EAGLES DRAFT EXAMINATION: The First Round
From booms to busts an everything in between, the Eagles have had it all in the first round of their previous 10 drafts.
There have been more successes than failures, as it should be with plenty of talent available in the first round.
Fletcher Cox, Lane Johnson, and Brandon Graham all qualify as booms, with all three big components in the Eagles’ 2017 Super Bowl season.
Quarterback Carson Wentz could certainly be in the boom category. He is the face of the franchise and the quarterback of the present and future.
Busts?
None bigger than Danny Watkins, with Marcus Smith a close second.
In in-betweens are Derek Barnett, though he still has time to climb into the boom category, and Nelson Agholor, who has run out of time to make a move up.
Andre Dillard is in the show-me category by himself after only one season in the league.
The next decade of picks will begin in about six weeks when the 2020 NFL Draft is held in Las Vegas.
This is the first in an occasional series that will examine and grade the Eagles’ picks in each round. Naturally, the examination begins with a decade of first-round picks.
Over the past decade, the Eagles spent first-round selections on three defensive ends, two offensive tackles, one quarterback, one receiver, one defensive tackle, and one guard. In one draft, they traded out of the first round.
Here is the breakdown:
2019: OT Andre Dillard
Grade: Not enough information, but trending upward
Comment: He is supposed to be the left tackle of the future after the Eagles decided to let Jason Peters, 28, test free agency. Dillard, 23, made three starts at left tackle last year and held up well enough to believe that, with some added strength this offseason, he has a chance to anchor the position the way Peters has for the last 11 years.
2018: (traded out, acquired TE Dallas Goedert in second round) Goedert will be examined and graded in the second-round installment of this occasional series.
2017: DE Derek Barnett
Grade: B, and trending upward
Comment: Some may be ready to give up on the oft-injured Barnett, who has played in 38 of 48 possible games, and there is no question this is a big season for him. He is just 23, and his production has been steady when he plays. Barnett has 14 sacks, including 6.5 last year when he played 14 games despite dealing with a variety of nagging injuries.
If he can stay healthy, I still believe he can become a double-digit sack producer. As it is, he made two memorable postseason plays as a rookie, strip-sacking Vikings quarterback Case Keenum in the NFC Championship Game when Minnesota was just outside the Eagles’ 20-yard line looking to tie the game and recovering Tom Brady’s fumble forced by Brandon Graham in Super Bowl LII’s final two-plus minutes.
2016: QB Carson Wentz
Grade: A
Comment: Wentz’s health has ben a big part of his story and that can overshadow all the good he has accomplished, like leading the Eagles offense to four straight wins to close out last season with an NFC East title and not throwing an interception in any of them. He ended 2019 with 27 touchdowns to just seven interceptions.
In his career he has thrown 97 TDs to 35 interceptions and in 2017, he helped led the Eagles to home-field in the playoffs while setting a new fanchise record for touchdowns in a season with 33.
*2015: WR Nelson Agholor
Grade: B-
Comment: This grade would be higher, but, you know, the drops. In 2017, though, Agholor enjoyed a breakout season that ended in a Super Bowl title and he made nine receptions for 84 yards. He is likely to leave as a free agent.
2014: DE Marcus Smith
Grade: F
Comment: He is listed by the Eagles as a linebacker, but he was drafted to be a defensive end. That tells you all you need to know. Smith couldn’t adjust, struggled with injuries and lasted three years in Philly, playing 37 games without a start and had just 3.5 sacks.
2013: OT Lane Johnson
Grade: A
Comment: This would probably be an A+ if not for the two PED suspensions he had earlier in his career, costing him 14 games. Still, he has become one of the best right tackles in the game and is being paid accordingly.
2012: DT Fletcher Cox
Grade: A+
Comment: Probably one of the top six or seven best first-round draft picks the Eagles ever made. Enough said.
2011: G Danny Watkins
Grade: F
Comment: A guard in the first-round? This one was doomed from the start. The fireman part of his story only made it that much better to tell.
2010: DE Brandon Graham
Grade: A+
Comment: It took a while for Graham to shed the bust label early in his career, but it is off now. He will live forever in Eagles history as the one who made the best play of Super Bowl LII with his sack of Tom Brady. He has the fifth-most sacks in franchise history with 51. Four more will move him past Hugh Douglas into fourth place all-time.
*Indicates Chip Kelly’s year of being GM
