Eagles' problems rooted in poor drafting @ The Fan Hub

January 25th, 2012 11:09 AM

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Andy Reid (left) talks with Eagles chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie (right) during training camp at Lehigh University. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE

Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie addressed the media with team officials gathered in Mobile, AL for the Senior Bowl on Tuesday and offered his take on why the Eagles fell so short of their lofty expectations this season. And while he covered a number of topics, one stood above the others. Lurie cited that several of the veteran players that the Eagles have brought in have outplayed the players that they drafted, particularly on the defensive side of the ball.

“You know, we’ve had a pretty good defense and we’ve had a lot of veteran players we’ve brought in that have been very successful that probably overplayed the draft choices…[In] today’s NFL, it’s a combination of draft, free agency — whatever — every aspect has to be analyzed by everyone internally, and it’s putting the pieces together.”

To be sure, the Eagles have brought it many talented players via trades and free agency — Nnamdi Asomugha, Asante Samuel, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Jason Babin, and Cullen Jenkins, to name a few. In fact, the only significant defensive starters that the Eagles have drafted themselves are defensive end Trent Cole and safety Nate Allen. So it says a lot about the methods that Philly has used to build their team when you consider that the Eagles haven’t just chosen to sign impact players, but rather have been forced to do so because their draft selections have fallen short.

In their past three drafts, the Eagles have spent 15 draft picks on defensive players, but have produced no true impact players, with Allen being the closest after he was taken in the second round in 2010. In that draft, the Eagles had a whopping 13 selections, and devoted their first five to defense (nine total). And while Allen and linebacker Jamar Cheney (7th round) were both starters this season, they’re still not enough to allow the Eagles to take it easy on the free agent market.

Philly has a number of needs to address this offseason on both sides of the ball, but linebacker and safety are their two biggest defensive holes. If they can reverse their recent trend and finally bring in some cheap, young stars from the college ranks, then they can devote their free agent pursuits to filling in the gaps rather than laying the foundation. Until that happens though, they’ll likely continue to languish in the middle of the pack.

When Jeffrey Lurie delivered his Eagles state-of-disarray address, most of the focus was on his decision to give coach Andy Reid another season despite his “unacceptable” 2011 campaign. And rightly so.

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