Big Impact to Be Expected from 2005 Draft Class

The 2005 draft class is one of the strongest from the Eagles that I have seen in years. There have been classes like 2002 where Lito Sheppard, Sheldon Brown, and Brian Westbrook were all drafted but there wasn't depth beyond those 3 players. In 2005 there seems to be a lot of players taken throughout both days that are going to impact this team in the near future. 1. Mike Patterson DT - Patterson got a decent amount of time to start last year especially after Corey Simon's abscense left a big hole for him to fill. A lot was asked of him his rookie season but he flourished. There were time towards the end of the year where he definitly hit the rookie wall but with this year under his belt he can only be improved in 2006. He is going to be a starter alongside either Darwin Walker or Broderick Bunkley. He is a smaller DT but has a lot of quickness and great feet that Jim Johnson loves. 2. Reggie Brown WR - Reggie really surprised me when he started having an impact on this offense last year. He was talked about a lot by fans but I really didn't know anything about him coming out of college. He has shown me the ability to really be successful under the west coast offense. I'm thinking that he is going to be this teams #1 WR come September and the mini-camp only solidified by previous assumption. He has a lot of pressure on him this year but he did lead the NFL in Yardage for a Rookie WR last year. 3 - Matt McCoy LB - We have seen absoloutly nothing out of Matt McCoy as of yet. He struggled to get on the field last year and was only given some time towards the end of the year, which was barely anything at all. He has really improved with the offseason work out program getting a lot stronger and he has had more time to study the defense. Matt is being asked to compete with Shawn Barber for the start at WILL since the departure of Keith Adams. I really think that he is going to win the job but that is complete speculation because I really haven't seen him play in a game yet. 4 - Ryan Moats HB - Moats was another player that struggled to get on the field last season. He had a lot of trouble learning the offense along with the fact that he wasn't used to being used as a reciever so much and having to catch the ball out of the backfield. But when he did get in a game he had tremendous impact and showed how nice it was to have a running back just run the ball because we hadn't seen it for awhile since the team had been so pass happy the whole year. He is going to be backing up Westbrook this year and I think he is going to get a really good amount of carries. 5 - Sean Considine FS - Sean was loved by the coaches through the mini-camps and training camps. But then he got injured and his season went down hill from there. After he was hurt he never seemed to fully recover until he ended up being done for the year. He is a good addition to this team because Michael Lewis and Brian Dawkins are both on the final year of their contracts. But I don't want to see him in action too much yet because I want Dawk and Lewis to both be resigned. But it's great to have good depth at the position so we will see how he will fare in that aspect along with how he will help Harbaugh on Special Teams. 6 - Todd Herremans OT - Once William Thomas (he doesn't go by Tra anymore) got hurt last year Todd Herremans filled in as the starting LT. That is a tough job to do along the offensive line because you are protecting the QB's blind side. But he did a good job at it until he too went down to injury. This year they are working him at the OG position. It makes sense because with Runyan and Thomas both seem to be set at the OT's with Winston Justice as a backup. I loved what he did at tackle so only time will tell to see how he does at guard but I think that he too will be starting next year between William Thomas and Jamall Jackson/Hank Fraley at LG. 7 - Trent Cole DE - Trent was another player who unexpectedly helped out this team when there were very view bright spots throughout the year. Trent was brought in as a situational pass rusher and after Derrick Burgess wasn't resigned, ND Kalu had a poor year, and McDougle got shot, Trent spent a lot of time starting. During his first few games he had a tremendous impact but just like Patterson did, he hit the rookie wall. He ended up getting a lot of tackles in a Christmas Eve game against the Cardinals but no more sacks. I don't believe that he is big enough to be an every down guy like Jevon Kearse but I do think that he will do a great job as a situational pass rusher. Meaning that he provides great depth along with the fact that he is brought in on certain downs to get to the QB. So he will definitly have a spot on this team for that. 8 - Scott Young OL - Scott didn't see any time last year. He spent the majority of the season on the practice squad until William Thomas got hurt and he was promoted to the active roster. He is a guy that Andy likes considering he went to BYU but that is all I know about him. But with the depth along the offensive line I dont' see him playing next year.9 - Calvin Armstrong OL - Calvin too didn't see really anytime but I know that he has been working with the team still and was active at the mini-camp. I think that he might be able to make the roster for depth but I dont' see him getting many snaps. 10 - Keyonta Marshall DT - Keyonta first was on the practice squad at the begining of the year. But when Darwin Walker got hurt he ended up being signed up to the roster to play a little in one game in Dallas. He had 2 tackles but that was the only playing time he saw all year. Right now he is in NFL Europe and he has been on a losing team. I know he has had a few sacks over there but I really don't know how to evaluate a guys performance when playing that kind of football. It will be tough for him to make this roster especially with Bunkley just being signed and LaJuan Ramsey being signed as well. He might spend another year on the practice squad. 11 - David Bergeron LB - Last player drafted and he didn't make the roster. I'm not sure where he is, last I heard of him he was on the Panthers roster.So we are looking at the following players getting significant time last year that were drafted in 2005: Mike Patterson DTMatt McCoy OLBReggie Brown WRTrent Cole DETodd Herremans OGRyan Moats HBThat is amazing from one draft. Let's hope that they all play as well as we think they can from what we saw last year.

