What We Learned About The Eagles Based on the 2020 NFL Draft
The dust has settled on the NFL Draft and we are back to longing for sports. But now that it has, we have a better idea of what the Eagles will look like when/if the season begins. The draft revealed what the Eagles vision is as a team and what the race for the NFC East will look like as they put newfound strategies into action.
- Speed Kills. Best to Have a Ton Of It
By now you’ve heard the quote from Howie that he walked into to Doug’s office at the end of the year with a piece of paper that said “Can he run? Is he healthy? Does he love the game?” It isn’t the only time Howie has publicly stated a desperate desire to get faster. He had stated he was tired of watching the ball go over corners heads. He had stated how they needed to get younger to remain competitive. In a changing game, they were falling behind. So, with each and every pick they prioritized speed, just like they said they would. In any walk of life, when someone tells you they are going to do something and then they ACTUALLY do it, it is so reassuring. Who knows if the John Hightower’s or Quez Watkins of the world work out (all in on Quez), but if they lose games, it will no longer be because the other team is simply athletically superior to them. And it wasn’t just the slew of receivers that showcased the team’s need for speed. Yes, Jalen Reagor is enticing and the 6th round flip for Marquise Goodwin is sly. But even defensively, they clearly targeted linebackers that make it sideline to sideline in a hurry. Davion Taylor, seen to many as a project, was targeted by the Eagles due to his biggest strength: speed. The same can be said for Shaun Bradley. They are adapting their model and it centers around athleticism.
- Those Tiny Corners Have Their Hands Full
Remarkable that Chase Young, who many considered to be the most talented prospect in the draft, went to the Redskins. And he doesn’t scare me the most out of prospects drafted in the NFC East. The Eagles have a Cee Dee dilemma, and so does the rest of the league. I thought Lamb was the best receiver in the draft, and he will only be better paired with Amari Cooper on the other side. The Cowboys have a terrific trio at receiver that will be able to spread teams out and create mismatches with Cooper’s route running, Lamb’s size and Gallup’s explosiveness. The secondary for Jim Schwartz, and really even before him, has been Swiss cheese. The Darius Slay acquisition was a huge step forward. But, they will be put to the test twice a year against Dak & Co. The Jalen Reagor picked seemed to be a mixed bag of reaction. I wonder if the perception changes and Reagor is considered an A+ pick if it weren’t the Cowboys landing lamb.
- They Think They Are a Quarterback Factory (Narrator: They Aren’t)
They aren’t a quarterback factory because that is not a thing that football teams do. I’ve already written a 1400 word manifesto HERE about why drafting Jalen Hurts in the 2nd Round was a horrible mistake that was detrimental to the team, Carson Wentz, and even Hurts himself. Every day that goes by, it makes even less sense. Even though Howie Roseman and the Eagles are on a press tour trying to get out and defend the move, do not let them talk to you into this. They created this controversy by trying to be the smartest men in the room and it backfired. Reuben Frank gave one of the best descriptions on why this terrible pick ruins the grading scale for the Eagles draft overall: If you give up 8 runs in the 2nd inning, it doesn’t matter if you pitch a shutout the rest of the game. You still lost 8-1.