1 hour ago, T-1000 said:

Good luck trying to figure out who key on when they have Smitty, Lemon, Wicks, Hollywood, Goedert, and a rookie TE to spread the ball around to.

This is not a murderer’s row of aerial targets. Only 3 of those WRs will likely be on the field for most snaps. Goedert and a rookie mid round TE aren’t giving anyone nightmares in 12 personnel.

Defenses will know exactly who to key on…Smith.

Every year we hear the same arguments about the strength of draft classes overall, and at certain positions. We also hear that a future year is supposed to be better or worse, either overall or at certain positions. Or, the strength of this draft is really in round 3. Then we hear those things shift as the draft itself gets closer. What once was a position group that was supposedly strong, as the draft gets closer or even during draft weekend, people change their mind and say the position is weak and not worth it, wait until next year.

These are the things the professionals for the teams have to weigh in their process. They scout all year, they do their due diligence and have access to things the public doesn't. They live and breathe this all year and it only gets more intense as the draft gets closer. Obviously, some teams draft poorly and make dumb decisions while others are better. We've had criticisms of Howie in the past but he's been doing great since 2021.

What I would love to see is good analysis on the consensus view of drafts at different stages before and after. Googling for sites brings mixed results, paid sites behind a firewall, and even then seems like you don't get a complete picture. For example, I'd love to see a report that shows the consensus scouting of the WR position from 2 years. Heading into last year's draft, what did people say about the 2026 class (such as, wait til next year it's a strong WR class). Then at points in the college football season, then again at milestones in the draft process like Senior Bowl, combine, top 30 visits, etc. And then of course looking at each NFL year of performance. 1, 2, 3 years in, how are those WRs performing? Then you can look back at predictions and say whether it was indeed a strong WR draft class or not. Advanced analysis would be interesting on things like a team that waited on a position and then it turned out to not be as strong, or they missed out on the best prospects at that position the following year. Even further, scoring individual sources such as sites, organizations or individuals you could then build out which ones are more reliable than others. I saw something like this a couple years ago but it was about reporter mock drafts, which ones were more accurate in predicting which players each team would take.

Something like this may exist on a paid site, or in advanced stats sites. But it would be nice to have a simple breakdown.

12 minutes ago, HazletonEagle said:

Maybe we will move up ahead of them again and take another WR that they wanted.

Bro, they are pissed over here. 🤣

One sports writer said "Looks like the Cowboys got payback, sticking it to the Steelers." The story is, Cowboys were on the phone with Ryan Shazier, when the Steelers drafted him.

1 hour ago, HazletonEagle said:

That means the clock was good and the coverage was bad. They need to go back to announcing the pick. Showing the highlights, and talking about the player. Less fluff. They did seem to take a lot of the ridiculous family trauma storylines out of the show this year which is great. The clock worked. Now they just have to get better at keeping up.

It was way over-produced, I assume in order to orchestrate the marketing to be that all the teams and picks are smart (including your team!). There was probably at least a 3-4 minute delay between when the pick was known to the networks and when it was announced, and clearly the networks are under orders not to disclose the picks until Goodell (boooooo!!!!) or whoever he hauls up to the podium with him announces the pick. Meanwhile, you get a lot of "well, there are a lot of ways this pick could go ... but it could be Ty Simpson, the Rams showed a lot of interest in him, and they interviewed him three times and they liked what they saw out of him at the Senior Bowl, he could learn under Stafford for a year" type of commentary, with them fully well knowing Simpson is the pick.

Essentially, they took 90% of the drama out of the draft, in order to have polished marketing.

I read that the Steelers tried to trade up to 16 for Lemon, but no one else was trading between them and the Dallas pick. Then they got caught expecting Dallas to go defense.

Whoops.

6 hours ago, Wentz_Era said:

This year was supposed to be as well. Instead 2 QBs who were pretty much after thoughts were the only 2 taken in the 1st this year.

That's because most of the quarterbacks decided to stay in college this year. That's the entire reason why this draft class dropped down so quick

Has anyone notified Makai that his new last name is Lemons?

Thoughts? Also, don't think i've heard anyone talk about Jack Strand as a possible day 3 QB selection... Big kid/big arm

1 hour ago, Freshmilk said:

You've made your point excessively for the past 15 hours. We get it, you don't trust the Eagles to develop guys with perceived high floors and lower ceilings. Move on. Not that the following matters at all, but it's the incessant pounding of a singular point of view that makes people want to ignore your posts along with others who do the same. It's fun and entertaining to come here to read what people think but most of us don't need 15 posts to get your point.

