The great Tim McManus got the great Greg Cosell to offer some thoughts on potential Eagles draft targets. Honestly, I can’t say this list of players is anything all that special.
One nugget of interest involved QB E.J. Manuel. Cosell brought up the point that he could be a target in part due to his size.
While he listed all three signal-callers as potential fits, he gave the nod to Manuel over Scott in particular because of sheer size. Manuel is listed at 6-5, 240; Scott at 6-3, 197; and Smith at 6-3, 208.
“At the end of the day, if he’s going to run,” said Cosell, “he is going to get hit.”
Kelly never had truly big QBs at Oregon. Was that just how things played out or was it by design? If Kelly does want a big guy, Manuel is the way to go. I’m just curious if that’s something Kelly does want. I’ve never liked big QBs. Some coaches want the guy who is 6-5, 240. I prefer the guy who is 6-3, 225. It will be interesting to see what Kelly does so we can get a good feel for the kind of QB he’s truly looking for.
Tommy, do you think EJ is worth #35? I’d rather not add a QB in this draft but Cosell’s point about size/weight is a good one. Scott seems way too light.
“Kelly never had truly big QBs at Oregon. Was that just how things played out or was it by design?”
Chip did try and recruit Terrelle Pryor and EJ Manuel but he also recruited Tahj Boyd, Johnny Manziel and Munchie Legeaux to go with current Ducks Marcus Mariota, Jake Rodrigues and Jeff Lockie. That would seem to indicate that being 6’2″ 200+ is kind of a min benchmark for the QBs. I don’t think size of the QB matters as much as the efficiency of the QBs brain, though.
You have also mentioned what kind of OL Oregon goes after. Oregon has had terrible luck recruiting OL in part because the nature of recruiting sees a lot of negative recruiting tactics. I never agreed with it, but for a long time recruits were led to believe that Oregon’s offense won’t prepare you for the NFL and as a result we made due with a lot of 2 and 3* recruits at OL. We’ve also lost out on players who were previously interested because of the way we practice (they didn’t want to do that everyday). Chip has tried to go after the best players but he also goes after players that fit what we do which is why the idea that Andre Smith would end up in Philly seems so absolutely ludicrous to me. No way you can expect that guy to stay in shape consistently. (In fact, when Chip first got to Oregon all of the OL went on diets to lose their ‘babyfat’ before resculpting themselves and this is now how all OL start at Oregon. If you come in with too much fat, you lose it first before building that muscle back up.)
While he’s started to rise into the late first, Kyle Long could be a guy to watch for with the 2nd pick. Of course, some of these OL are real high on upside so there are a lot of different way to approach the draft.
Keep up the all awesome work TL!