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Sunday, April 23, 2006
Who Will Eagles Pick? Who Should They Pick?
A handful of Eagles draft predictions:
Inquirer's Phil Sheridan (who has a new column on winners) They should trade up into the Top 10 and get [defensive tackle] Brodrick Bunkley or [offensive tackle] Winston Justice, whichever they have rated as more of an impact player. They will sit at 14, take someone they like but don't love and say that's who they wanted all along. Inquirer's Bob Ford (whose latest column looks at the Flyers) Will keep their pick. Will take a guard for the offensive line. Should trade the pick to Dallas for Terrell Owens. Inquirer Incites columnist / WIP host Don McKee If the Eagles remain at No. 14, they will draft defensive tackle Gabe Watson of Michigan. What they SHOULD do is trade down to about No. 20, when OT Winston Justice of USC, FB Lendale White of USC, OLB Ernie Sims of Florida State, RB DeAngelo Wiliams of Memphis and center Nice Mangold of Ohio State all will be available. They can get an extra pick in the late second or early third round for the switch, and use that for a "depth" pick. They can go for the DL help with their original second-round pick, No. 45. The draftniks say the players available between 10 and 20 in the first round all are pretty similar, so going down to 20 doesn't hurt you. WIP host (and ribs expert) Glen Macnow I think they aim to move up for FSU DT Brodrick Bunkley. If they fail to do that, I suspect they’ll trade down (driving their fans nuts!) and seek to get a few more picks. What should they do? I’d love to see them jump up to get earthmover [DT] Haloti Ngata of Oregon, but I don’t think they like him. Early Word Eagles recent first-round picks reflect: "What high-priced aging valuable guy do we need to replace?" Bobby Taylor near free agency? Hello, Lito. John Runyan getting on in years? Sean Andrews could play tackle (they said). Corey Simon wants big bucks? Mike Patterson's the guy. That position this year would not be defensive tackle. Patterson's new, Darwin Walker and Sam Rayburn aren't that expensive. So I think that's a smokescreen. The positions they better replace soon, to avoid costly desperate free agent signings later? Offensive tackle (Tre Thomas and Runyan) and safety (Brian Dawkin's aging, Michael Lewis is a free agent). Moneywise, OT would be their pick. But Justice has solicited hookers, faced other charges. And the Birds have players like Andrews who might move out to tackle. So I'm predicting they'll trade down, draft a safety and a linebacker with first two picks, pick up receiver Javon Walker if he only costs them a third-rounder and, say, Greg Lewis, otherwise focus on defense and o-line through the draft. What should they do? Makes sense to trade down, get more rolls of the dice in the crapshoot, but better yet is to try to trade your iffy picks for still-young proven players. See also poll that asks "How many impact players do Eagles need from this draft?" and "Stalking the mock drafts." What do you think?
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