I love the week after the NFL draft. The entire league is a buzz. Everyone has a post-coital glow with the hope of what their draft picks could eventually become.
Overall, the Eagles had a pretty ok draft. Nothing spectacular, but definitely not bad. They got some good value out of their three picks in the first two rounds, which is a good because they only made two other selections in the rest of the draft.
The Eagles were able to fix some of their biggest offensive issues from the past season. They’ve done a good job this offseason of focusing in on the areas that hurt them as a team last year. The down side of correcting your offense in the draft is that you aren’t helping your defense. Most of the Eagles’ biggest holes on defense went completely unaddressed. I guess that just goes to show how much respect the team has for Jim Schwartz after last year’s staple job.
Anyways, let’s get to the picks!!
Round one, pick 22: Andre Dillard OT Washington State
This one really caught me off guard, even though I mentioned him as a potential option for the Eagles the day off the draft. I guess I inhaled a little too much of the Marquise Brown smoke the Eagles were letting out. When they traded up with the Baltimore Ravens, I figured all bets were off. I had no idea what was going to happen.
Dillard is one of the safest picks in the draft. He’s polished as a pass blocker coming from the nation’s leading pass offense. He has a very high floor and could come in and play immediately, but his athleticism teases at someone who could grow into a much more complete player.
This pick tells me that the Eagles are finally prepared for life after Jason Peters and it’s about damn time. I expected this pick to come so many years ago, I stopped thinking the Eagles would ever find Peters’ replacement through the draft. I was wrong and I’m very happy about it. I’m sure the Eagles are starting to get tired of needing a relief pitcher any time Peters starts.
The Eagles had to give up two picks in order to move up and take Dillard, which isn’t the worst thing in the world. It sucks to lose those picks, especially when one is a fourth and you don’t have any third rounders – thanks, Golden – but they selected the top player on their board at a premier position. You gotta give to get, and the Eagles got more than they gave.
Grade: A
Round two, pick 22: Miles Sanders RB Penn State
I don’t hate this pick, but I really don’t love it either.
The Eagles got ok value on one of the higher rated running backs in this draft, but I thought they could’ve found someone better, later. Sanders is an exciting back, but there are limitations to his game.
He has good size at 5’11 211 lbs and tested well at the combine with a 4.49 forty. He’s a shifty back that has one of the meanest jukes in the draft. He’s patient and can get to the second level of a defense with ease. The problem is he’s quick, but lacks a second gear. When he gets behind the defense, he doesn’t have the speed to breakaway from defenders and often gets caught from behind. So instead of 40 yard touchdowns, I expect a lot of large gains of 20+ which ain’t so bad I suppose.
Sanders also lacks experience in the passing game as he only has 32 catches in his entire collegiate career. He is a quality option in the screen game, but hasn’t shown much else as a reciever. He should serve as a good compliment to Jordan Howard, and in a perfect world can steal the starting running back job, but the Eagles could still use a little more receiving out of the backfield.
Grade: B-
Round two, pick 25: JJ Arcega-Whiteside WR Stanford
I love the player, but question the pick. Arcega-Whiteside was one of my draft crushes. He’s a big bodied receiver with soft hands that’s best known for going up and getting after balls. Arcega-Whiteside isn’t the fastest, but he can create separation with his route running. Stanford’s offense almost exclusively used him for jump balls, but he’s someone with the potential to do much more.
Arcega-Whiteside is an exciting player, but I question when he’ll get on the field. He could be valuable in red zone packages, but considering how hard it was acclimating Dallas Goedert into the offense last season, I have my doubts.
For the most part, I see this pick as forward thinking. Alshon is starting to get long in the tooth and having a wide receiver to growth with Carson Wentz will be valuable on the part of both players.
All things considered though, Alshon, Desean, Nelson, Zach, Dallas, and now JJ give Wentz an awful lot of targets to choose from. The Eagles dropped from the league’s third highest scoring offense to the 18th last season, all these weapons will hopefully have them back to their formerly dominant ways.
Grade: B
Round 4, pick 36: Shareef Miller EDGE Penn State
Is it just me, or does it feel like the Eagles make this pick every year? Whether it’s Josh Sweat or Alex McCallister or Joe Kruer, the Eagles have very little success finding edge rushers late and they’ve drafted their fair share. Here’s hoping Miller breaks the trend.
He has good size for the position at 6’4 254 lbs and carries it well with a 4.7 forty. On tape, he’s a powerful man. He knows how to use his size and bull rushed his way to 15 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks last season. He someone who will make you pay if you don’t put a body on him. He doesn’t have much finesse to his game and seems to lack good lateral mobility, but he’s athletic enough to improve at the next level.
With Chris Long’s potential retirement still hanging in the air, there’s a chance Miller could get snaps early on as a rotational pass rusher. There may be a training camp battle between Miller and Sweat slowly brewing.
Overall, this isn’t a bad pick. Personally, I would’ve preferred someone like Dionte Thompson, who went to the Arizona Cardinals with the very next pick, but Miller fills a need and you can never have too many affordable edge rushers.
Grade: C+
Round 5, pick 29: Clayton Thorson QB Northwestern
I still can’t believe this pick is real. Clayton Thorson doesn’t even seem like a real person. He’s more of an ominous, omnipotent figure whose stories are told by children of all generations as a sort of urban legend.
“I heard one time, Clayton Thorson can kill a bear using only a football.”
“My friend was drowning in a lake once and Clayton Thorson came by and threw a football so hard, it created a vacuum in the water so they could walk out of the lake.”
“When Clayton Thorson was born, he slapped the doctor on the ass and told them, ‘Good game.'”
“One time, Clayton Thorson threw a touchdown pass to a horse.”
We will tell stories of Clayton Thorson for years to come. Long live Clayton Thorson.
This pick is microwaved diarrhea. It transcends all logic. They only made five picks in the entire draft and their fifth pick was a quarterback from Northwestern???? WHAT?????? This is days after the fact and I still can’t make any sense of this decision by Howie and Doug, so I’m just not gonna.
This was a fantastic selection by the Eagles and their management. I expect Clayton Thorson to be the starting QB by the end of the third preseason game.
Snowballs & Batteries 