Philadelphia Eagles: Joe Douglas prepares for another NFL Draft
The 2018 NFL Draft approaches, and our focus shifts back to a certain someone we haven’t discussed in a while, Joe Douglas.
When the Philadelphia Eagles named Joe Douglas as their vice president of player personnel, shock waves were sent through the entire NFL. Philly had long discussed their intentions of building a winning team around their new franchise quarterback. With Douglas’ hire, they proved their seriousness of getting that done.
Before being hired by the Eagles, Douglas was a long-time scout for the Baltimore Ravens. Most recently, he was doing a great job as the director of scouting for the Chicago Bears.
Daniel Jeremiah, shortly after Philly made their decision, tweeted that ‘The Birds’ had ‘hit a home run’ with Douglas’ hire.
Well that didn’t take long!
It wasn’t long before we had learned that Douglas’ chief role would be in joining Eagles executive vice president of football operations Howie Roseman to construct the Eagles draft boards. In 2017, that decision worked out favorably. The Eagles added the Tennessee Volunteers‘ all-time leader in sacks Derek Barnett in the first round.
More from Inside the Iggles
- Eagles captains earn high praise on roster blending veteran leadership, youth
- How former Eagles star Cre’Von LeBlanc helped Renegades upstage Cowboys
- Eagles 2023 schedule: Every WR duo Darius Slay, James Bradberry will battle
- Imagining better names for Jason Kelce’s Good Guy Award
- Bold predictions for the Philadelphia Eagles offense in 2023
To the uninformed, that means Barnett finished his career with the Vols with more sacks than, arguably the greatest defensive player in NFL history. That’s former Eagles defensive end Reggie White.
The Eagles also added the likes of cornerback Rasul Douglas, who proved his value in 2017. Then, we can all also mention Sidney Jones IV, and Mack Hollins. Philly’s also high on a few guys who spent a lot of time on the team’s practice squad, running back Donnel Pumphrey, linebacker/safety hybrid Nathan Gerry, and wide receiver Shelton Gibson. All were products of the Joe Douglas draft board.
It didn’t take long for the Eagles to strike gold as Douglas and Roseman’s efforts resulted in the first Super Bowl win in team history.
Now what?
Some discussion has grown about how long the Eagles will be able to keep Douglas in the nest. This story by NJ.com explains why the Eagles organization blocked Douglas from interviewing for the position of Houston Texans GM.
Honestly, it’s a foregone conclusion that, since Roseman probably isn’t going anywhere, there’s little room for advancement for Douglas in the Eagles organization. That means they’ll lose him eventually, but for the time being, he’s in the fold and preparing for the 2018 NFL Draft.
Recently, he sat down with Eagles insider Dave Spadaro. Take a look:
Video courtesy of the Philadelphia Eagles YouTube page
We won’t have to wait long to see what the Eagles do with what’s currently six draft picks. The league’s annual selection meeting begins on Thursday.