In Roob’s Observations: Roseman’s secret weapon in the draft originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Trying to understand Howie’s plan, a crazy Bryce Brown stat, a Dallas Goedert prediction and the most anonymous Eagle in history.
That’s just a taste of what’s in store for you in this weekend’s Roob’s Random Eagles Offseason Observations!
1. Part of me just assumes the plan has to be to get out of the first round in two weeks with a receiver and a cornerback. Because 1) the Eagles haven’t significantly addressed either position so far, 2) they can’t go into a season with playoff aspirations with Zach McPhearson as CB2 and Zach Pascal as WR3, 3) they’ve already addressed edge rusher with Haason Reddick,and 4) WR and CB are positions that are strong where the Eagles pick in the middle of the first round. But it’s not like Howie Roseman to go into a draft locked into drafting for need, and he’s right about that. It’s a dangerous way to go because that’s when you reach. So has he backed himself into a corner and forced himself to draft WR/CB at 15 and 18 since he hasn’t addressed those positions? And here’s what I decided: Roseman is confident he can land a potential Day 1 starter in the second round at whatever position he doesn’t draft in the first round, which gives him the flexibility to go in any direction with those first three picks instead of being locked into WR/CB with the first two. And – surprisingly – history says he may be right. Relatively speaking, Roseman has drafted much better in the second round than the first (I know, I know, low bar). Since he became GM in 2010, he’s drafted 12 players in the second round, and most of them were either starters or key contributors as rookies: Nate Allen, Mychal Kendricks, Zach Ertz, Jordan Matthews, Dallas Goedert, Miles Sanders and Landon Dickerson – and even Jalen Hurts in a way. The only ones who made little or no impact as rookies were Jaiquawn Jarrett, Vinny Curry,…