An Eagles-Related Lap Around Combine
INDIANAPOLIS - So much information was collected Tuesday morning that will take some time to process and digest, so for now, here is a quick lap around the floor of the Indiana Convention Center, where quarterback, receiver and tight end prospects were paraded out all morning long to spend about a half an hour each at eight different podiums and eight different tables to answer questions from NFL writers across the country.
Some thoughts that came to me:
- Could this be a draft in which the Eagles spend their first two picks on a receiver, Nos. 21 and 53?
Just walking around the room and seeing star after star receiver stepping up to the podium was a sight to see. I knew this group was talented and special, but it wasn’t until I saw the waves that kept rolling through that it sunk in.
Andy Reid did something similar in 2002 when he went defensive backs with his first three picks – Lito Shepard, Michael Lewis and Sheldon Brown.
It would depend on free agency shakes out for that to happen, but it’s so easy to fall in love with the group that is available. Perhaps, at minimum, the Eagles go receiver in the first round and dip again in the third with the 85 overall pick.
- Penn State’s K.J. Hamler certainly seemed to make a push for the Eagles to draft, and the Eagles may make that happen. Hamler is scheduled to have a formal interview with the Eagles on Wednesday. Hamler is believed to be a second-round prospect.
His favorite player?
Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson.
“I like that he can go deep or take a short cross and turn it into a touchdown,” said Hamler. “I’d really like to meet him.”
One of his closest friends?
Eagles running back Miles Sanders.
‘I’d love to play with Miles,” said Hamler. “I meet with the Eagles (Wednesday), so I’ll see what they say. Hope Miles puts in a good word for me. It would be a blessing to play with him, but the team that loves me is the team that picks me.”
- Hard not to admire the confidence shown by Jalen Reagor, a receiver that could be a first-round pick from Texas Christian University. He compared himself to San Francisco’s Deebo Samuel, Minnesota’s Stefon Diggs, and Kansas City’s Tyreek Hill.
Reagor said he had a formal interview with the Eagles.
He is 5-11 and listed at 195 pounds, but said his weight is up to 205 pounds, which is the weight he wants to play at in the NFL. His goal at the Combine is to run the fastest 40 time, and he see his main challenger to that goal as Alabama’s Henry Ruggs.
“Whatever a team needs me to do, I’ll be able to do it,” said Reagor. “It’s my versatility. I can play running back, played a little quarterback, a return specialist, I can pretty much do it all. I still feel I can develop my game everywhere, routes, hands, attacking the ball, blocking, everything so I feel my ceiling is very high.
“People look at my size, wingspan, catch radius, but I feel I can do just about everything as good as everybody else."
- What about a tight end? I am beginning to think that, well, maybe the Eagles could be in the market for one. Not early in this draft but maybe somewhere along the line.
Zach Ertz’s contract is up in 2021 and Dallas Goedert is entering his third year and will need a raise soon if the Eagles believe in him, and I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t.
Spent some time talking with LSU’s Thaddeus Moss. He may be out of reach for the Eagles, but one thing he talked about was his ability to block. So many tight ends enter the league without that skill being as refined as some teams would like. Moss stressed blocking.
“Physicality is in my DNA,” said Moss, whose father is Hall of Fame receiver Randy Moss. “I love blocking. It’s about want-to, and I want to. You have to want to put your nose in there and block. The tight end position you should be able to do everything a coach asks you. If that’s go block a D-end or go beat up on a linebacker.
“I take pride in blocking. All the receivers from all the way back (early in career) ask how many touches you going to have, how many touchdowns you going to have? I say, ‘Look, I don’t care about that. Y’all can have as many as ya’ll want. I’m a tight end, I’m not a receiver. I do the dirty work. You can score the touchdowns, I’ll go block.'”
Say that in a job interview this week and Moss won’t be around long enough for the Eagles to take him.