Mini-Camp Begins

Now mini-camp is something that is a lot of times over analyzed because by this point fans are just dying for any type of football action. I mean players don't wear pads and there is no contact except for the linemen lining up against eachother. So what can really be discovered in an environment like this?Well basically it comes down to a few things basically seeing how players bounce back from injuries, getting a little view point into the depth chart, and most importantly team chemistry. I honestly don't think that team chemistry is something that is looked at too much. In some cases I think it isn't thought about enough. I mean the only time you ever hear about a teams chemistry is when there seems to be a break down in it, like last year. But otherwise the winning teams never have a problem because winning solves everything. If you're winning games everyone is happy and if everyone is happy then the chemistry comes a lot easier. This Eagles team of 2006 seems to be starting off on the right foot with chemistry this year. Last year they weren't even given a shot to because by this point TO had already complained about his contract and things were quickly going down hill, if only we could have seen the future. Some great things that I saw during this first day of mini-camp practices was the leadership role that Donovan McNabb took. I never have questioned his ability to lead this team especially considering he lead this team to 3 straight NFC Championship games and yet once one player game into the buildling, TO, everyone quickly forgot what Donovan has meant to this team for so long. His leadership was never questioned, through 3 consecutive NFC Championship losses his play making ability was questioned by the Philadelphia media but never his personalty or leadership. That is why I thought it was ridiculous that his leadership was questioned last year. But said best by Brian Dawkins about this team's chemistry: "If there was mending to be done, it has been done." So basically he means some things needed to be fixed for certain people, those things have been done, lets move on. I absoloutly loved Donovans press conference and I loving the way that the media has embraced it. For the past year anytime Donovan said anything it was scrutizined but finally people seem to be understanding him. The message that he set forth was one that I think will reign true this entire year: "If you can't trust family, who can you trust? This is my family." Something that I loved about Donovan's press conference is he seems to be really growing into himself. I mean he definitly has matured year to year and that can be seen by his obvious urgency to win a championship. When he says things like: "I'm not here to make friends, I'm here to win ball games, and the only way we'll be able to win ball games is by playing together and playing well." He is showing that he is very passionate to do what needs to be done to get this team a Super Bowl ring. But at the same thing he hasn't lose the great personality that he is famous for when he makes jokes about buying TO's book and asking him to autograph it. Mini Camp Notes: - Lito Sheppard (ankle), Todd Pinkston (achilles), Correll Buckhalter (knee), and Sheldon Brown (shoulder) were the only players that did not practice. All are expected to be healed by training camp. - 100% attendance, no hold outs or no shows. - Quintin Mikell and Reno Mahe both signed their 1 year tenders this year. Improving the depth on special teams. As much as people like to bash Reno he is a good contributer on special teams and very versatile. - Looks like the coaches are giving Matt McCoy the best opportunity to start at WILL linebacker, he ran with the 1st team defense today. Suppousedly he has bulked up, gotten more confident, and been studying very hard. - Andy Reid said that Jerome McDougle is looking really good and was playing very explosively. Getting a great first step. - Broderick Bunkley didn't see as many reps as expected, he isn't being thrust into the fire too quickly. He still has a lot to prove before getting ahead of Darwin Walker on the depth chart. - Jeremy Bloom made it through his first NFL practice in 2 years so that's a step towards the future. - There doesn't seem to be any light shed on the Hank Fraley/ Jamall Jackson position battle. Apparently Fraley started with the 1st team offense but Jamall did some different drills because Hank is still not fully recovered from his injury. - Many many comments have been made about Donovan looking to be in great shape. Now I know this is said every year but I've never heard it to this magnitude. Lastly a quote from Brian Dawkins regarding whether he would like to finish his career in Philadelphia (this is the final year left on his contract:)"I have said that from the beginning. I would love to finish my career here. It's the place that I started. I have a great connection with the fans, I always have. I love being here and playing here. If I had my choice, I would certainly want to end my career here."

