Cornelius Ingram...steal of the draft in the fifth round? Photo courtesy of alligator.org.
After the hype and the drama of Day 1 of the NFL Draft Day 2 often gets overlooked, but it’s in the last five rounds where teams can find the proverbial diamonds in the rough.
Let’s take a look at how the Eagles, and the rest of their NFC East foes fared in rounds 3-7. I’ll also include my overall impression of each team’s draft class, but you’ll notice I’m not handing out any grades. I honestly think it’s crap to judge a draft class so soon, and the only reason the so-called experts do it is solely for the sake of generating readership and ratings (And we never do that here at Phinally Philly. **wink wink**)
The Birds had no picks through rounds three and four but that didn’t keep them from having an excellent day. Bringing in Florida tight end Cornelius Ingram was an absolute steal in the fifth round…the guy is a terrific young receiving tight end who was rated by many to be a second round player. My only issue with Ingram is he doesn’t exactly fill a need; the Eagles needed a blocking tight end to complement Brent Celek and ended up with a guy who is not known for his blocking (meaning he’s not very good at it.) Regardless, Ingram will improve the depth at TE dramatically for the Birds and should be ready to contribute as the #2 guy right away.
I also liked the Victor Harris (CB, Virginia Tech) and Fenuki Tupou (OT, Oregon) picks. Harris is a ballhawk who was the leader of the Hokie D, and Tupou is a strong tackle with a mean streak. Both players will need time to develop (hence why they are fifth rounders and not first rounders) but both have the potential to be starters in the league. If Tupou is anything like his brother (Junior defensive tackle Christian Tupou at USC) he will be a great fit in Philly. Christian is one of the hardest workers on the USC football team and went from a service team member to a valuable starting defensive tackle.
Any production you get out of guys beyond the fifth round is considered gravy as far as I’m concerned, but one player I will have my eye on in camp is receiver Brandon Gibson out of Washington State. Gibson has the talent to be a productive player in the NFL but he rarely had a chance to shine on some downright atrocious Cougar teams. Had he played for a big time school he’d have been drafted much higher. I think his 2007 season (1180 yards, 9 TDs, 17.6 ypc) is much more indicitive of his ability than his senior year (673 yards, 2 TDs, 11.8 ypc.) The difference? In ’07 WSU still had Alex Brink at QB (26 TD, 15 INT) versus ’08 where they had three different QBs combine for just 6 TDs to 21 INTs. Mark my words: Brandon Gibson has a legitimate shot at making the team out of camp.
HOW’D THEY DO?
This was an excellent draft for the Eagles. Almost all of their picks were players who were projected to go higher than they were taken, and Maclin and McCoy will immediately add a lot to the offense. You also have to consider that the Eagles traded an extra first rounder to Buffalo for Pro Bowl OT Jason Peters and two fifth round picks to New England for CB Ellis Hobbs. All in all this was an excellent week for the Birds and they filled several holes with some very talented players. You really couldn’t have asked for it to go any better (unless of ocurse the team had traded for Boldin or Edwards, but it’s time to let that go. It would have cost way too much in both picks and cap space to bring in either of those guys.)
The Giants were plenty busy over the weekend, adding nine players in total to their roster.
Ramses Barden is very much a boom or bust pick at receiver out of Cal Poly in the third round. At 6’6 229 he is going to be slated as the replacement for Plaxico Burress, but adjusting to the competetion he’ll see in the NFL compard to that at a very small time program is not going to be easy. Getting NC State runningback Andre Brown in round four though was a great move by GM Jerry Reese. Brown has plenty of talent and will fill the hole left behind by Derrick Ward.
You also may remember Rhett Bomar as the Oklahoma QB who got kicked out of school for violating NCAA rules before finishing his career at Sam Houston State. Not exactly the way he expected his college career to go I’m sure, but he’ll have shot at being a backup for Elisha Manning. No better place to go to learn how to throw interceptions at crucial times!
HOW’D THEY DO?
Not bad at all. They got plenty of help at receiver (Nicks and Barden) and Clint Sintim (OLB, UVA) should turn out to be a fine player. The long term success of this draft will revolve around how those two receivers fare in the NFL, and there are legitimate concerns surrounding both. William Beatty and Andre Brown should develop into solid contributors over the next few seasons.
The Skins had five of their six picks on Day 2. No one really jumps out at me, but Kevin Barnes could be a decent nickelback for them. They really took a chance on Cody Glenn (OLB, Nebraska)…Glenn is a former runningback turned linebackr who has a lot to learn on the defensive side of the ball. Taking him in the fifth was a bit of a reach.
HOW’D THEY DO?
The Redskins draft was a lot like the Clive Owen film Shoot Em Up…very brief and not that deep (he kills a dude with a carrot for cryin’ out loud!) Brian Orakpo was an excellent pick in the first round and he will be terrorizing offenses in the NFC for years to come. Aside from that they really didn’t pick up anyone who will make them that much better. Think of their weekend like a fireworks show with no grand finale; it had its moments, but left you really unsatisfied by the end.
While the Cowboys may not have had a Day 1 pick, they made up for it by taking a whopping 12 players on Day 2. Unfortunately not many of them are going to make that team any better. Three of their first four picks were serious reaches and while Stephen McGee (QB, Texas A&M) wasn’t a bad fourth rounder he’s mainly around to be a backup.
Could some of these low round picks pan out? Sure…but Ashlee Simpson could also one day be considered a talented singer. Just because it could happen doesn’t mean it will.
.JPG)
Buehler...Buehler...Buehler? (Sorry I couldn't resist.)
The Cowboys did have one of the most puzzling picks in the fifth round. They took USC kicker David Buehler when they already have a very good kicker on their roster in Nick Folk. I got to see plenty of Buehler in college (he’s a really funny guy for the record) and he has one hell of a strong leg…his accuracy though leaves quite a bit to be desired. So basically the Cowboys drafted a kickoff specialist in the fifth round when plenty of other talented players are still on the board. They could always plan on moving Buehler to linebacker…he did run a 4.56 at the combine after all!!
HOW’D THEY DO?
If you have to ask you weren’t paying attention. When you also consider they gave away their first and third round picks to Detroit in the disastrous Roy Williams trade it only makes this weekend look worse for Jerry and Co.
