With all of the talk (warranted talk, I might add) of the poor job that Andy Reid has done over the years with personnel, I’ve decided to look at every draft of his regime.
I understand that he wasn’t officially named General Manager until after Tom Modrak left, but he was still a big decision maker. Drafts are tough to pin on any one guy, and unless you are in the war room, you don’t know for sure who had what influence over what pick.
They tried to say when Modrak was on his way out that he actually wanted to draft Akili Smith over Donovan McNabb. He, of course, denied it. There are rumors that former personnel man Marc Ross was the engine behind the first four home-run picks of 2002. So, who really knows? All I know, is that Andy Reid is the one main constant from 1999 – present. So let’s look at 1999, Reid’s first draft:
-1st Round, pick #2: Donovan McNabb, QB Syracuse. They certainly had a lot of quarterbacks to choose from with only one (Tim Couch) off of the board. Akili Smith, McNabb, Daunte Culpepper and Cade McNown were all possible choices. Reid gets a gold star for this pick. This one was a Ryan Howard home run off of that swingy Liberty Bell at Citizens Bank Park. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that the people clamoring for Ricky Williams were wrong. Way wrong. And a side note, while everyone talked about how McNabb got booed and that was an insult, what about Duce Staley? He was the one person on offense that could play football, and they wanted to draft that position? Didn’t make sense then, doesn’t make any now. A 3-13 team doesn’t need two good running backs. A 3-13 team has holes all over the roster.
-2nd Round, pick #35: Barry Gardner, LB Northwestern. This was more like a Ryan Howard swing and miss at low-and-away with two strikes. They did get a little bit of use out of Gardner. I remember Dolphins head coach Jimmy Johnson had referred to this guy as a tackling machine around draft time. Well, I didn’t see it during his time in Philly. He played a little bit and hung around for a few years, but never lived up to his draft position.
-3rd Round, pick #64: Doug Brzezinski, G Boston College: I liked this pick. He played in all 16 games in every year from 1999-2002 for the Birds. I’m not going to complain about finding him in the 3rd round.
-4th Round, pick #97: John Welbourn, OL California: Another great find in the fourth round. Welbourn eventually talked his way out of town after the 2003 season, but was an above-average lineman for the Eagles. Anytime you can find his production in the fourth round you’ve done a good job.
-4th Round, pick #130: Na Brown, WR North Carolina: Other than catching a touchdown pass from McNabb in the 2000 Wild Card round against the Bucanneers, what exactly did he do for Philadelphia besides provide fodder for talk radio? I remember hearing “best hands in the draft” out of the Eagles organization back then. Yeah right. This was the first glimpse Eagles fans got of Reid’s inability to draft wideouts.
-6th Round, pick #172: Cecil Martin, FB Wisconsin: Wonderful pickup in the sixth round. He was never a stat machine, but most fullbacks aren’t. Grabbing a player that plays for four season in the sixth round is a good thing. He played all 16 games every year from 2000-2002.
-6th Round, pick #201: Troy Smith, WR East Carolina: Troy, who? If I remember correctly, in his time with the Eagles he never got on the field and had career stats of about one catch for nine yards. Now I’m actually going to do some research and get his official stats, let’s see if I’m right. Be back in one second. Ok, it was one catch for 14 yards from Pro-Football-Reference.com. Sorry to slight you, Troy.
-7th Round, pick #208: Jed Weaver, TE Oregon: While he only hung out with the Eagles for one season, I can’t call this a bad pick. He went on to have a relatively productive career with the Dolphins and even caught 35 balls with the Niners in 2003.
-7th Round, pick #251: Pernell Davis, DT Alabama-Birmingham: This is your typical 7th-round do nothing. It happens, that’s why it’s the 7th round.
As always, if you think I’m off base, email me: micahw@feverpitchmedia.com