Roster Analysis of DT's

Now that the roster is looking different after the draft I'm going to break down each position of this team so far. There are still plenty of changes that can come but at least now it gives us a chance to see the postives and weaknesses of the roster. I'm going to start off with the positions that were greatly changed during this draft weekend.
Defensive Tackles:Currently the DT's in this line up right now are Mike Patterson, Darwin Walker, Sam Rayburn, Paul Grasmanis, Broderick Bunkley, and Ed Jasper. This position needed the most upgrading coming off of 2005 because there was no pass rush from the defensive line, especially the inteior, all last year. But it does not take a lot to upgrade the DT's by that I mean just the addition of one impact player can really change the entire position. This is also an interesting position because in the Jim Johnson defense the DT's are rotated quite a lot so it's not like when Patterson is determined as a starter he just sits there all game. It simply means that he starts the game and gets the most snaps of all the DT's but he is going to spend time on the sideline while other guys get reps. Mike Patterson debuted in 2005, his rookie season, have a pretty productive year. He shows a lot of potential and flashes of what was to come with him. But mid year he hit the rookie wall when his body was not used to playing such a long season in the NFL. No one is putting him down for that because of the simple fact that he was a rookie in the NFL and that alone is a huge challenge. But now coming into his 2nd year he is expected to be able to be a starter in this defense and I have the confidence in him that he will. He still has a lot of youth on his side keeping his legs and lungs fresh a lot longer then the older guys like Darwin Walker so we need to get as much production out of him in these next 3 years as possible. Moving on to the brand new young guy Broderick Bunkley from Florida State. I already wrote quite a lot about him right after the draft but basically this is a guy with tremendous talent. There is a lot of hope for what he will be able to do in the NFL. As I heard Hugh Douglas say on WIP at first Bunkley as a rookie has an advantage at being a DT because his first few games while he's still learning the system he can really just be let loose and told to go after the QB. But as time goes on he will pick up the system week after week and gain more experience. As of right now I don't expect him to start in Week 1 but I can definitly see Patterson and Bunkley lineing up next to eachother by the end of the season. I just think that Bunkley is going to give this defensive line that boost they need to get after the QB and free up some room for the DE's to make some plays as well. Next on the list is veteran Darwin Walker. He has had some great seasons in Philadelphia and I just don't think that his time here is done. I know a lot of people have written him off, including myself, but he has gas still left in his tank. It was frustrating last year when he seemed to start off on a good foot until he got injured and never seemed to recover. He didn't miss much time but he wasn't himself throughout the year. If he works hard this offseason he could save his job but he's going to need to work hard because he has guys like Patterson and Bunkley right on his tail. The other guys on the roster are Grasmanis, Rayburn, and Jasper. I think that Grasmanis's time here is done and I can't see him making it on the roster past training camp. As for Rayburn he had a great year in 2004 but he didn't follow that up last year with consistent play. So I'm sure what is going to come of him but I think that he will still be here another year. Lastly Jasper is a guy I've talked about a little bit, basically just a camp body, might not make the roster. He could surprise some people but I'm not expecting much from him. My prediction for the DT's on our roster: Mike PattersonBroderick BunkleyDarwin WalkerSam Rayburn