But has got right now is add high end young secondary talent through the draft.

For years, Howie ignored the secondary in the first 2-3 rounds and relied on ageing free agents and low round picks. This was often the primary reason for struggles on the D.

This year he added two with our first two picks and now our secondary is one of the best in the league (give Fangio credit as well)

We lucked out slightly. Mitchell should have gone in the first 15 picks (and with hindsight a clear top 10 pick) and DeJean should have gone probably around 22 where we got Mitchell. But credit to Howie for taking advantage and being aggressive to get Cooper after securing Mitchell.

I'm not his biggest fan but he nailed those 2 additions 

11 minutes ago, ManchesterEagle said:

But has got right now is add high end young secondary talent through the draft.

For years, Howie ignored the secondary in the first 2-3 rounds and relied on ageing free agents and low round picks. This was often the primary reason for struggles on the D.

This year he added two with our first two picks and now our secondary is one of the best in the league (give Fangio credit as well)

We lucked out slightly. Mitchell should have gone in the first 15 picks (and with hindsight a clear top 10 pick) and DeJean should have gone probably around 22 where we got Mitchell. But credit to Howie for taking advantage and being aggressive to get Cooper after securing Mitchell.

I do not think Howie necessarily ignored the secondary as much as the Eagles draft position -- rarely near the top of the 1st round -- has not lent itself to drafting elite CB talents.  Elite CB talent is more obvious out of college than other positions, so the true shutdown corners rarely slip past the top 15.  Mitchell and Dejean slipped in this draft past where they should have and Howie rightly pounced on them.

I always felt the team tried to address it. We always had a decent tandem, and when we didnt they tried to draft for it. It just didn't work out. Linebacker on the other hand lol. I remember people talking up Chris Gocong. That's when you know it's bad.

Kinda hard to miss on a guy (QM) when he was the best one in the class and was considered a top 10 (or better) talent with the 22nd pick. Was a no brainer. The real mastery was trading up with non other than the Commanders for DeJawn! Let that sink in... now they went after Lattimore who imo is pretty much washed due to injuries.

1 hour ago, BayAreaLennie said:

I do not think Howie necessarily ignored the secondary as much as the Eagles draft position -- rarely near the top of the 1st round -- has not lent itself to drafting elite CB talents.  Elite CB talent is more obvious out of college than other positions, so the true shutdown corners rarely slip past the top 15.  Mitchell and Dejean slipped in this draft past where they should have and Howie rightly pounced on them.

I don’t know - there have been a fair few pro bowl corners (and safeties) drafted outside of the top 15.

32 minutes ago, Portyansky said:

Kinda hard to miss on a guy (QM) when he was the best one in the class and was considered a top 10 (or better) talent with the 22nd pick. Was a no brainer. The real mastery was trading up with non other than the Commanders for DeJawn! Let that sink in... now they went after Lattimore who imo is pretty much washed due to injuries.

Yes but, Mitchell scared a lot of teams off by coming from a small school and not really facing any big time talent. So there was definitely risk involved as with all picks. the small school aspect makes it riskier 

2 hours ago, BayAreaLennie said:

I do not think Howie necessarily ignored the secondary as much as the Eagles draft position -- rarely near the top of the 1st round -- has not lent itself to drafting elite CB talents.  Elite CB talent is more obvious out of college than other positions, so the true shutdown corners rarely slip past the top 15.  Mitchell and Dejean slipped in this draft past where they should have and Howie rightly pounced on them.

They've had some top picks, and traded up to get higher but used them on their premium positions, usually linemen. There are also years there were quality corners on the board even when they picked late. And it's not hindsight, there are players that at the time a lot of fans wanted. When he did use 2nd or 3rd rounders they didn't work out either. Glad he finally got it right. He relied on free agents at corner for too long.

12 minutes ago, Bwestbrook36 said:

Yes but, Mitchell scared a lot of teams off by coming from a small school and not really facing any big time talent. So there was definitely risk involved as with all picks. the small school aspect makes it riskier 

In Mitchell’s defense, he did face Marvin Harrison Jr, the best WR in college football. 

10 minutes ago, Road to Victory said:

In Mitchell’s defense, he did face Marvin Harrison Jr, the best WR in college football. 

