After Loading Up In Draft Eagles Hope They Finally Have The Speed To Kill If 2020 Season Is Ever Played

Say this for the Eagles in the 2020 NFL Draft: They sure didn’t go by the book.

Not when you make TCU receiver Jalen Reagor your first round pick, a player who wasn’t even listed in many mock drafts until midway-or later-in the second, while more high regarded players at the position were still on the board… Not when you close out Night 2 late in the third round by taking Colorado linebacker Davion Taylor, who wasn’t permitted to play in high school due to his mother’s strict religious convictions, and has been trying to make up for lost time since…

Not when you spend much of Day 3 trading down with the Dolphins, Bears and gasp—Cowboys—and also add 49ers’ veteran receiver Marquise Goodwin to your stockpile, then draft two more speed receivers to boot…

And especially not when you infuriate your fan base by using your second round pick on a quarterback, Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts. That meant bypassing a number of players who could’ve filled immediate needs in order to find a potential replacement should Carson Wentz go down—yet again. It’s not that the dynamic Hurts doesn’t have skills—in fact he’s been downright spectacular first for 2018 National champion Alabama and later for the Sooners after transferring from Tuscaloosa once Tua Tagovailoa beat him out for the starter’s job—but he only figures to be of immediate value in case of emergency.

Undeterred by the naysayers and fully aware of their less than sterling track record in previous drafts, Eagles’ general manager Howie Roseman, coach Doug Pederson and vice-president of player personnel Andy Weidl stayed put in their virtual home offices yesterday and tried to fill some of their team’s holes. Even if others may not be drinking the Lysol, they’re convinced what they’ve done this weekend is right for the Birds.

“When we make these kinds of decisions, we always go to our principles and who we are and what we believe in,” explained Roseman, following Friday’s decision to draft Hurts, who amassed 9,477 passing yards and 80 touchdowns during his career, while also rushing for 3,274 yards and 43 scores. “Right or wrong, this is who we are.

“The draft isn’t about just doing whatever is best for a team in the short-term. It’s about making smart, long-term decisions for your organization based on the priorities that you believe is key to winning football games. I feel very confident that the decisions we make are going to serve us well for the short-term and the long-term.”

Which is one way of saying whatever they get from most of this draft class in 2020 will be a bonus, but over the long haul they should pay off. Of course, it would be poor form-especially at a time when no one knows when the next live sporting event will take place or who’ll be on hand to witness it—to admit they’re not trying to put all their draft eggs into their 2020 basket.

But it stands to reason you wouldn’t be drafting a backup quarterback and a speedy but undersized linebacker with limited experience like Taylor if you weren’t looking at the big picture. At the same time the majority of their seven picks yesterday, starting with Clemson safety K’Von Wallace at No. 127 in the fourth round and Auburn tackle Jack Driscoll with one of their two compensatory fourth round picks—while trading the other to the Cowboys—do add some experience at positions of need.

Following yet more trades they hedged their receiver bets by taking Boise State’s John Hightower at No. 168 in the fifth round, followed by Southern Miss’ Quez Watkins at No. 200 in the sixth. They also stayed close to home with Temple linebacker Shaun Bradley at No. 196 in the sixth, no doubt he hoping he works out better than the last time a Philadelphia team took a player with that name.

That, of course, would be 7-6 stringbean center Shawn Bradley, whom the Sixers took with the No. 2 pick in the 1993 NBA Draft. The big kid from BYU lasted only two-plus seasons here where he was the source of constant ridiicule.

Philadelphia closed out the Draft with Driscoll’s Auburn linemate, tackle Tega Wanogho, a legitimate Nigerian prince at the No. 210 sixth round slot acquired from San Francisco in the Goodwin trade (for the Eagles’ No. 190 pick), followed by another linebacker, Stanford’s Casey’s Toohill at No. 233.

That gave them as many linebackers (3) as receivers, to go with the two offensive linemen, safety and quarterback. It means Philadelphia did not draft a single cornerback, running back or defensive lineman, which is either a huge vote of confidence for the current roster or an indictment of what was on the board.

Subsequent to the draft, though, the Eagles did sign four DBs and two RBs among 12 undrafted free agents. They were joined by two more o-linemen, another linebacker and receiver along with a defensive tackle and tight end.

So now that it’s over what’s does it all mean? Certainly that the Eagles addressed their need for speed almost across the board, especially at receiver where they drafted three burners (Reagor, Hightower and Watkins) and traded for another in the 29-year-old Goodwin.

Having seen injuries wipe out their entire fleet of wideouts last season, Roseman & Co. have gone to great lengths to cover their bases should it start to happen again. At the same time there seems no way to view this as a vote of confidence for veteran incumbents DeSean Jackson, Alshon Jeffery or even disappointing rookie J.J. Arcega-Whiteside and practice squad call-up sensation, Greg Ward.

Or is there? “I feel personally we’re going to have to lean on our veteran players,” said Pederson at the end of a busy day. “Until we can get these young guys caught up we’re going to have to lean on DeSean and Greg, who we know has come into his own and been on our team for couple years (notice, no mention of Jeffery, though). And now we’ve added Marquise Goodwin, a veteran player who understands the game,

“Then of course adding the speed element to that obviously factors in. We played a ton of teams this past couple of seasons where it was hard to push the ball down the field, whether it was injury or whatever it was. This just allows us to open some things up. “

According to Roseman that’s been their primary focus since the NFC East champs were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Seahawks. “When we went back and looked at our team over the last year, we wanted to get more explosive,” said Roseman, who was in a celebratory mood by the time he spoke with the media via Zoom. “ We wanted to get faster and it was important we stuck to that.

“We kind of went over the top to make sure we have explosive athletes for our quarterback, and we’re really excited with what we did over the last couple days.”

As usual, the Eagles have also tried to fortify their offensive line, having already let nine-time Pro Bowler, 38-year-old Jason Peters, leave. Besides that, Pro Bowl guard Brandon Brooks will be coming off another injury, while center Jason Kelce and tackle Lane Johnson are getting more banged up by the year.

They’ve also considerably bolstered their depth at linebacker, a position that’s been pretty much overlooked for the most part in defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz’ scheme. Maybe no longer, though.

Bottom line, there’s a lot to digest in the immediate aftermath of an NFL Draft like no other.  Come September (they hope) it will all start to come together in what figures to be a season like no other. 

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