A Look at our Draft History (and why we suck)

[RandyMossIsBoss]

I don't think this is breaking news to anyone, but putting it in nice, colorful, tables really illustrates just how poor we have been at drafting. Our muddied FO situations post-Andy makes it a bit tricky who to pin the blame on... and this timeline mixes the apparent "Howie had nothing to do with draft" with the "all Howie" drafts, but the main point here is our struggles really should be no surprise when we simply haven't been able to draft.

 

Green= good pick, red= bad pick, yellow= debatable or TBD

Obviously the higher you were drafted, the more you need to accomplished to be a good pick, and vice versa. Really just subjectivity on my part as to whether a pick was good or not, but 1 rule of thumb I have is if you are a top 3 pick and you didn't make it to a 2nd contract (unless it was for $$$ reasons), you were probably not a good pick. 

(Ed Reynolds should be red, originally I was going green=good, red=bad, yellow=neutral, before deciding more often than not you were either a good pick or you weren't)

 

Now keep in mind not all good picks are created equal. A good pick in the 1st round is significantly more valuable than a good pick in the 7th round. Further more, even a good pick in the 7th round is not always equal to another good pick in the 7th round. Getting a guy who is a solid contributor for 4 years in the 7th round is a good pick... but it's not the same as getting a pro bowler. We've managed to get some solid players in rounds 5 to 7, I'd imagine at an average if not above average rate? But there's not a single gem in that group. Clearly though, or biggest shortcoming, is that we only managed to nail 1 1st round or 2nd round pick since 2014. There's still hope for Barnett, maybe he's a late bloomer like Graham.

Good picks by round

• 1st
  • 1/4
• 2nd
  • 0/3
• 3rd
  • 1/4
• 4th
  • 0/3
• 5th
  • 3/6
• 6th
  • 0/4
• 7th
  • 2/5

 

I go back and forth with Agholor. On one hand he has never been a difference maker and probably will not see that 2nd contract, on the other hand he played a role in a SB run and has been a nice contributor for the past 3 years. I want to put him red but I feel people would think that's being too strict so just left him yellow.

Same with JMatt... certainly a disappointment but he was still a very solid contributor and in the end we flipped him along w/ a 3rd round pick for a promising young player at a position of greater need (Darby).

I gave 2017 guys the benefit of the doubt, but almost all 4 of the yellows are closer to red than they are green.

The small 2018 draft I decided not to include since it'd all be pretty much be yellow TBD guys, which isn't necessarily bad, BUT, you look around, and plenty of teams already have KEY impact players from their 2018 class... hell, some even have such players from the most recent draft. Whereas it looks like we whiffed completely on JJAW.

 

 

 

Edited October 14, 2019 by RandyMossIsBoss

[Broadway Joe]

Nice thread. This forum has been devoid of threads outside of the GDT, Offseason and NFC E. 

Every day I see Jordan Hicks balling in another jersey I die a little. 

Looking at all the missed picks we seem to have undervalued athletic ability big time with our picks, we may have the slowest team in the NFL

[AZ_Eaglesfan]

I think Barnett is a green. While he never will likely live up to his draft spot, he is a solid player who has contributed to the team a good amount and will stick around in the NFL. Sidney Jones is almost certainly going to be a bust and I have lost just about all hope in him ever becoming a real player in the NFL. The injuries have taken his speed away and his instincts are just terrible. I agree with the rest of the evaluation though. We have basically sucked at drafting and it shows in our current roster.

[Scalamania]

They were just talking about this on the BGN podcast. This team is, and has been, awful at drafting for a very long time for some reason. The thought that in the last 6 or 7 years the best player we drafted is Wentz and the second best would probably be Big V is down right pathetic. 

27 minutes ago, Broadway Joe said:

Looking at all the missed picks we seem to have undervalued athletic ability big time with our picks, we may have the slowest team in the NFL

They also mention this on the podcast as well. We've needed speed for a while, everyone knew that but we went out and drafted slow CBs and a slow WR this year and it's biting us in the ***. 

