The 2012 NFL Draft is upon us, which means that thousands of people will be tuned into hours and hours of speculation and only minutes of actual drafting. For example: “With the first pick of the 2012 NFL Draft, the Indianapolis Colts select Andrew Luck, quarterback from Stanford University.” It probably took you about four seconds to read that and will take about eight seconds for Roger Goodell to say that. Then we are back to about 10-15 minutes of more speculating. None the less, this is still the most entertaining part of the offseason in the NFL; And I too sit down in front of the TV and watch it for hours.
The Philadelphia Eagles have many holes to fill during this draft, mostly on defense. Here’s a breakdown of the positions they will look to fill:
Defensive Line:
While the defensive line may not be the most pressing need, there are lineman in this draft that are just to good to pass up. Besides, if the Eagles want to win a Super Bowl, they have to look at teams that have done it, and how they did it. Take the defending champs, the New York Giants. Their linebackers and secondary are average, but their defensive line is tremendous. How did they win the Super Bowl? Of course the clutch plays by Eli Manning, but also because the defensive line got to the quarterback and shut down the run offense during the entire postseason.
Linebacker:
The Eagles have depth problems at linebacker. The addition of Demeco Ryans was good, but not enough. Drafting a linebacker would be a good idea in the 2nd or 3rd rounds. They will need one if Ryans goes down with an injury this season. (Heaven forbid)
Wide Receiver:
The Eagles are bringing back DeSean Jackson, which is great. However, Michael Vick still need a big target he can throw a fade pass to in the endzone. If I were the Eagles, I would put this off until the 3rd or 4th rounds because the defense has the most holes right now.
Quarterback:
Lets face it, Michael Vick can’t stay healthy for a full season. I don’t really have much faith in Trent Edwards as a backup, so the Eagles must go draft a quarterback. Someone like Kirk Cousins (Michigan State) or Kellen Moore (Boise State) should still be around in the 5th round. I would grab one of those two.
The Eagles have nine total picks in this draft:
1st round: #15
2nd round: #46, #51
3rd round: #88
4th round: #114
5th round: #153
6th round: #172, #194, #200
I’ll only give my prediction for the first round here. The NFL Draft is broken up into three days, so each morning I’ll put up analysis from the day before and predictions for that day. And now:
With the 15th pick of the 2012 NFL Draft, the Philadelphia Eagles select Devon Still, defensive tackle out of Penn State University.
Devon Still: 6 feet 5 inches, 303 pounds, 5.08 40 yard dash time, vertical jump of 29.5 feet.
Penn State is a defensive factory. They are known mostly for Linebackers, but still put out great defensive lineman too. The Philadelphia Eagles passed on pro bowl Penn Staters such as Navarro Bowman (49ers) and Sean Lee (Cowboys) in the past two years. Don’t make that mistake again, especially when that defensive factory is only three and a half hours away from Lincoln Financial Field.
Still is not a reach at 15. If a team wants a guy and he’s not considered a reach pick, you take him. They cannot afford to take a chance, because there is no guarantee that he will still be on the board when their pick comes around. As stated, this is a deep DT draft. Other teams know that and will capitalize, especially the Patriots. In the second round, those picks should not be made based on need. They should be made based on best available talent. That includes WR and CB. I would not be shocked if they used one of those picks on Trumaine Johnson, from Montana. He’s a bigger corner, with coverage skills, who could inevitably convert to safety.
A guy with a 29.5 foot vertical should go higher than 15.
Agreed. But in all of the mock drafts I have seen, he’s fallen to the 2nd round because the position is very deep in this years draft.