I did not know that, thank you for the info. Was that in a bowl game? 

1 hour ago, Bwestbrook36 said:

Yes but, Mitchell scared a lot of teams off by coming from a small school and not really facing any big time talent. So there was definitely risk involved as with all picks. the small school aspect makes it riskier 

Partially true, but was still rated as the highest CB in the draft. 6ft 195lb 4.33 is insane lol.

6 minutes ago, Portyansky said:

Partially true, but was still rated as the highest CB in the draft. 6ft 195lb 4.33 is insane lol.

What is funny is ive seen some rankings that have Dejean as the #1 prospect lol

2 minutes ago, Bwestbrook36 said:

What is funny is ive seen some rankings that have Dejean as the #1 prospect lol

Honestly it was going back and forth. But QM was the clear winner. What was amazing is that Dejean was the 4th CB taken and not sooner. It was another master class by Howie. If you havent seen the draft war room when we moved up to select him, you should, it honestly was like a Picasso...

1 hour ago, Bwestbrook36 said:

I did not know that, thank you for the info. Was that in a bowl game? 

Sept 2022. Ohio State wrecked Toledo. 

31 minutes ago, Road to Victory said:

Sept 2022. Ohio State wrecked Toledo. 

Ahh ok, i dont really follow college,  i don't pay attention to college until the draft lol

He did draft Sydney Jones and Rasul Douglas in rounds 2 and 3 in 2017.

33 minutes ago, brkmsn said:

He did draft Sydney Jones and Rasul Douglas in rounds 2 and 3 in 2017.

Mitchell could make the pro bowl his rookie year, something neither of those did(making the pro bowl)

Can you say he ignored it when drafting defensive positions with high picks is not something Roseman put value on. Zach Berman was asked this question today on the PHLY postgame pod and he said no chance. The management team just don’t think that way. He specifically attributed this thought process to his time Andy Reid. 

49 minutes ago, AngryBird said:

Mitchell could make the pro bowl his rookie year, something neither of those did(making the pro bowl)

I was just reminding people that he didn't completely ignore the position on days 1 and 2 of the draft. Jones was a 1st round graded talent that slipped to rd 2 due to injury. Not exactly the same, but similar to DeJean. Obviously Jones didn't cut it at the NFL level, though. He had the talent, but not the desire. 

9 hours ago, ManchesterEagle said:

But has got right now is add high end young secondary talent through the draft.

For years, Howie ignored the secondary in the first 2-3 rounds and relied on ageing free agents and low round picks. This was often the primary reason for struggles on the D.

This year he added two with our first two picks and now our secondary is one of the best in the league (give Fangio credit as well)

We lucked out slightly. Mitchell should have gone in the first 15 picks (and with hindsight a clear top 10 pick) and DeJean should have gone probably around 22 where we got Mitchell. But credit to Howie for taking advantage and being aggressive to get Cooper after securing Mitchell.

Going into the draft: my favourite corner was Q, 2nd was Cooper. There were others I liked (Dru Phillips, Ennis) but nowhere close.

My realistic target was Coop in Rd 1 as thought we had no shot at Q. Still can’t believe we came out of the draft with both. Damn near lost it when they announced the DeJean pick. 

I think for years we’ve overlooked the secondary to prioritise the DL. We had talent to rush the passer but not the talent to cover. And so teams were able to expose us by utilising the quick passing game and the secondary just couldn’t hold up. Thankfully now that seems to have been reversed and a pretty average DL is able to make something of that.

6 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

I think for years we’ve overlooked the secondary to prioritise the DL. We had talent to rush the passer but not the talent to cover. And so teams were able to expose us by utilising the quick passing game and the secondary just couldn’t hold up. Thankfully now that seems to have been reversed and a pretty average DL is able to make something of that.

Wonder how good the DL actually is. Carter is a stud. Sweat is very good. The rest are debatable 

I’m not sure Mitchell or Dejean escape the top 15 in a redraft.  

So far, two outstanding draft picks.

9 hours ago, eagle45 said:

I’m not sure Mitchell or Dejean escape the top 15 in a redraft.  

I agree with this. That mad run on offense in the first round, it was like a lot of war rooms had a collective rush of blood to the head