NFL Draft Grades: Analyzing the Eagles’ Day 2 picks

[Procus]

I personally think grading drafts on the day after draft day is gay as hell - especially by writers for 2nd rate rags - but here goes.

https://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2020/4/25/21235961/nfl-draft-grades-2020-analyzing-eagles-day-2-picks-philadelphia-jalen-hurts-davion-taylor-linebacker

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NFL Draft Grades: Analyzing the Eagles’ Day 2 picks

59 comments

What’s your report card look like?

By Brandon Lee Gowton@BrandonGowton Apr 25, 2020, 10:17am EDT

 

• All shar

Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images

The Philadelphia Eagles selected Jalen Hurts (?!) at No. 53 overall and Davion Taylor at No. 103 overall in the 2020 NFL Draft. Now it’s time to see what the so-called "experts” are saying about the selections.

JALEN HURTS

First, let’s look at how Eagles fans reacted to the pick here at Bleeding Green Nation. With nearly 13,000 votes cast, 61% of Eagles fans gave the Hurts selection an "F” grade. This has to be the most negative reaction I’ve seen to an Eagles draft pick since I started professionally covering the team in 2013.

My grade? I’ll give this pick an F+.

Some things I do like about the Hurts pick:

• Hurts seems to be a good culture guy. He’s lauded as a leader and he handled his benching at Alabama well.
• Hurts finished second in Heisman Trophy voting after a very productive senior season at Oklahoma.
• Hurts is a mobile threat. He logged 233 attempts for 1,298 rushing yards (5.6 average) and 20 rushing touchdowns in 2019. The Eagles said they wanted to get faster ... well, Hurts is fast!
• The Eagles needed more help at backup quarterback given that Nate Sudfeld and Kyle Lauletta were the only options behind Carson Wentz.

Some things I don’t like about the Hurts pick:

Where to even begin?

• The Eagles used pick No. 53 on a player who will never play a snap for Philly in the best case scenario. It’s just not a good use of resources.
• You don’t spend a second-round pick on a player to be your version of Taysom Hill. Hill averaged 15 snaps per game last year and some of them came when the New Orleans Saints were blowing teams out.
• The Eagles are inexplicably undermining Carson Wentz’s late season run from last year when he erased all doubt that he’s the undisputed franchise quarterback. There are going to be times when there are calls for Hurts.
• It’s so strange to talk about the Eagles drafting Hurts in light of Wentz’s injury history. If the team was so concerned about that, why the rush to sign Wentz to a $100+ million extension last year? We’re really talking about him being injury prone after a season in which he just started all 17 games?
• This offseason was supposed to be about supporting Wentz. The Eagles are coming off a season where they adequately failed to do so. And yet they’ve made just one personnel move to help Wentz this offseason: drafting Jalen Reagor. That’s it. One move. Meanwhile, teams like the Dallas Cowboys and the Denver Broncos are surrounding their young quarterbacks with a ton of weapons.
• The Eagles watched a lot of Oklahoma tape and came away wanting Jalen Hurts instead of CeeDee Lamb. There’s at least a decent chance they could’ve packaged No. 53 with No. 21 to move up to get Lamb.
• The Eagles really drafted a backup quarterback in the second round in a year where’s an abnormal surplus at the position in free agency. Cam Newton, Joe Flacco, Josh McCown, Jameis Winston, and Matt Moore are all still on the market. Andy Dalton could be at some point too.
• Howie Roseman and this front office are not inspiring confidence this offseason. There are real questions about the direction of this team.
• "QUARTERBACK FACTORY”

 

[time2rock]

Guess Gowton forgot there were TWO day 2 picks??  I suppose his panties are in such a twist over Hurts that it slipped his mind.  

[DeathByEagle]

1 minute ago, time2rock said:

Guess Gowton forgot there were TWO day 2 picks??  I suppose his panties are in such a twist over Hurts that it slipped his mind.  

He might still be looking up information to use on our 103 pick since there is so little. :) 

[PoconoDon]

I'll be periodically checking on the development and the impact of Hurts and Taylor vs. Mims and Duvernay. 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

It's a D+ from me. The Hurts selection is all kinds of wrong. The Taylor pick is one to watch and see.