Eagles bet on upside with selections in late rounds; Sproles re-upped
PHILADELPHIA » The Eagles completed their draft Saturday with a quartet of prospects much more flawed than tight end Dallas Goedert, their second-round selection.
Cornerback Avonte Maddox (5-9) of Pitt is kind of short, pass rusher Josh Spears of Florida State kind of challenged to stay healthy. They came off the board in the fourth round.
Sixth-round pick Matt Pryor of TCU is a 6-8, 338-pound offensive tackle the Eagles are going to have to keep away from Del Frisco’s, because he loves to eat, while Jordan Mailata (6-8, 346) is a towering Australian rugby player who never played in a football helmet. Ever hear of the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the NRL? That makes two of us. His first look with the Eagles is at offensive tackle.
The savviest thing the Eagles did all weekend was agreeing to terms on a contract with running back/ kick returner Darren Sproles.
Two months short of his 35th birthday, Sproles is almost all the way back from the torn ACL and broken forearm sustained this past September against the Giants.
With 19,164 all-purpose yards, Sproles is just 518 away from vaulting up to fourth from eighth on the alltime NFL list. That would nudge him ahead of such Hall of Fame players as Tim Brown (19,682 yards) and Marshall Faulk (19,190)
“He was a big part of putting this together for me,” head coach Doug Pederson said of Sproles. “He’s putting himself back in a position to come back and help this football in many ways. From a leadership standpoint, a running back standpoint and a kick return standpoint, I’m excited to get him back. And I know he is, too.”
Football operations chief Howie Roseman said the Eagles’ attempts to get a Sproles-type back in the draft “just didn’t work out.
EAGLES 2018 DRAFT PICKS
• 2 (49) Dallas Dakota State. • 4 (125) Avonte Maddox, db, • 4 (130) Josh Sweat, dl, State. • 6 (206) Matt Pryor, ot, TCU. • 7 (233) Jordan Mailata, ot, no Goedert, te, South Pittsburgh. Florida college.
“But I know when we signed Darren, everybody in the building got excited,” Roseman said. “He’s just that kind of guy.”
Roseman didn’t rule out adding a veteran running back as the Eagles did last year when they brought in LeGarrette Blount and traded for Jay Ajayi. Free agent running back C.J. Anderson, coming off a 1,000-yard rushing season, has attracted interest from the Eagles per a source. The Eagles’ top two running backs are Corey Clement and Ajayi. Wendell Smallwood fell out of favor last year and Donnel Pumphrey, the rookie fourth-round pick the Eagles traded ahead of the Cowboys to secure, didn’t dress for a game last year.
The Eagles had five picks in all in the draft, three offensive and two defensive. They came into the draft with 705 measly points worth of assets according to Drafttek.com, an NFL draft value chart, having traded a chunk of picks away.
The Eagles turned that into at least 748.6 points, counting the second-round pick they’ll get next year from the Ravens, who also sent this year’s second-rounder to the Eagles. And that’s the conservative estimate. If the Ravens finish in the middle of the league pack in 2019, the value of their second pick increases to where the Eagles will have amassed 898.6 points from this draft, despite trading a fifth-round choice to move up three spots to get ahead of Dallas – uh, to get Dallas. This only is the beginning of the confusion over Goedert’s first name.
In the middle of the draft, the Eagles introduced Goedert to the media. At 6-5, 250-pounds, he passed the eyeball test.
Goedert wasn’t kidding when he said Eagles fans have been setting up go fund me accounts urging him to change his first name from Dallas to “Philly.”
Until then, Eagles insider Dave Spadaro cautioned Goedert not to take it personally when Eagles fans chant “Dallas sucks!”
It will be a while before the Eagles thoroughly evaluate their draft, although the immediate lesson for Roseman is not to hype a new draft room and draft party for fans with so few picks. The Eagles began the lottery with six selections.
“We don’t want to be in a position where we have this few picks – again,” Roseman said. “It’s a hard first couple of days for people who put a lot of time and effort into the process. I think that’s the first takeaway.”
Goedert might be the longest tight end the Eagles have had. His wingspan is off the charts. Pederson and Mike Groh won’t have trouble finding things for Goedert to do.
Maddox is going to get looks inside and outside at cornerback, where it won’t be tough making use of his 4.39 speed in the 40-yard dash.
Sweat was too fed up playing inline defensive end that he didn’t want to play another season for the Seminoles, who had another coaching change.
Sweat felt it best for him to move on and show what he could do as an edge rusher. With the Eagles, he’ll be able to study the rushes of Brandon Graham, Michael Bennett and Chris Long.
“I see it as a blessing,” Sweat said. “All of those guys are pretty successful. I can learn from them, take advantage of that, do everything that’s asked of me. I’ll get my chance. I’m pretty sure I can learn a lot from all of them, and I will.”
Pryor and Mailata have 35 1/2 inch arms. Pryor has 11 1/2 hands. If anyone can reach them it’s offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland.
Mailata won’t be able to run over bigger players in equipment nearly as easily as he did guys in those rugby leagues.