Eagles’ Draft Recap
My humble opinion on the draft
Jalen Reagor- I’m not mad at it. I had three options at WR I liked, and Reagor was on of them. He brings speed and playmaking ability to the WR room. They say he has a drop issue. Yes, he has some drops. However, look at the contested catches he’s made on more than one occasion, and there is the sense that drops aren’t going to be a huge problem. Eagles valued playmaking ability over pure WR technique with this pick and are banking on the coaches to get the technical aspect up to speed.
*Disclaimer* I ain’t giving grades, I’m no teacher lol
Jalen Hurts
This was a philosophy pick. The Eagles want to be a QB factory that drafts QB and flips them for future picks. Ok fine. I get the idea. But with that thinking, you pass up the chance to help your team immediately. In my opinion, Jalen Hurts is a project. I don’t believe he’ll actually be the #2 QB next season.
When you break down his game (not Heisman stuff, not meaningless college stats, not team success) actual strength and weakness of his game, you see that he’s got mechanical issues (footwork and throwing motion), and he has major decision-making issues post and pre-snap. He’s not a player that can beat a defense from the pocket right now.
He got benched and lost the QB competition to Tua Tagovailoa because he wasn’t good enough at those aspects of the QB position. With that said, he’s very talented. The Heisman Nominee has excellent mobility and running ability, a good enough arm and all the intangibles you want in a QB.
The bottom line is they’re building a QB from scratch, and that will take time. I’m sure the Eagles will try and scheme up a way to get him on the field here and there, but you don’t draft Taysom Hill in the second round, this kid is a QB and should be developed like one, not some gadget player.
Davion Taylor
Speed was the theme of the Eagles’ draft, and Taylor has it. He’s more of an OLB. You don’t want him butting heads with offensive linemen at all. You want him in space so he can run to the football. In college, his coverage responsibility went from Spying the QB to covering RB to covering slot receivers. Immediately he’ll help out on special teams. The hope going forward is he spies these mobile QBs and keeps RBs and TEs in check as a 3-down LB.
K’von Wallace
This Clemson Tiger Played in a lot of Big Nickel, so you can see why the Eagles liked him. Wallace is a versatile kid. He can play some slot, CB, Dime, LB, and Dual-high Safety. For the Eagles, you want him close to the LOS blitzing, playing the run, playing the short to intermediate zone coverage, covering TE, etc. He’s not the greatest athlete in space, so you don’t want him far down the field. That matchup Safety role the Eagles want to use with Jalen Mills, look for K’von Wallace in that role in a year or 2.
Jack Driscoll
Now here is a smart kid. This Auburn Tiger graduated college in 3 years. One of his strengths is his decent athletic ability. Most importantly, he’s versatile. Eagles love OL that play more than one position, and Jack Driscoll has some experience at Tackle and Guard. He needs to get stronger with his hands and core strength/upper body strength. Going forward, he’s immediately OL depth at two positions and possible starting potential at G.
John Hightower
The theme of the eagles’ draft is speed. Hightower can get deep. Howie Roseman is loading up on deep-threat WRs and hoping maybe 1 or 2 pan out. Hightower has good size, height-wise, but he’s on the skinny side. Press CB will beat him up early. Two things I like about Hightower is acceleration and long-speed. He can put defenders to sleep early in the route then accelerate past them to get deep. One concern with Hightower is stiffness. A full route tree may be a problem for him because his lateral agility isn’t great. He’ll start off as a deep-threat with good hands. We’re going to have to see if he can be more.
Shaun Bradley
Another LB with speed. Bradley has the trademark Temple toughness to along with sideline to sideline range. As an MLB, Bradley showed a real upside. Just like Davion Taylor, you don’t want offensive linemen getting their hands on Shaun Bradley. It won’t end well. But if you keep him clean, he’ll go knock somebody’s head off. Check out his game against Boston College, he gave 250 lb RB AJ Dillon something to think about. For the Eagles, Bradley is depth right now, but if he speeds up his read/reaction time, gets a little stronger, and progresses with his coverage, he could be a major contributor.
Quez Watkins
Similar player to Hightower. Quez is a skinny deep-threat. Watkins has a little bit more hip fluidity as a route runner. The problem is he wasn’t asked to run a lot of routes in school, so he’ll have a crash course in route running 101. Strength and contested catches will also be a point of emphasis. Overall he brings speed and depth to an offense that didn’t have it a season ago.
Prince Tega Wanogho
Fun fact: He’s a real-life Nigerian prince. Prince has a ton of upside. He was originally recruited to play basketball and played football just to stay in shape. It turns out he was too good to leave the sport alone. Tega is a terrific athlete for his size, strong and fast. He’s raw though, not as raw as Jordan Mailata, but he’s another uber-talented lump of clay for OL coach Jeff Stoutland.