Douglas looked beyond combine stats for draft picks
PHILADELPHIA >> From the first pick to the last, Joe Douglas put his stamp firmly on the 2017 Eagles draft.
It’s full of value picks, not slam dunks.
It’s populated by players snubbed as too slow, too raw or too hurt.
There was no room for Joe Mixon, Dalvin Cook or Gareon Conley and the off-the-field issues that are part of their resumes.
The company line was that this was an Eagles Draft. We get it. A lot of work went into the effort.
But let’s be serious. We knew it wasn’t a Howie Roseman draft when the Eagles stood pat at 14 while offensive studs Corey Davis, Mike Williams and Christian McCaffrey came off the board in rapid fire order.
You knew this was a Douglas draft when the Birds’ first pick, Derek Barnett, stood center stage at almost 10 p.m. Thursday while 75,000 or so Eagles fans occupying the Benjamin Franklin Parkway looked at each other and wondered why anyone would bring back Fred Barnett.
On the night Eagles fans almost booed NFL commissioner Roger Goodell off the stage, their silence after the announcement was deafening.
Barnett slid to No. 14 partly because of the run on quarterbacks, including Andy Reid’s sensational and hotly debated trade up from the rear of the draft for Patrick Mahomes II.
Barnett also slipped because he was slow. The sexier picks still on the board were tight end O.J. Howard and disruptive defensive lineman Jonathan Allen. They were available, and sure to give the Eagles the first-round splash their fans desired.
A Douglas pick sends you scurrying through the scouting guides. At 6-3, 259 pounds, Barnett didn’t look strong enough to break the late Reggie White’s sacks records at Tennessee. With a 4.88 time in the 40-yard dash at the combine, and a 4.92 at his pro day, he seemed embarrassingly sluggish for any football player, much less a pass rusher. Even if you dismissed the excuses that a bout with the flu and a hamstring issue wreaked havoc with the 40’s, you almost had to go back through the film of those 33 sacks to re-validate what Barnett did.
Not Douglas, the vice president of player personnel who set the board for his first draft. Douglas grabbed the pure edge rusher the Eagles need to get in the face of the quarterback, not the guy with the suspect shoulder who played inside and outside for Alabama.
Douglas liked Barnett’s big first step and his violent finish. The combine stuff is window dressing.
“I think if you look at our draft there were times where a perceived need was trumped by best player available,” Douglas said. “I won’t get into any specifics but once the draft starts, we meet so much, we go over so many different scenarios that you just go with the way the board is flowing. That’s the main thing that we had a strong game plan before it got going.”
Douglas has been there and done that with slowfooted guys. In Baltimore he was part of the team that drafted Terrell Suggs, the celebrated pass rusher, who scared teams away with a 4.8 40 at his pro day. One-hundred sacks later, Suggs still has a job.
The Eagles’ secondround pick Saturday was another Douglas guy although Sidney Jones seemed like a Roseman idea until you looked at the scouting reports. Jones is the kind of corner Douglas drafted with the Ravens, just not as healthy.
The Eagles confirmed that Jones was a real possibility to join them at No. 14 until his Achilles’ tendon snapped at his pro day. Now they’ve got their fingers crossed that their medical people are right and that Jones is the same guy he was terrorizing quarterbacks for Washington.
In the third round, Rasul Douglas gives the Eagles a cover guy who has decent hands, proof positive, his eight interceptions last season. Douglas’ technique admittedly needs work. Look at his tape and you wonder how many penalties he’ll be worth on the pro level.
Though the third day of the draft turned into a trade-fest, Roseman signing off on three deals, the talent was unquestionably Douglas’.
Do-everything running back Donnel Pumphrey of San Diego State has no bigger fan than Douglas, the NCAA career rushing leader at 5-8, 176-pounds.
“The thing that stands out the most is prolific production,” Douglas said. “You’re talking about a guy who broke Marshall Faulk’s records. Lightning feet. Great feet, great hands. He’s a little dog that thinks he’s a big dog. And he plays that way. I love the way he plays.”
Wide receiver Shelton Gibson (West Virginia) is a proven deep threat and kickoff returner who — stop me if you’ve heard this — ran a pedestrian 4.50 at the combine.
Too slow to play safety, Nate Gerry (Nebraska) will get a look at linebacker with the Eagles.
“The mental toughness, the physicality,” Douglas said. “To me he wasn’t just a safety who could play down in the blocks. He was an athletic guy that could range all over the field. And I think you’ll see that range even more sign at the linebacker position.”
Wide receiver Mack Hollins (6-4, 221) has size … and an appetite for exotic pets, including a python and a boa. He’s expected to push for a starting role sooner, rather than later.
Defensive tackle Elijah Qualls (6-1, 310) of Washington is the guy you want to get off the bus first, as he’s a tough guy who survived a tough neighborhood where everyone has a pit bull, per reports.
Douglas guys, all. Now it’s up to Pederson and his staff to develop them.
The Eagles aren’t the only NFC East team to like their draft.
On paper the Cowboys had a pretty good weekend as they grabbed defensive end Taco Charlton and cornerback Chidobe Awuzie. Both are firstround talents. Cornerback Jourdain Lewis is short yet skilled and Ryan Switzer (UNC) could succeed Cole Beasley.
It sure looks like the Giants had a strange draft. Tight end Evan Engram, defensive tackle Dalvin Robinson and quarterback Davis Webb?
The Redskins netted Allen, so we can keep an eye on that, and linebacker Ryan Anderson out of Alabama. They came back in the third round with an Eagles play as they selected cornerback Fabian Moreau, who tore a pectoral muscle.
The Eagles figured it would take two solid drafts to get them super competitive. They’re hoping Douglas put one in the books.