Eagles general manager Tom Heckert talked to some reporters yesterday and took them around in a circle. He did have some interesting things to say about the Eagles selection of a running back in the first round.
I hope Heckert was just talking when he was asked about the Birds getting a top running back.
"It's still not at a point where we're going to say we have to come out of the first two rounds with a running back. We think that there are good running backs in the third and fourth rounds. There always are. We think there are some guys [in those rounds] that can play and help us. It's not like we're in a panic mode by any stretch."
Of course he's got to play the game but we hope he's not serious. I do know that the Birds do not want to pay another running back big money while Brian Westbrook is already making big bucks.
He says Westbrook and their quality backups are the reason the team hasn't drafted a running back in the first round.
"We've never been philosophically opposed [to taking a running back in the first round]," he said. "It's just that we've had solid running backs and figured we're not going to draft a first-round guy that's not going to play a whole lot for us.
"We didn't feel it was a necessity to have that guy. Even with Buck [Correll Buckhalter], we already had two good running backs. We didn't feel we needed to draft one early."
The circumstances may force the Eagles to have to draft a running back in the first round.
