EAGLES - Draft Day Has Arrived

Posted by Alli

Well here it is... Draft Day 2008, or as we like to call it in our apartment, Christmas. But instead of a new iPod, the top of my wishlist includes 340 pounds of Pittsburghian offensive tackle. Hopefully Santa doesn't disappoint this year.

Quite a few drafts have us picking WRs Devin Thomas (Mich St) or Limas Sweed (Texas). Growing up an Oklahoma fan, I'm inherently skeptical of Longhorn product Sweed, but my concern about such a pick goes beyond that. Frankly, I don't trust the Eagles' ability to draft a WR, particularly in the first round. Freddie Mitchell, anyone? And I'm still not sure how well Reggie Brown (2nd round, 04) will ultimately pan out. The most productive Eagles WRs over the past several years (T.O., Kevin Curtis, Stallworth in the 12 minutes that he was healthy) have all been acquired as vets, via trades or free agency, and so I'm not inclined to start trusting our luck in drafting a WR this year with the 19th overall pick (or higher if we trade up). So I'd like to see the Birds wait till at least the 2nd of 3rd rounds to draft a WR- but still keeping my fingers crossed for an unexpected mid-draft Chad/Roy/Anquan Boldin trade.

I'll update this post throughout the draft with my thoughts and cynical commentary.

Update: 5:23 p.m.

We traded out of the 1st round? Again? I've been waiting patiently for over 2 hours to see who we pick, but the Eagles apparently enjoy inflicting mental anguish. With Jeff Otah on the board, we handed him off to Carolina. OK, so we got a lot out of the trade (Carolina's 2nd and 4th and next year's 1st round) but... seriously? Runyon and Tra Thomas are each approximately 87 years old... but oh yeah, we've also got... Winston Justice. Oh sweet Jesus we're f*cked. Let's hope the Eagles address this ASAP.

And then there's still the Lito mystery... where will he end up? Any interesting trade packages in the making?

Update: 8:04 p.m.

And they traded down again! Those sneaky bastards! But, after driving me within an inch of my sanity, the Eagles finally made 2 picks. I was lamenting right before the picks how I really really would prefer not to see them pick up a DT here- I mean, surely after drafting Patterson and Bunkley in 05 and 06, the Eagles wouldn't draft another DT this early? And the Eagles select... Trevor Laws? Who the f is that? Another DT, good god was that necessary?

But then the Eagles somewhat made up for this by picking up a 1st round-caliber WR in DeSean Jackson. Despite being 3 foot 9 and medically classfied as "hobbit", the guy appears to have some serious speed. And we are in desperate need of a good return man. As a quick memory refresher, we had Jeremy Bloom whom we sunk 2 entire offseasons into developing before promptly cutting him without bothering to secure a marginally non-crappy backup, and then proceeded to use 2 guys who had never returned a punt in their lives who then fumbled 2 punts that single-handedly cost us the Packers game. So this is a nice addition, even if he does weigh less than Karen Carpenter.