College Players The Eagles Are Interested In

[iowaigglefan]

Wonder if Manny Lawson would be the answer at SAM

prob won't be there at 14 i bet


Interesting sleeper you might like to check out

BYU DT Manaia Brown Somoan with - all the atheltic ability youd want
Could play DT or DE - just has had the light turn on yet.
He transfered out of nebraska - to BYU

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Wonder if Manny Lawson would be the answer at SAM


prob won't be there at 14 i bet

I think he'll be there at 14, and I think the Eagles could very well take him... but to play DE, not LB.

[phattymatty]

Cedric Humes (6'0 227)

Westbrook
Moats
draft pick
Perry
Tapeh

I like Humes too, since we won't get Lendale, and he still might be around with one of our 4ths.

[rjs246]

But drafting a RB would mean that they would have to drop Tapeh, Mahe or Buckhalter and you KNOW that won't happen.

[phattymatty]

2. Kai Parham (6'3 256)

from what i've heard about parham, dude is slower than most offensive lineman.  not quite what we need in a LB.

[PhillyPhanInDC]

Pretty good stuff from DraftDaddy.com

Take it FWIW since we have nothing better to do:

In the last few weeks, the defensive tackle rankings throughout the land have shown a switch where Broderick Bunkley out of Florida State leapfrogged over Michigan's Gabe Watson and in some cases over Oregon's Haloti Ngata to take higher ranking on the DT positional boards.

Let us be very clear Draft Daddy is not bashing Broderick Bunkley. He is a great prospect from a fantastic program, one that has had great success producing NFL players. He comes from a great line of pro-ready Florida State defensive tackles, in recent history have included Darnell Dockett and Travis Johnson. Bunk should be very successful at the next level, if he continues to work hard and stay healthy. We like this player a-lot. However something has to be said about this player's current standing relative to players with bigger upsides.

For as great as Broderick Bunkley worked out (and he worked out amazingly well, with 44 bench press reps and a sub 5 second forty-yard dash at Indy), and for as great as he played as a senior, recording 25 tackles for loss and 9 sacks - for all that, there are several limitations to Bunkley's game that no-one seems to want to talk about.

First and foremost he is barely three hundred pounds and has maxed out his frame. He cannot get that much bigger and become a true two-gap player in the NFL. Believe it or not, just because his shoulders are too wide to fit into the egg-shaped body fat measurement pod he still has a lack of bulk and can get overwhelmed at point of attack.

As a penetrating 4-3 DT or a 3-4 DE yes he is proportioned very nicely. However he is not, nor will ever have the run-stopping potential of Ngata or Watson. Speaking about his technique he plays with tremendous will-power and drive, relying upon his great strength and first step but simply doesn't have the refined technique that defensive line coaches love to see - and why would he need such technique when usually he overpowers or out-quicks the linemen in NCAA 1-A? However he has a lot of work in front of him to become a dominating player in the NFL.

And, at the end of the day, what is his best-case outcome? To become a 10 sack player like Warren Sapp or Darrell Russell? These players are flash-in-the-pan types and the 10 sack 4-3 DT is basically a pipedream; it just doesn't happen that way for most of the prospects projected that way. Not to mention the fact that Bunkley tore up his knees pretty badly in high school and actually sat out a Senior Bowl practice with soreness in his repaired knee.

For these reasons, he will remain #3 on our rankings, and barring scandal cannot leapfrog the players above him. Again this is not necessarily a slam on this player; his stock simply has become overvalued.

The other half of the equation is that most everyone in the draft watching world are under-rating Ngata and Watson, the real 350 pounders.

Both Ngata and Watson are the type of players NFL scouts have heard about for years, since they were prep athletes deciding what college to attend. These men have completely unique size/speed combinations and are true manifestations of the planet theory. How many players in the world can run well at 350 pounds? Well right now in this draft there are only two guys who fit the bill, and Bunkley is not on that list.