That's not true. It totally keeps me from having to scroll up.

15 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

The fact is the board got to pick 20 and both Iheanachor and Lomu were still available. The fact that Howie traded up to draft WR tells you all you need to know about how they evaluated those two OT prospects. I give credit to Chris Kuper in his first draft as Eagles OL coach. It would have been easy for him to feel like he needed to pound the table for one of those guys, knowing the Eagles are in the market to draft OL. Instead, I assume his evaluation was neither of those guys were worth the pick (or Howie/Nick simply ignored him LOL).

My impression is if Lemon wasn't the pick and the Eagles couldn't trade up, I think they'd have traded back or perhaps taken Theineman there if forced to stick at #23.

1 hour ago, FranklinFldEBUpper said:

I hated it. The TV coverage couldn't keep up with the pace of the picks.

That's because they always have to do the interviews and get the Jersey ready etc. Wait till you get to day three it's always behind about five or six pics

The different networks and streams are all showing the picks at different times or some delay, plus reporters are spoiling them online (and fans here post them immediately to ruin the picks for everyone else, why do y'all do that?). There are cameras at most of these guys houses and reporters are leaking as soon as they get the phone call. I see the picks posted online that are a team ahead of who is even on the clock according to the TV. You switch between NFLN or ABC or ESPN and they're not all synced. When the Eagles were on the clock I stopped looking at my phone to not have it ruined. The fun is hearing the name anounced, not seeing it posted.

Just now, DeathByEagle said:

That's because most of the quarterbacks decided to stay in college this year. That's the entire reason why this draft class dropped down so quick

I was thinking earlier in the season that there wouldn’t be much of a tackle class at all as most of the top names were underclassmen and underbaked. I figured they go back school - welp -they didn’t. Will the upcoming class be depleted to some degree? Trevor Goosby, I guess.

20 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

This is not a murderer’s row of aerial targets. Only 3 of those WRs will likely be on the field for most snaps. Goedert and a rookie mid round TE aren’t giving anyone nightmares in 12 personnel.

Defenses will know exactly who to key on…the receiver that runs the hitch route.

FYP

2 minutes ago, DeathByEagle said:

That's because they always have to do the interviews and get the Jersey ready etc. Wait till you get to day three it's always behind about five or six pics

Yep. Day 3 coverage you barely see picks announced. They may break down some day 3 selections, but they also spend time going back and talking more about 1st and 2nd round picks and the big stories of the draft. These days with day 3 I just check online draft trackers and then see posts and video reaction online.

26 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

I think they liked Proctor and would have taken him over Lemon. Iheanachor they obviously didn't. Freeling is the question mark. If the Panthers take someone else and Freeling and Lemon were on the board who'd have they taken?

Based off the scant breadcrumbs we've gotten, I'd say they probably had Lemon higher on their board given they projected him top 15, rated him top 15 and didn't project Freeling top 15. But they could've also had Freeling high on their board they just didn't predict teams to take him til outside the top 15. We just don't know.

Either way, this all becomes moot if the Eagles eventually get "that guy" at OT. But until that happens, all these drafts where they couldn't get OT early will be looming. But I'll say this I'll feel worse if they take an OT in round 2 tonight. Would feel like taking one out of panic.

Yes and actions speak louder than words (or speculation). If they were trying to trade up for a guy and he was taken, then that's the only OT that they felt was worth it. Obviously, they had a chance to take other OTs and didn't. If they felt more pressure or desperate to take an OT that could replace Lane Johnson this year, AND liked the OTs available they could have taken him. But they did what we've begged them to do for decades: don't reach for need, take BPA. And they did.

When you look back at a draft several years later and look at your roster you want to see that you have great players, not just JAGS who filled a need because you reached only for that position. Not every player can be a stud, but that's what you want out of a 1st rounder. They could have taken a decent OG last night as well, who would probably be a decent starter but not a difference maker. You can get a guy like that in another round. In round 1, you want those blue chip players high on your board.

22 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

I read that the Steelers tried to trade up to 16 for Lemon, but no one else was trading between them and the Dallas pick. Then they got caught expecting Dallas to go defense.

Whoops.

Not that it wasn't already obvious but this should answer everyone's question of "why did Howie trade up 1 pick for Jalen Carter/Jihad Campbell?" And why he'll continue doing that.

30 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

I read that the Steelers tried to trade up to 16 for Lemon, but no one else was trading between them and the Dallas pick. Then they got caught expecting Dallas to go defense.

Whoops.

Where was that reported?