The Eagles Have Been Built Through the Draft

We are twenty-five days away from the NFL Draft. At this point everyone has evaluated the Eagles‘ needs ad nauseam. Enough of that. We all have our own ideas about what they will or won’t do and who they will or won’t draft. However, none of this matters if Reid and Co. select the wrong players. Nobody wants guys who can’t cut it or don’t fit the system, for whatever reasons.

With this in mind, let’s take a look at the Eagles current depth chart to see how successful the braintrust has been in recent years. We’ll start on offense:

Player	How acquired
QB – Donovan McNabb	1999 Draft
RB – Brian Westbrook	2002 Draft
FB – Leonard Weaver	Free agent 2009
WR – DeSean Jackson	2008 Draft
WR – Kevin Curtis	Free agent 2007
LT – Todd Herremans	2005 Draft
LG -Max Jean-Gilles	2006 Draft
C – Jaamal Jackson	Rookie FA 2003
RG – Shawn Andrews	2004 Draft
RT – Stacy Andrews	Free agent 2009
TE – Brent Celek	2007 Draft

Not too bad. Eight of eleven starters were drafted or undrafted free agents. Key reserves Jason Avant, Kevin Kolb and AJ Feeley were also original draft picks. Now, the defense:

Player	How acquired
DE – Juqua Parker	Free agent 2005
DT – Mike Patterson	2005 Draft
DT – Broderick Bunkley	2006 Draft
DE – Trent Cole	2005 Draft
WLB – Akeem Jordan	Rookie FA 2007
MLB – Stewart Bradley	2007 Draft
SLB – Chris Gocong	2006 Draft
SS – Quintin Mikell	Rookie FA 2003
FS – Quintin Demps	2008 Draft
CB – Asante Samuel	Free agent 2008
CB – Sheldon Brown	2002 Draft

Again, very solid. Nine of eleven starters were acquired via the draft, or as undrafted free agents. Reserves Omar Gaither, Trevor Laws, Victor Abiamiri and Joe Mays were drafted as well. Joselio Hanson, Darren Howard, Chris Clemons and Sean Jones were all free agents.

You can argue over whether or not these guys are the answers, but you can’t argue with the high percentage of players who were original draft picks. 17 of 22 starters equals 77.2%. In addition, the Birds have been very successful in the later rounds. Here’s a break down round by round:

1st round – McNabb, Shawn Andrews, Patterson, Bunkley

2nd round – DeSean, Brown, Abiamiri, Laws, Kolb

3rd round – Westbrook, Bradley, Gocong

4th round – Herremans, Demps, Avant, Jean-Gilles

5th round – Celek, Cole, Gaither

6th round – Mays

Eleven of twenty were chosen in rounds 3 through 6, for a ratio of 55%. Interesting. Of course, the list of busts is long and distinguished: Gardner, Pinkston, McDougle, Mitchell, Caver, McCoy, McMullen, Moats and Hunt just to name a few.

Overall, Reid and Heckert have done a decent job on draft day. Armed with 12 picks, they should be able to make some noise in a few weeks. Fingers crossed.