The Philadelphia Eagles made a big move in thursday night's first round of the draft by trading up from pick 24 to 13 and selecting Michigan DE Brandon Graham. The Eagles are desperately in need of defensive playmakers and they got just that by taking Graham with their first pick. Graham was a monster playing OLB/DE in Ann Arbor and will be an instant force in the pass rush playing opposite Pro Bowler Trent Cole. Head Coach Andy Reid has spent the last few drafts assembling what should be one of the league's best offenses for years to come (WRs DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin and Jason Avant, RB LeSean McCoy, TE Brent Celek and QB Kevin Kolb) and in all likelihood will focus solely on upgrading a defense that go run over by the Dallas Cowboys twice to end last season. The Eagles still have two second round picks to play with tonight so look for them to upgrade at the S or CB position. Frankly I would be surprised if the team drafted any offensive players at all with the possible exception of an offensive lineman to build depth. I feel the team is moving in the right direction and am excited to see the outcome of the rest of the draft.
One of the other big story lines from last night was the selection of Florida QB Tim Tebow in the first round by the Denver Broncos at number 25 overall, ahead of Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen (who almost every draft analyst ranked above Tebow). I think the early Tebow pick surprised a lot of people but I'm intrigued by the possibilities that Broncos Head Coach Josh McDaniels now has at his disposal. I think Tebow is going to get the chance to play QB at the NFL level and will need to use that opportunity to silence all of his critics. The biggest winner in all of this has to be Tebow himself; he'll get paid first-round money and can start his career on a talented team that has a chance to compete which will take the edge off of the steep learning curve expected of Rookie QBs.
I think moving the draft to prime time and spreading it out over 3 days was a great move by commissioner Roger Goodell. The first round last night lasted only 3 and a half hours and fans no have to chance to analyze their team's moves and get excited for the second and third round which will take place tonight.
No comments:
Post a Comment