Eagles and Steelers Draft Analysis

As an Eagles fan I will give you my very subjective opinion of what they did in the draft. As a sometimes Steelers fan I will give you more of an objective opinion about the players and their roles.

Let's start on a positive though and look at the Steelers draft.

When you win the Super Bowl you obviously don't have too many holes to fill if any. That was the case with the Steelers where their only arguable hole was at corner where they lost McFadden. But there wasn't too much concern for getting a certain player in this draft. It was more about depth and the future.

Ziggy Hood will be a good player in a few years and he can definitely give some guys a rest on the defensive front this year. He is a big body that will be tough to move.

After that I have only even heard of a couple players. Keenan Lewis at corner will provide depth and could be a solid starter in the future. A.Q. Shipley was the glue on the Penn State line the past couple seasons. He is a high character guy who is also very talented.

Other than that I am looking at the Steelers picks and I can't see anything that stands out good or bad. I don't think they did great in the draft only because they didn't get anyone to seriously help anytime soon. But they did what they needed to do so I would say they got about a B for a grade.


On to the Eagles:

What is Andy Reid's fascination with small, not fully grown, wide receivers? Most of the best receivers in the NFL are 6'3" or taller. That's not saying a shorter guy can't have tremendous success but having a big receiver is important to most teams as that person presents a matchup problem.

The Eagles now have 4 receivers that are 6'0" or shorter as their top 4 WRs. Jason Avant, Kevin Curtis, DeSean Jackson, and Jeremy Maclin. None of them are over 6'0".

Maclin IS Jackson. Except from what I understand he has worse hands. I agree that you need to have a player like that...but two?? Where do you line them up at? Curtis is only good in the slot which means Jackson or Maclin have to be the 1 or 2 (or both). Wouldn't trading for Chad Johnson, Anquan Boldin, or even Braylon Edwards make more sense?

I heard somewhere that Boldin was requesting 10 million a year so I can understand not going after him but the other two are options.

I really don't think Maclin is worth a first round pick. I think the Eagles should have traded up to 10 to take Crabtree when he fell but oh well.

After that there are still questions....LeSean McCoy is obviously a local favorite and I have been following him since his days at McDevitt but is he really a complement to Westbrook?? He seems like a very similar player and that isn't what Philly needed. A guy like Shonn Greene might not be the receiver or as fast as McCoy but he is a bigger back that can get the tough yards.

Cornelius Ingram is a decent pick. But he is pretty much the second coming of LJ Smith. An injury risk, pass catching, can't block a lick tight end.

Victor "Macho" Harris is going to be good. Getting Ellis Hobbs for a pick was big too considering Sheldon Brown is acting like a spoiled brat. Harris could move over to safety which will make this pick even better.

I don't know much about the other players but Brandon Gibson, the WR from Washington State, he is only 6'0" tall. Surprised?