Joyner has high praise for LB picks Bradley, Taylor

Former Eagles linebacker Seth Joyner, no stranger to controversy, mentioned on his YouTube podcast that he would have selected versatile and productive wide receiver Justin Jefferson over sprinter Jalen Reagor, the Birds’ pick in the first round of the NFL draft.

Heck, Joyner would have traded ahead of the Dallas Cowboys to select CeeDee Lamb, the polished pass catcher who fell out of the top 10.

Joyner doubts the Eagles will get much use this season out of quarterback Jalen Hurts, the second-round pick. That choice could have sealed a package to move up for Lamb.

What infuriates Joyner is the lack of respect shown to the Eagles’ selections of linebackers Davion Taylor and Shaun Bradley, who came off the board in the third and sixth rounds, respectively.

Joyner knows a little bit about linebackers. And he was happy to share it with podcast guests Merrill Reese and Mike Quick, the Eagles’ radio team.

“Neither one of them are elite athletes but they’re good enough athletes to be serviceable linebackers,” Joyner said of Taylor and Bradley. “And I think Bradley can be that linebacker that we’ve been longing for at that position. He’s a guy that can blitz and make plays. He’s a guy that can drop into coverage and intercept balls. He’s going to come up and lay the wood and cause fumbles. He’s going to cover tight ends. Both guys can cover tight ends or running backs out of the backfield. They have that kind of speed.”

Taylor ran a 4.47 in the 40-yard dash at the scouting combine and is considered a late-bloomer. He didn’t play much organized football growing up, having been limited to two high school games while adhering to the Seventh Day Adventist religion.

Joyner was livid about criticism from scouts and media that you could watch the Colorado defense and not know who Taylor was. If you want proof, turn on the Washington State-Colorado game, Joyner said.

“Every time I turned around, he was flashing,” Joyner said. “Every play it seemed like he was in on that play. So, I don’t know who these writers are or who these evaluators are that say they watch a game and they don’t see him. They’re not seeing what I watch. And I don’t just go to YouTube and pull up his highlights. I love the way that he plays the game. He’s a guy with an aggressive attitude and a lot of speed to play at linebacker. And he doesn’t miss a lot of tackles. If he gets his hands on you, nine and a half times out of 10 you go down. He knows where he fits in the defense and when he gets there, he has an attitude.”

The Eagles’ linebacker corps, no disrespect intended, hasn’t had much attitude since management cut Zach Brown last season for mouthing off before the club lost to his former teammate, Kirk Cousins, and the Minnesota

Vikings.

Joyner called Temple University product Bradley “a steal” and “a sleeper.” That was based on film study, the 4.51 that Bradley ran at the combine and a week of coaching Bradley at the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl.

“This kid Shaun Bradley, from Temple, he’s going to shake some people up,” Joyner said. “He’s aggressive. He’s got great instincts. He was a little chatty sometimes. But he’s just all over the field, understands where he fits, understands what his job is and has pretty darn good athleticism. Bradley is a steal. Taylor is a guy that people are going to be a guy like, ‘we were wrong about him.’”

Joyner said he will give Reagor a chance to prove him wrong, although the former Eagle has seen enough Philly drafts where the wrong decisions were made to have an uneasy feeling deep down inside.

If Lamb or Jefferson turns into a perennial AllPro and Reagor falters, it will be a case of here we go again.

Just say Joyner has his fingers crossed that the addition of a high-profile quarterback like Hurts won’t mess up the head of franchise passer Carson Wentz.

We respectfully disagree with the lack of a rookie role for Hurts. Fashioning an RPO package around Hurts’ skillset isn’t rocket science. Just the opposite.

Hurts is a quick study adept at throwing out of the pocket, which the Eagles are fully aware of. He wasn’t drafted to be a pure pocket passer.

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Citizens Bank Mid-Atlantic is partnering with Philabundance, which is urging folks to donate rice, peanut butter, vegetables or dollars through June 1 to philabundance. org/phans-feeding-families.

“Families are struggling more than ever to put food on their tables,” Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola said in a PSA. “It’s important we do all that we can to help those who need it most.” Well said, Nola. Aramark, Giant Foods, Goya Foods, Hatfield Quality Meats, Septa and TriState Toyota Dealers also are partners in the 2020 campaign.

Contact Bob Grotz at bgrotz@21stcenturymedia.com; follow him on Twitter @ BobGrotz.

Bob Grotz Columnist