Was The Draft A Success For The Philadelphia Eagles?

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The 2015 Draft came and went, and every team in the league is hopeful that the players that they brought in can turn around or sustain a franchise. The Philadelphia Eagles walked out of the draft with five new defensive players and one offensive player, but was it enough?

The Philadelphia Eagles had needs across the board and the team needed to fill the holes. The first round of the draft was a fiasco, everyone was speculating on whether head coach Chip Kelly would draft his ex QB from Oregon in Marcus Mariota. That didn’t happen and maybe it was for the best, reports were flying that the team was offering two first round picks, QB Sam Bradford, linebacker Mychal Kendricks, corner Brandon Boykin, and defensive end Fletcher Cox.

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If those reports were true, the Eagles would’ve been left with a very thin defense. The team is better off and made a great selection in wide receiver Nelson Agholor while still keeping a very young and talented defense together. With the first round selection of Agholor, it now bolsters a thin receiving core and instantly turns it into one of the leagues youngest and most talented groups. The Philadelphia Eagles and Chip Kelly should be applauded for this pick as it sets them with three pro bowl caliber receivers just starting their careers in Jordan Matthews, Josh Huff, and now Nelson Agholor.

The wide receiver position is pretty much set for the foreseeable future. In the second round, the team landed corner Eric Rowe, who Chip Kelly said was the highest rated prospect on their board at the time. The team traded both of their 5th round picks to move up and land Rowe. The team desperately needed to upgrade their secondary and drafting Rowe is a very good step to fix a leaky defense. Rowe meets the height, weight, speed requirement and is a high character person. Rowe looks to be in a good position to win the starting job opposite Byron Maxwell.

The Philadelphia Eagles then used their last four selections on defense. The only really surprising move was the selection of inside linebacker Jordan Hicks, just because of the amount of depth there, but the Eagles felt that he was the best player available. The team then selected back to back corners in the 6th round. JaCorey Shepherd, and Randall Evans will provide some pretty good depth and versatility to a position of need that has hampered the team. In the last round the team took defensive end Brian Mihalik to add more depth to the D-line.

You can tell the Philadelphia Eagles draft strategy was to address the defense. The team did a fantastic job not forcing the issue and letting the players they wanted to come to them. Chip Kelly waited and plotted and made the right moves to fill the Eagles biggest needs. The only question mark is at the offensive line position but the way the draft board played out I’m glad the Eagles didn’t reach for an offensive lineman.

The team worked hard to address their issues and didn’t falter when certain players came off the board. This years draft was an overall success, and I can say with full confidence that this Philadelphia Eagles team is better than the one that ended the season this past year. The Eagles are hoping that each player can contribute in some sort of fashion. This years draft was a pretty good success, now it’s time to get to work.

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