Haloti Ngata is clearly the best tackle in the class, and those that say he takes plays off or has a questionable motor, well flat out aren't watching closely enough. A player doesn't become the first All-American from Oregon in 35 years as a junior because he is lazy or takes plays off. Watch the film he is the focal point of every offensive line blocking scheme - he simply must be accounted for with multiple blockers. Now every mock in the country seemingly has this player dropping to the 8-12 range and then commenting "the Bills are thrilled to have this player" or "the Browns can't believe their luck when Ngata falls this fall." Call us cynical but if a team is lucky to get a player at a rare position at 8 or 12 then someone smarter should take him higher than that. How can draft guru's so consistently predict fortuitous luck across the board?

Likewise, every mock in America has Gabe Watson falling to the late twenties or out of the first round altogether, but wherever he is projected, why some team is very happy to draft him so late! Simply put it doesn't work that way. Hard work and consistency doesn't trump upside in the NFL draft. Lloyd Carr (who to be quite frank has run a talent-rich program into the ground over the last 10 years) made an ill advised benching of Gabe Watson for over-stuffed linebackers and all of a sudden Watson's fat and lazy. Well for those that don't remember there was another player several years ago people thought was too fat and lazy when he was coming out, Ted Washington. Anyone can eat their way out of the league, that doesn't mean teams should draft low upside smaller DTs. There is a poker saying if you want to pick em up you have to put em down. No prospect is without risk and it is entirely possible that such overwhelming players can turn the switch on at the next level when they didn't need to in college.

Bottom line in Gabe Watson we are talking about a natural 340 pounder that can occupy and beat double teams, who is an absolute force in the run game, and more than that a player who put on a show in Mobile that was as good as if not better than Kevin Williams' show in 2003. In one session Watson had 6 tackles for loss in an hour. Let me just say that again: 6 tackles for loss in an hour! As my Italian gradfather would say, "oooof-ah!"

Where was Bunkley during this display? Not to slam the player but he was on the side-line nursing an injury while Watson was throwing the offensive linemen around like rag-dolls. Players like this shouldn't be passed over for penetrating one-gap 4-3 DT's who are 305 pounds.

The draft is by and large an unpredicitable event, which is why flowing it is so fun; but history has proven at least that Planet Theory manifests itself every year, sometimes at the last minute. Watson and Ngata are Planet Theory players, Bunkley is also such a player but to a lesser extent - players like him simply are not as rare.

[PhillyPhreak54]

Cedric Humes (6'0 227)

Westbrook
Moats
draft pick
Perry
Tapeh

I like Humes too, since we won't get Lendale, and he still might be around with one of our 4ths.

Humes probably can be had in the 5th-6th maybe even the 7th.

Parham is slow. But so is Roach and Schlegel.

Wilkinson = 4.66 40 yard dash ; 2.73 20 yard dash ; 1.67 10 yard dash
Parham = 4.98 40 yard dash ; 2.89 20 yard dash ; 1.70 10 yard dash
Roach = 4.92 40 yard dash ; 2.88 20 yard dash ; 1.72 10 yard dash
Schlegel = 4.88 40 yard dash ; 2.75 20 yard dash ; 1.68 10 yard dash

Sometimes you have to go by what they do on the field and ignore the numbers. And sometimes its better to look at the 20 and 10 yard numbers because they show what kind of burst a guy has. Short shuttle is good too. All 4 of these guys are bigger guys who hit hard and play the run well.

But I would love Wilkinson. I think he could play MLB and SLB. He'd be a good pick in the 3rd.

[ice grillin you]

thats exactly what ive been saying about bunkley for weeks...

workout warrior
another smallish non run stopping dt...which they already have all over the roster

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Gabe Watson is certainly an intruiging player.  I'm sure the Eagles have done and are doing plenty of research to figure out if the talk about him giving up and being lazy is truly justified.

Just as the talk of Michael Lewis' heart took him off many teams' boards, this could make Watson fall a bit.

I still think he's a reach at 14 and won't make it to the Eagles pick in the 2nd round, but what do I know?

[rjs246]

Watson would be a good guy to target if they are able to trade down.

[PhillyPhreak54]

Bunkley!

[SunMo]

it's going to be Justice, just trust me. 

i saw him at the airport, done deal!1

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

i saw him at the airport, done deal!1

solid B-

[SunMo]

no way, that's a call back from another thread.  that's gotta be at least a B

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

No.  And if you complain about your grade again, it goes automatically to F.