[EAGLES3658]

This is ridiculous. The scouting department needs to be overhauled. How did a team who hits on so few draft picks win a SB or have the amount of recent success this team has had? That part is mind boggling as well.

[Jroc04]

Funny, Joe Douglas got a job after all that. Wasn’t a big loss after all. 

[EaglesPeteC]

This is why we should trade all the first round picks for Ramsey 

[EaglesPeteC]

In their defense, the one pick they got right was the most important one 

[Kiltman]

31 minutes ago, EaglesPeteC said:

This is why we should trade all the first round picks for Ramsey 

Protect us from you, Howie

[Jroc04]

5 minutes ago, Kiltman said:

Protect us from you, Howie

I’m refreshing my google search of “Eagles trade” every 15 minutes. Somethings gotta happen. 

[EaglesPeteC]

8 minutes ago, Kiltman said:

Protect us from you, Howie

How could we sacrifice all those Marcus Smiths and Danny Watkins ‘ for little ole Jalen Ramsey?????

[Kiltman]

Just now, Jroc04 said:

I’m refreshing my google search of “Eagles trade” every 15 minutes. Somethings gotta happen. 

I remember that life, now I live in the harsh reality of 5 eagle alerts on my phone, only to be met with practice squad RBs and washed up LBs getting released 

I hate it, why have you left us Howie...why

[Kiltman]

4 minutes ago, EaglesPeteC said:

How could we sacrifice all those Marcus Smiths and Danny Watkins ‘ for little ole Jalen Ramsey?????

I’d hate to miss out on the really good kid at CB who has only had two acl tears at pick #17 this year

”He’s a worker”

”He’s battled through adversity”

[babyatemydingo]

I think you need to distinguish between the Kelly era and the Pederson era.
The picks Kelly made were with a certain bias (Huff, Hart) and clearly set the Eagles back.
But, Pederson has not been bad.

1) Wentz and Barnett are green, even though you mislabeled one.

2) As for Jones, the jury is out, but skeptical.  They got him there because of injury and then misplaced him in the slot.  I'll give him another year in yellow to get to green.
3) Douglas is not a starter at this point even though he starts.  His yellow needs to go green, but he needs to be matched against bigger receivers, not faster ones.
Seumalo is OK.  He may still improve.  Also, he may be better at C.  Hold tight on this one.

4) Pumphrey is a bust. 
Hollins is about what you'd expect from a 4th round WR, no love, no hate, yellow forever.
5) Vaitai and Gerry are serviceable.  I was wrong on Gerry, but he took time to develop.
Smallwood is barely a yellow, not a green. 
Gibson is the turd I said he was, but sometimes you just draft speed.
6) Countess and Qualls are borderline NFL players.  You'd hope to hit on one of those picks, but it is the 6th round.
7) Mills has been solid when healthy. 
Walker was OK before the injury, but what do you want? 
McAllister had the speed, but not the "appetite" for the game.  He's kinda what you get at 240.

Conspicuously absent are the subsequent drafts.
You still have to judge them.
You can't discount the potential and current contributions.
Remember, the Eagles got contributions from rookies in the Super Bowl season.

2018)  Goedert and Maddox can play despite being day 2 and 3 picks respectively.
Sweat, Pryor and Mailata have flashed.  Jury out.

2019)  Dillard and Sanders look like bona fide NFL starters.
Arthega-Whiteside and Miller need time to get up to speed.
Thorson was bad, somewhere between CFL and UPS bad.

This regime needs to be distinguished from the previous one.
The Eagles are not the Redskins where you can delineate the woes of the franchise to a singular point.

I am OK with the current course, but it will take time to recover from mistakes of the past.
That's just how it works.  Some patience is required.

Frankly, I'm more concerned with the play calling and the use of personnel than the talent evaluation.
Compare the last four Eagles' drafts to any team in the NFL and they are pretty much par for the course.

 

 

[Danger]

ok so our new draft strategy is just to own the entire 5th round every year. Break.