Eagles Review

This past year was an incredible run that showed heart, shocking failure, and unexpected victory, all punctuated with piercing heartbreaking loss.

Looking forward, the Eagles have more draftpicks that any other football team (10), including 1.22, 1.28, 2.22, 3.22, 4.22, 5.5, 5.22, 6.22, 6.23, and 7.22. If you were to trade all their extra picks for a single pick, using the NFL chart, they'd be worth (660+39.5+19.2=718.7) roughly the 25th pick in the first round.

Now, to review there areas of need:

QB: McNabb had a terrible first half against the Cardinals and needs to improve his consistency but is the best chance we have to win next year. His backups are fine. We may see a late-round flyer since Andy likes to draft QBs in that way but nothing should come on the first day.

RB: Buck is probably heading out since he wants a bigger role (and should get one somewhere). 36 is getting old and his game has been becoming less scary. He needs to take fewer carries. It's time to draft a better version of Ryan Moats to learn from Westbrook and take over at the end of the 2010 season. Westrbook is a great blocker and this shouldn't be overlooked. Eckel seems fine as a third-RB. I'd assume we'd draft a back in the first three rounds. Here are some profiles.

WR: Baskett should no longer be thought of as a future starter. He dropped too many important balls in the playoffs. That said he is fine at number 4. Avant is perfect for number 3. Curtis and Jackson are good for #s 1 and 2. That leaves me wondering about Greg Lewis and Reggie Brown. I wonder if we can trade Brown and the Panther pick to get to a middle pick in the first round.

TE: We need a guy who attracts defenseive attention and can block LBs well and DE's decently well. Tough set of skills to combine, I know, but this is a probable use of a first round pick.

O-Line: I think Runyan and Thomas have lost some of their oomph. One or both should be let go based on film study. The running game was mediocre in the playoffs and used to be a strength. My gut is that Runyan goes, Herrmans slots in at RT and Cole/MJG slides in at LG. How has dunlap been progressing? Any signs of life from Justice?

D-Line: Looks very good. If we move Klecko back to rush on passing downs then Howard may get cut. Johnson would love Peppers but I think we may need to budget more money towards the offense. We only get Peppers if we can get some picks for Lito.

LBs: It's be great to get a Will-LB and have Jordan be the 4th guy and rotate.

CBs: If Jack Ikegwuono looks good, then lets trade Lito and resign Joselio. Can we get a 3d rounder? That'd be great.

FS: Is Demps good enough to take over? If not, this is a high priority for a using a first-round or second-round pick.

SS: Mikell is good. Condesine seems like a mediocre backup but it's too expensive to have great backups everywhere.

P: Rocca is golden. Needs practice punting in bad conditions.

K: Akers looked terrible at Arizona (in a dome no less) and will get some stiff competition. Unlikely but possible scenario: we use a late-round pick on a kicker.