Apr 26, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly addresses the media during a press conference at the NovaCare Complex. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Leading up to the draft, the Eagles were reportedly very high on West Virginia quarterback, Geno Smith. The Eagles management, including the owner Jeffrey Lurie, went to work out Geno Smith and this kicked started all of the rumors. Plenty of experts mocked Geno Smith to the Eagles in the first round and when Smith fell to the second round, people were sure the Eagles would select him. Instead the Eagles opted for Oklahoma tackle, Lane Johnson, and Stanford tight end, Zach Ertz. After these selections, reports came out saying the Eagles interest in Geno Smith was a smoke screen.

On the Tuesday morning, Kelly held was interviewed by WIP and he was asked about the Eagles interest in Geno Smith. Contrary to reports, Kelly said that the Eagles were interested in Geno Smith.

“First off, it wasn’t a smoke screen,” Kelly said. “We were as thorough with Geno as anyone else with our evaluation. How it happened was we were supposed to have a meeting scheduled that day with Jeffrey in the building on a couple things. And we weren’t supposed to meet until the afternoon because we were going to see Geno, and it was an hour away by plane. And he said, ‘Hey, I’ll go with you guys.’ “

Not only did Chip Kelly say that the Eagles interest was not a smoke screen, Kelly said the reason Eagles President, Jeffrey Lurie, came was because they had meeting in the afternoon, which differs from the statement Jeffrey Lurie made after the Geno Smith visit. Lurie said that he went because it was “an important pick”

Teams around the NFL use the media to try to scare teams into making bad decisions during the draft, but Chip Kelly said that’s not what the Eagles were doing at all and said that would be a “wasting our time.”

“Is it a smoke screen to other people? I think that intrigue and that part of it, I kind of get a kick out of,” Kelly said. “We don’t have enough time to go out there and say, ‘Hey, let’s bluff the other 31 teams in the league by going to do this.’ If we are, we’re wasting our time.”

 

Apr 26, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly addresses the media during a press conference at the NovaCare Complex. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Every team in the NFL wants to get the best player in the NFL draft and players who have great upside, can make an impact early and a player who excites their fan base. With that being said, there are other thingd like descion making and where a prospect come from that factor in to draft day decisions. After the draft Chip Kelly and Howie Roseman were asked about these underrated aspects of the draft and they said that a players ability to make goo, quick descions as well as where the player came from played roles in who the Eagles selected from Thursday to Saturday.

In order to run Chip Kelly’s up-tempo, no-huddle, players, especially the quarterback, have to be able to make quick reads before the snap and good decisions after the snap. When asked about how important good decision making was to him and how it played a role in the evaluation process, Chip Kelly had this to say:

“I think it’s a huge part of it. There’s a very cerebral part to this game that I don’t know if people sometimes give enough credit to. It’s about making good decisions. Dumb people do dumb things. Smart people rarely do dumb things.”

Kelly went on, saying, “Part of the evaluation that goes along with how fast does someone runs a 40 or how fast does someone run a short shuttle or how strong is he, is the evaluation of them processing [information]. How do they make decisions? Can you count on them day in and day out? Are they dependable? And those are huge components to making decisions. It’s not just a stop-watch and a bench press. There’s so much more that goes into it. Trying to figure out the intangibles.”

Even before the draft, we knew that good decision making would be the key to the Eagles success this year because turnovers have plagued the team over the last few years and Chip Kelly has reputation for having a short leash with players who turn the ball over or consistantly make bad decisions.

Along with decision making, Howie Roseman was asked why there are so few players drafter from non-BCS schools and why the Eagles didn’t draft any players outside of the BCS.

“I believe strongly you have to get them where they make them,” he said. “It’s more of the exception that guys come from small schools and make it. I think as you study successful payers in this league, you’re looking at exception. And when you start to become a team of exceptions, you start to have a problem. And I think that is something that is a philosophy of ours and it’s important to us.”

Along with Roseman’s statement, Kelly said that the SEC produces great defensive linemen, which backs up the selection of Bennie Logan who played for LSU. All of the Eagles draft picks came from BCS schools and it seems that the Eagles believe taking kids from the bigger programs is the way to go.

The Eagles, on paper, did very well this weekend, but it will take time to see how these rookie pan out, but no matter what the outcome may be, the Eagles front office had a pretty good idea of the type of players they wanted and evaluated and created their draft board based on these guidlines, a draftboard that the Eagles frontoffice stuck to throughout the entirety of the draft, which is a very psoitive sign.

Apr 25, 2013; New York, NY, USA; NFL commissioner Roger Goodell poses for a photo with top prospects in attendance before the 2013 NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

Now that the we’re a few days removed from the NFL Draft, most of the hype has begun to die down and it is a great time to give early grades on each team’s draft class. Though we won’t know for a few years who really had the best/worst draft, it’s still fun to give grades now and see if they still hold true in a few years. I thought the NFC East had a rough year in the draft, but value picks seemed to be the theme of this division. Now without further adieu, here are my grades for the NFC East.

Dallas Cowboys: I know as an Eagles fan it is hard to grade the Cowboys fairly, but they really had a rough time in the first two rounds. I’m not a fan of the Travis Fredrick pick and thought Gavin Escobar was a bit of a reach and I don’t really see the purpose of this selection. Though the Cowboys struggled a bit early, I thought they finished on a high note. I love the selection of BW Webb and Terrance Williams and I think Joseph Randle can help the team year one. Only time will tell if the Cowboys first two picks will pan out, but the Cowboys got great value in the later rounds. Grade: B-/C+

New York Giants: I thought the Giants got great value picks as always. I’m not the biggest fan of the Justin Pugh selection because I felt it was a bit of a reach, but I really loved the next three selections made by the Giants. Johnathan Hankins is a really strong defensive tackle prospect, Demontre Moore was considered a top 5 pick a few months ago and Ryan Nassib was considered by most to be the best QB in this years draft. Though the Giants didn’t address all of their needs, the Giants were able to find great value in all of their picks. Grade: B/B+

Philadelphia Eagles: As an Eagles fan, I was excited, for the first time in 14 years, to see the Eagles really stick to their board and not try to out smart everybody and reach for players. Lane Johnson was a great selection, great fit, and on top of it, he has great potential. Zach Ertz, my favorite selection, is a great scheme fit, Matt Barkley was great value in the 4th round and Earl Wolff, Jordan Poyer, and Joe Krugger were great picks in rounds five and seven. All in all, I thought the Eagles, though they didn’t necessarily address all of their holes, got great value in every round and that is very exciting. Grade: B+/A-

Washington Redskins: The Redskins didn’t have a first round pick this year because of the RG3 trade last year and I don’t think any Redskins fans are complaining about it. I loved the selection of Phillip Thomas and Baccari Rambo because the Redskins were able to match great value and need together and these two players definately help an agin secondary. On the other hand, I didn’t like the slection of Jordan Reed as much and felt it was a bit of reach. If you factor in the RG3 trade into the Redskins draft grade it helps, but overall the Redskins didn’t do a great job last weekend and felt they left something to be desired. Grade: C/C+