jump ball ability. The jump ball ability is definitely what impresses me the most about him.
I Just wonder if we will get at least one guy that we can expect will be able to catch the slant routes, screens, digs, hitches..and pick up first downs and big yardage from time to time. The draft is deep at receiver though. Im hoping for ODB and then getting a big receiver.
http://mockdraftable.com/player/4329/
Disappointed at the lack of news on DaQuan Jones. Seems like people just asked him questions or he didn’t do any drills today.
Whatever happened to Danny Watkins anyway? Is he driving a firetruck again?
i haven’t been paying much attention to benjamin until reading that eagles are checking him out. looked at his draft profile and have this question:
if drafted, would you try and turn him into a tight end? with Kelly’s affinity for the position and benjamin’s size/skill set i wouldn’t put it past kelly to turn him into a wr/te hybrid type deal.