Image courtesy of ogdraft.wordpress.com
MARCUS Smith. That’s the guy we picked.
My best friend and I watched the Draft at the South Philly Bar & Grill down Passyunk. I ordered a Philly Tap Water (awesome drink), 2 cheesesteaks and I gave away some EAGLEMANIACAL tee-shirts to fellow fans who also showed up to watch.
The annual strokefest that is the Draft was going according to formula, with every pick being a blah-blah “good pick” or a blah-blah “solid pick”. Mel Kiper had his poor Draft evaluation of Ray Lewis thrown in his face, with now HOF Ray sitting just one guy away. It was fun.
When the Eagles pick came in, we were all on our feet. Pryor was gone, Clinton-Dix was gone, Barr was gone, Cooks was gone, and Ford was gone. Who was left? Whoever it was, we all were expecting the pick to be a great one.
Then Marcus Smith was announced. You could have heard a flea fart from across the street at Capitolo park. I haven’t heard such eerie, dead silence in Philly since Mayor Nutter closed the city in preparation for Hurricane Irene in 2011.
Murmurs broke out and I expected full on bitching to commence in 3-2-… But it never came. It’s like the spirit had been gut punched out of the bar. People settled into drinking and a couple guys schlepped over to the beer pong table. You could hear the ping pong balls, but neither man was talking. I ordered another Philly Tap Water, my friend ordered a Pepsi. The night was over.
I don’t know whose idea it was to draft this guy, but barring an amazing next 2 days, that person should be out of a job come Monday. Aside from Danny Watkins, have you ever been more underwhelmed about a Draft pick?
More to the point, why did we reach so badly for this guy??? CBS Sports had a solid 2nd round grade him. Not a 1st – 2nd grade, a solid 2nd. Draft Countdown had him as a 2nd – 3rd. NFL.com Scouting had him down as a 3rd – 4th. The only thing about him that says 1st rounder, is his Draft history.
Let me go you one better. When you pick a guy in the 1st you should expect him to contribute heavily if not start, in that same year. Did anyone see anything that said “Yeah. Sit Trent Cole down, so this kid can get out there”? I sure as hell didn’t.
It’s 3:21 a.m. now. I came home and went looking for video of this guy. This is video of him in a game which was a runaway for his team. Observe how consistently dominant he is:
AND THIS IS HIS HIGHLIGHT REEL! So you see my frustration? This next 2 days had better be some of the most bang-ass drafting us Eagle fans have ever seen. Because between this and Jacksongate 2014©, the Front Office is looking less and less like they know what they’re doing these days.
EAGLEMANIACAL.com 
I’m not sold about this either….. But Hell, who knows maybe it’s something I doubt it. But it’s not like we aren’t used to first round picks that don’t pan out. I just can’t see how he wasn’t a draft for need, and he was some how above all those other prospects (Buchannon, Marquise Lee… ect) That were there. Still, If he’s given time to adjust and grow behind Cole and learn. I guess we’ll see in a few years? For the record I broke several items in my house after the pick was announced and it sunk in.
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LMAO! I’m sure we in the bar would have broken some things too if we were home. It’s just that with all the players that Chip kept and started from the Reid era, I think fans were hoping the FO would break away to the future in dramatic style. Instead we got a 3rd round player in the first round.
I was stunned. I was thinking that with Mack and Barr off the board, we’d grab Jeremiah Attaochu. He has a second round grade on him, and he’d have been a reach too, but he wouldn’t have been as much of one. Especially considering that there is no way he’d be there at 54 when we pick again.
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My Neighbors called when the Packers took Ha Ha at 21. Asking me if I was okay at first then wondering if I could keep it down. You could just see how unhappy he was that he was taken by the packers. I think I’m going to end up spending this draft drinking…. Then hope that the rest of the division doesn’t get that much better around us. Since you know Giants got Beckham, and the Cowboys got a pretty good OLineman…
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Yeah, so far the division seems to be conceding 2014 and arming for the future.
In my 2014 NFC East Breakdown, I mention how the ‘skins and giants are both quietly re-vamping their O-Lines, and how the Cowboys already rode their’s to the #5 offense in the NFL. The only real weak link there is Doug Free at RT, and as you can see the Cowboys grabbed an OT as the first order of business.
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Yeah, It will only get harder if Philly doesn’t shore up their defense and grab another weapon for this offense in case Maclin either isn’t fully recovered, or he leaves next year in free agency. What do you think, do we take WR in round 2? Or one using one of the 2 picks we have in round 3? There are still some quality receivers on the board that could make an impact in this system.
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I think just froma PR standpoint the Eagle HAVE TO draft a WR early. After not being told WHY DeSean Jackson was released, fans (read: ticket and merchandise buyers) at least want to know that that base is covered. Also with Chip saying the team want to go in “another direction at WR”, it would probably help if they actually went in a direction.
It’s a deep draft at WR this year. There are guys slotted for the 4th who in other years would be seen as 2nd rounders. That’s why I’ve been so against trading up to get any WR.
As far as who’s out there, I like Donte Moncrief. He’s big, runs good routes and does damage after the catch. He’s not a burner, just a young WR with solid tools you can build on.
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