Last year the Eagles went into the draft with the mission of improving their defensive line. This year they’ve gone in the draft with the purpose of improving their offensive line.
The started out by taking Baylor guard/tackle Danny Watkins in the first round, then Iowa guard Julian Vandervelde in the fifth round, now they’ve drafted center Jason Kelce of Cincinnati.
Kelce is somewhat undersized to play that position in the NFL. He’s 6’3″ but he only weighs 280 pounds. Most of the centers in the league are 300 and above, so don’t be surprised if they ask him to put on a few pounds.
He’s a very good athlete for a center, who gets the job done with speed and quickness rather than size and strength. Kelce has the same committed and disciplined attitude of the other Eagles picks. He walked on as a freshman linebacker and out worked everybody to get on the field.
A couple of picks later, the Eagles drafted undersized Ohio State linebacker, Brian Rolle, who stands 5’10” and weighs 228 pounds. He supposedly makes up for what he lacks in size and strength with speed and enthusiasm. According to scouting various reports, this young man loves to hit.
Rolle runs a 4.5 in the forty-yard dash. He bench pressed 225 pounds 28 times, which is quite impressive for a guy his size.
He wants to play linebacker but he won’t have a problem if the Birds want him to be a safety. I could see them using him in much the same way that they used Keenan Clayton last year. He was like a linebacker/safety and he specialized in playing in nickel coverages.
Rolle will have to come in here and contribute on the special teams.
Center Kelce can get a good Summer Camp and some Preseason expeirience and probably be stashed on Practice squad and have a shot in 2012 to make the team.. But Mudd does prefer working with smaller,quicker and more athletic OL which is what he had out in the Indy all those years…
LB Rolle may have to battle it out at Strong Safety but he’s probably a long shot at LB, though he’s a heady player and solid tackler and good teamate/locker room guy but his lack of size ..He would have to go head to head with Clayton who has a year in the system ahead of him and with who kows how long a lockout will continue, this late Round Rookies coming in are really behind the 8-Ball as far as learning teh [playbook,schemes and what is takes to be a Pro.. It’s a shame if Lockout continues into the Summer time, How much camp where there actually be.. How can you have a bunch of new players, players coming off injuries and rehab and then all the 2nd Year players who were ROokies last years learn some new techniques and schemes, get to know their new Coaches in just a few weeks time.. It’s going to be some ugly football if this happens and lot of young players who may not be able to show what the have with an abbreviated Summer Camp/Preseason schedule and no OTA’s..
By the way, I counted like 35-40 Special Teams Players on the Eagles Roster.. How many do you need…
For the Record,
Watch out for the Tampa Bay Bucs, they are having a Great Draft as are the
the Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo BIlls, KC Chiefs, Cleveland Browns,Detroit Lions,Houston Texans, Baltimore RAvens, NY Giants, No Saints & GB Packers
Minnesota Vikings, 49ers and Oakland Raiders are have good selections today.
Teams that aren’t showing me as much and have made some questionable reaches,trades or selections throughout the Draft
Miami Dolphins, SD Chargers, Carolina Panthers, St Louis Rams, Falcons,Titans and the Dallas Cowboys
Washington Redskins had a good first 2 days, but today I am not so sure,, Does Coach Shanahan realize that his OL is one of the worst in the NFL.. I am not sure they have selected 1 OL all Draft which is crazy…They have picked 3 WR and 2 RB but who is blocking for their QB and RB’s..
Awesome day for the Birds, plenty of undersized players who get buried by bigger, stronger opponents. You cannot have enough fast guys running to the wrong places on the field. They may be clueless in a bad scheme, but they get to the wrong hole in a hurry. Then they can get blocked and their teamates chase down the ball carrier from behind.
I was going to say just about the same thing Anderson, but now can’t stop laughing after reading your post. I want to throttle Reid, he’s like an addict with these small, weak players. He must love getting manhandled in the playoffs. I’m looking forward to the Reid hotseat watch this year as they continue along their path of mediocrity. It will be fun watching the Reid apologist media types justify his decisions as they don’t pan out. I guess I just don’t understand how smaller, weaker, players are supposed to win against bigger, stronger players. That’s right, they don’t!!!
The Eagles are ahead of the curve here… They must have inside information that the new deal that will be struck will change the Salary Structure so that they will be playing players by the Pound and by the Inch. They will save a ton of money with all the short and underweight players they took this year. What the heck were they thinking? Time to bring in a GM who has autonomy and knows how to evaluate talent. Last years Draft proved to be D Grade at best. This years will be at the same level of worse!
The draft is a crap shoot. A lot of the 1st round picks never pan out, live up to their expectations or hype. It appears the real gems are the guys selected in the mid rounds or the free agents. Considering how tight the Eagles are on the purse strings, they do well with the mid rounders.
G:
The Eagles have done very well drafting depth on the OL. This appears to be another year of them doing so. I don’t hate it. I would’ve preferred a DL or two, but that’s me…and you apparently too. I don’t know that there is a “system” to get used to on defense. I hear that Castillo will simplify it. I’m not sure that’s a good thing, but at least it would appear to give the young talent a chance to play instinctively. That may be good, especially because of the lock-out. But I wouldn’t want to have that kind of scheme against Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Phillip Rivers and/or Joe Flacco.
You guys would say the same thing no matter how the Eagles draft. “Road to mediocrity”? If mediocrity means NFC East champs again, then I don’t think anyone will have a problem with that. The draft is not a math problem, there is no right or wrong. At least no one can tell right away. And for you people to question the draftees and their position picked is ridiculous. If a player can play, who cares if the eagles reached to get him or not. I applaud the eagles for doing their due diligence and not listen to the public/media on who/how to draft.
The Vandervelde and Kelce picks were a striking philosophical departure from previous emphasis on big heavy offensive linemen the birds had favored. Its a smart move in a league defined by complex pressure defensive schemes in which quicker and faster LBs and DBs are more utilized frequently as blitzers
*Vandervelde weighed 301 and Kelce weighed 280 at the Scouting Combine