• March 28, 2024

Eagles Recent Drafts Have Been Horrible In Round Three

Most NFL draft geeks (myself included) had Daniel Te’o-Nesheim ranked around the top 150 players in last years Draft. I even had the Eagles selecting him in one of my Mock Drafts a year ago, but it was with one of their later 4th Round picks. Te’o-Nesheim had a tremendous 2010 NFL Combine workout where his measureables were off the charts, but he is another classic case of a player who has no real position to play in the NFL..

He’s too small to play with his hands down as DE and he doesn’t have the coverage abilities to play out in space as a OLB in a 4-3, (similar to Chris Gocong, Bryan Smith selections from earlier drafts) Teo is probably best suited as a pass-rushing OLB in a 3-4, that would be a good fit for a team like the Chargers, Steelers, Ravens, Patriots and Jets. He would simply be on the field on passing downs where he would be rushing the passer.

As another high-motor defensive player, Te’o Nesheim should be a major contributor on special teams.
You don’t draft a player in the top 100 (within in the first 3 Rounds) to be Special Teams players..

The Eagles need to examine their thinking when it comes to drafting in the 3rd round because it has been a disastrous round for the Eagles in recent years, where they have had minimal production and way too many misses. 3rd Rounders should be able to compete for starting positions by their second year. A number of the Eagles selections in this round never started a single game for the football team and are no longer on the roster. Here’s a quick look at Round #3 for the last six drafts.

2005 – RB Ryan Moats, Louisiana Tech (the next Brian Westbrook???) only ran the ball in college, unable to pick up blitz and passing game, played two year for Houston Texans, didn’t play in 2010, currently on Vikings roster
2006 – DE Chris Gocong, Cal-Poly Tech (a prolific pass-rusher in Division II) started for three years at Sam linebacker for Eagles then was traded, playing middle linebacker for Cleveland Browns
2007 – RB Tony Hunt, Penn State (had potential, then was switched to FB??) Never started a game for Eagles, Out of the NFL after 2008 season,
2007 – LB Stewart Bradley, Nebraska (solid player with history of injuries and missed his Senior year) recovering from injury
2008 – DE Bryan Smith, McNeese State (on no one’s radar for a top #100 Pick) played a year for Jaguars, never started a game for the Eagles, Out of the NFL after 2009 season.
2009 – Traded out of the 3rd Round all together
2010 – DE Daniel Te’o Nesheim, Washington – (projected around the mid 4th to 5th Round selection)

This is not a very good track record for 3rd Round Selections..

Paul Mancini

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Erock
Erock
April 23, 2011 10:09 am

Pete King has Birds taken Watkins Gaurd from Baylor.Is this dude a mauler?

G…Stew should be able to bounce back from that injury. Think he bumps to the Sam?

They need to get the first 3-4 rounds right and there no excuses anymore for failures. Andy has had enough experience with the draft and this new GM did grab a corner with size last year and i love MLB pick in the 7th. Hes next years starter. But look at the top teams in the league..we’re on par with all in regards to offensive firepower and depth. But wth is the depth on d. The killers on D. This is the draft we get this defense right or im on record saying get rid of AR. The Packers drafted db’s that ended up beign studs in the p-offs. We lost a Ship game cause Q. Demps was a bum and the next year drafted Macho.Sorry…Victor.

jott1972
jott1972
April 23, 2011 11:01 am

Danny Watkins is an excellent player.. .he played LT at Baylor, but projects to OG in the NFL. He is one of the few that can start day one at RG for the Eagles. However, he will be a 27yr old rookie.

jott1972
jott1972
April 23, 2011 11:02 am

The OG position is deep into round 4 of this draft…. the Eagles have bigger needs at CB and DE. They can get Clint Boling in rd#3 or Stephen Schilling in rd#4 for RG.

GarryCobb
Admin
April 23, 2011 11:05 am

Watkins is a good player, but I think the Eagles are going to trade down and get an extra pick.

paulman
paulman
April 23, 2011 11:40 am

D Watkins is an excellent player and will be a Starter Day 1 in the NFL,
the Downside is that he started College ball late and is already 27 years old which gives him about a 5-7 career (barring injuries). He will drop late into the 1st Round because of this and I expect the PAtriots to select him with their 2nd 1st Round Selection
I noted on other posts that I see the Eagles trading out of 1st Round all together with a team like the Raiders who have no 1st Round Pick in 2011 and acquire an extra 3rd Round selection this Draft along with the Raiders 1st pick in 2012

rastadoc
rastadoc
April 23, 2011 12:23 pm

The Eagles should rethink their entire defensive draft philosophy. Small players and” tweeners” just ain’t cutting it. Andy Reid is a good coach who will never win a championship because he won’t adjust his philosophy where it doesn’t work. All of the defensive stars during Reid’s era were inherited. We are witnessing are own version of Marty Shottenheimer, Chuck Knox, Dan Reeves, etc. The adjustments are obvious to everyone except him. As for Howie Roseman being a NFL GM, give me a break!

paulman
paulman
April 23, 2011 12:31 pm

A couple of things about the hiring new Line Coaches
#1) Both Washburn and Mudd have excellent track records,reputations and are real teachers where young players actually improve year by year (We have not seen this with previous position coaches and especially on the Defensive side)
#2) Washburn likes his DL long and lean and to be penetrators which bodes well for them to acquire some bigger players along the DL
#3) Mudd likes his OL to be lighter,quick feet and be very agile in moving around which should help them have a better conditioned OL and especialyl down the end of the Season where I always thought that the large sizes of many of the Eagles OL actually hindered their ability as they were not in the best of condition (J Jackson/N Cole/MJG/J Peters) could all lose 20 lbs and have better endurance..

mimitaro
mimitaro
April 23, 2011 10:07 pm

I like how you managed to put ‘high motor’ into the article when describing a guy..

loki0284
loki0284
April 24, 2011 5:34 pm

wow has the nfl lockout lead to some nitpicking. The eagles don’t have a good record in the 3rd round.. and who does? The avg span of a player is 3 years. the average success rate for a first round is not even 40 percent. How many pro bowlers have came out of the third round since 2000? The better question is who cares? i know theres a lack of stories but, really, this is nitpicking. Next article should be how they have fared in the supplemental draft.