Re-drafting the Philadelphia Eagles 2017 NFL Draft class
They say hindsight is always seen in 20/20 vision. Now, if we could somehow bottle that truth and use it for coming events, we’d be in business. That sure would have been helpful for the Philadelphia Eagles during the 2017 NFL Draft. Unfortunately, Lady Luck wasn’t on the Birds’ side.
With pro football’s annual selection meeting being held in the City of Brotherly Love for the first time since 1961, Philly welcomed eight prospects to the nest during the three-day celebration of realized dreams and coming expectations.
Fast forward to the present, and only one member of that eight-man fraternity is still on the roster. Four of those guys are out of the league entirely. If only life came with a reset button like that first Nintendo gaming console.
We took it upon ourselves to rewind the tape and re-draft the Philadelphia Eagles 2017 class.
You win some. You lose some. Whenever draft choices don’t work out in your favor, all you can do is dust yourself off and move on. If you’re a writer with a little time on your hands and you’re thinking of that 2017 draft class, maybe six years later, you tap into some of that aforementioned hindsight and cook up a reboot.
How about a do-over? We’ll make this easy. Every trade prior to and during the draft stays as is. We’ve just taken creative license to alter the selections. Something tells us you’ll like what we came up with. Here’s how the Eagles 2017 draft class might look if we cranked up the hot tub time machine.
Round 1, Pick 14 – Jonathan Allen, defensive end (Alabama)
Original selection – Derek Barnett, DE, Tennessee
It’s sad when you consider the Philadelphia Eagles landed Derek Barnett at 14, and division rival Washington landed Jonathan Allen three spots later. That would definitely be something we’d change if we could rewrite history.
Allen has two Pro Bowl nods on his resume, and he still seems to have plenty of tread on the tire. Good gracious he would have looked awesome in the midnight green.
Round 2, Pick 43 – Shaquill Griffin, cornerback (UCF)
Original selection – Sidney Jones, cornerback, Washington
The beauty of being able to see into the future is you can deduce a cornerback is better than other prospects who play his position. Had Philly owned that superpower in 2017, they probably wouldn’t have gambled on Sidney Jones seeing as how said gamble didn’t pay off.
They drafted the former Huskies star knowing they would have to redshirt him for his first NFL season after he shredded his Achilles at Washinton’s Pro Day. Meanwhile, Shaquill Griffin was taken 90th overall during Round 3. 12 cornerback prospects were drafted ahead of him.
You can make the argument that Griffin turned out to be just as good if not better than eight of the guys that heard their names called ahead of him, including Sidney Jones. We’ll let you argue among yourselves about who the other seven are.
Round 3, Pick 99 – Rasul Douglas, cornerback (West Virginia)
Original selection – Rasul Douglas, West Virginia
Truthfully, we know that many will disagree with the theory that Rasul Douglas wasn’t as bad as some claim he was. That’s fine. We’re all entitled to our opinions. We just think he spent his career playing out of position.
He’s kind of slow, but that’s okay. We’ll draft him anyway, sit him behind Malcolm Jenkins and Rodney McLeod, and turn him into a safety/backup corner.
Round 4, Pick 118 – Tarik Cohen, running back (North Carolina A&T)
Original selection – Mack Hollins, WR, North Carolina
We’ll keep this short and sweet. The Eagles drafted Mack Hollins 118th overall during Round 4 of the 2017 NFL Draft. The Chicago Bears drafted Tarik Cohen one spot later at 119. You do the math.
Here’s a cheat sheet if you don’t have a calculator handy. Hollins scored one TD during his Eagles tenure and informed his coaches he just wanted to play on special teams. Meanwhile, Cohen was a First-team All-Pro in 2018 that also made the Pro Bowl roster that same season.
Round 4, Pick 132 – George Kittle, tight end (Iowa)
Original selection – Donnel Pumphrey, RB, San Diego State
We get the logic. The Eagles drafted the all-time leader in rushing yards in NCAA Division I FBS history, and they got him in Round 4. Sadly, his collegiate resume didn’t translate to the NFL level.
Looking back, in terms of the George Kittle angle, every NFL franchise screwed this one up for a few rounds. We’re going to rely on the fact that, even if we traveled back in time, he may have still been undervalued. Here, the Eagles land one of the biggest draft steals in history.
George Kittle will wind up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame one day, but many moons ago, he was a fifth-round draft choice out of the University of Iowa. While we realize this would have crowded Philly’s tight end room (they already had Trey Burton, Zach Ertz, and Brent Celek on the roster), we’d like to take this opportunity to ask a question.
Who gives a damn?
Can you imagine having Kittle, Celek, AND Kittle at tight end? Sure, that probably means Burton isn’t on the roster. It also begs another question.
Who the heck throws the pass to Nick Foles during the Philly Special?
Round 5, Pick 166 – Zach Pascal, wide receiver (Old Dominion)
Original selection – Shelton Gibson, WR, West Virginia
Picking at 166 means the Philadelphia Eagles still miss out on Jake Elliott anyway. Let’s hope, despite our changes, that the Cincinnati Bengals still give up on him, he still winds up in Philly, and he still kicks that 61-yarder versus the New York Giants in Week 3. That bomb helped launch a Super Bowl-winning season.
Zach Pascal was an undrafted free agent addition by Washington in 2017. This time around, he hears his name called five years before the Eagles actually added him to their offensive roster.
Round 5 – Pick 184 – D.J. Jones, defensive tackle (Ole Miss)
Original selection – Nathan Gerry, linebacker, Nebraska
We aren’t going to lie. There aren’t a ton of defensive trench warriors that tickle our fancy at this stage, not even six years later. With that being said, we’ll run with D.J. Jones out of Ole Miss. At least he’s still playing in the league today.
Round 6, Pick 214 – Corey Clement, running back (Wisconsin)
Original selection – Elijah Qualls, defensive tackle, Washington
Yep, Philly double dips at tailback. What do you want? It’s Round 6, and this is a much better idea than drafting Elijah Qualls.
As fate would have it, the Eagles would add Corey Clement post-draft as a rookie free agent. Here in our fantasy land, he gets a bit of a promotion. He’s Philadelphia’s final selection of the 2017 NFL Draft.
