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Eagles lead the NFL over last 2 years in "Drafting in Bulk"

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  • Eagles lead the NFL over last 2 years in "Drafting in Bulk"

    http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/m...t-in-bulk.html

    Roseman, Eagles again draft in bulk

    Last week, when I wrote about what I thought the Eagles would do in the 2011 draft, I predicted that they wouldn't follow the same draft in bulk strategy that they used the previous year.

    In 2010, the Eagles selected 13 players, more than any other team in the NFL. And not one of those players was cut before, during or after the season.

    Brandon Graham, Nate Allen, Jamar Chaney and Kurt Coleman all got significant playing time.

    Daniel Te'o-Nesheim, Trevard Lindley, Kennan Clayton, Clay Harbor and Riley Cooper all saw the field in some capacity (not just counting special teams).

    Charles Scott was traded. Ricky Sapp was placed on injured reserve. Mike Kafka was a reserve. And Jeff Owens was active for one game before getting injured.

    Thirteen players were drafted, and all but one have a chance to make the roster next season.

    That's why I thought the Eagles might take a different approach this season. If they really felt those second-year players were capable of contributing, did it make sense to bring on a large number of rookies once again?

    Apparently, the answer was yes. And I was wrong.

    The Birds drafted 11 players last weekend, second only to the Redskins, who through a series of trades, ended up with 12 new players.

    Typically, teams add slightly fewer than eight players in a given draft. But in the last two years, the Eagles have picked up a total of 24. Here's a table, with a team-by-team breakdown:

    Team Total picks in 2010 and 2011
    Eagles 24
    Patriots 21
    Rams 19
    Bills 18
    Panthers 18
    Broncos 18
    Vikings 18
    49ers 18
    Seahawks 18
    Titans 18
    Redskins 18
    Bengals 17
    Packers 17
    Texans 17
    Raiders 17
    Steelers 17
    Bucs 17
    Browns 16
    Chiefs 16
    Cardinals 15
    Ravens 15
    Giants 15
    Cowboys 14
    Dolphins 14
    Chargers 14
    Falcons 13
    Colts 13
    Saints 12
    Lions 11
    Jaguars 11
    Bears 10
    Jets 10

    The philosophy seems pretty clear-cut. General manger Howie Roseman explained it to reporters when he met with them before the draft.
    "The more players you get, the better chance you have of hitting on guys," he said.


    And this mindset isn't really exclusive to Roseman. The Eagles have picked at least eight players in each of the last eight drafts. In 2008, they took 10. In 2004 and 2005, they took 10 and 11, respectively.

    The draft strategy speaks to a larger philosophy also: Forget where players were picked or how they got here. Let their play determine who gets on the field.

    We've seen that play out over the years, specifically on defense, where a large number of late-round picks and undrafted free agents (Moise Fokou, Antonio Dixon, to name a couple) earned starting jobs. Another example was veteran Juqua Parker taking the starting job back from first-round pick Brandon Graham.

    The number of players selected the last two years puts pretty much everyone on notice. On offense, Jamaal Jackson, Mike McGlynn and Winston Justice will face competition for their jobs.

    Defensively, the same can be said of anyone not named Trent Cole or Asante Samuel. Stewart Bradley and Jamar Chaney may have the inside track on starting spots, but really, every linebacker position is probably up for grabs.

    Mike Patterson and Antonio Dixon probably make sense at defensive tackle, but again, nothing's set in stone. Right cornerback and strong safety too.


    The final evaluation of the Eagles' 2010 and 2011 drafts will have more to do with the performance of the players than the total number of picks, but after two years as the Birds' general manager, Roseman's draft philosophy is clear.


  • #2
    To me, more interesting than the Eagles having 24 picks, is that a couple teams only had TEN. Throw in compensation picks, and how do you manage to have just 10 picks in 2 years? Gotta say, I'd rather be on the 24 pick end than the 10 pick end.

    Comment


    • #3
      The only flaw in this math is that you still only get to keep 53 players on your roster, so the more you draft, the more players you are going to have cut. That doesn't leave you a whole lot of time to figure out which of those drafted players are worthy of sticking around more than either one spring camp, or 1 season later when the next draft crop comes along.

      http://www.csnphilly.com/05/12/11/Ea...528&feedID=692

      Eagles have mastered the math of the NFL draft

      By Reuben Frank
      CSNPhilly.com

      This is really math more than football. And it’s pretty simple math.

      The more players you draft, the better your odds of landing good players.

      The Eagles have made math a pretty big part of their drafting philosophy. Addition. Or in some cases, multiplication.

      Last year, the Eagles turned their initial allotment of draft picks into 13 players, seven of whom started at some point and nine of whom contributed along the way. And this year, they drafted 11 more players.

      No NFL team has drafted as many players as the Eagles the last two years, and head coach Andy Reid and general manager Howie Roseman believe they can dramatically increase their odds of landing quality players -- especially in the middle and late rounds, when the odds of hitting on anybody drop -- simply by dramatically increasing the number of players they take. And they’ve found ways to do that without moving far down in making those deals.

      In Roseman’s first draft as general manager, he did something pretty remarkable, trading down four times to turn a single second-round pick into six players taken over two years -- Daniel Te’o-Nesheim, Mike Kafka, Clay Harbor, Ricky Sapp, Riley Cooper and Dion Lewis.

      This year, Roseman did something almost as impressive, taking a single fourth-round pick and turning it into a fourth-round pick this year (Casey Matthews) and another one next year in a trade with the Bucs.

      Just by moving down 12 picks, the Eagles turned one fourth-round pick into two. And that fourth-round pick came from the Redskins courtesy of the Donovan McNabb trade, so whoever the Eagles take with that pick next year you can add to Nate Allen and Casey Matthews as products of the McNabb deal.

      Donovan might not even be in the league by the time the Eagles draft the final player they got by trading him.

      The Eagles believe in building a roster through the draft, and with 24 picks over the last two years, they’re doing that to the extreme.

      The Eagles already have nine picks in next year’s draft, a figure that will invariably rise once the league year officially begins and the Eagles can start making trades.

      “When I was fortunate enough to get this opportunity, and I sat down with Andy, I think one of the things we went back and looked at was that we hadn’t had a lot of picks,” Roseman said. “We had not had a double-digit pick year, and we thought in the next couple years we could come out with 24, 25 picks. If you hit on half those guys, wow, you’ve really replenished the bottom half of your roster.

      “Depth is an important part. It’s football, people are going to get hurt, so the more depth we have, the more good players we have, the better football team we’ll end up being. And obviously you want to have star players, you’ve got to have star players, but we think we got some quality as well as quantity, not only in this draft but along our roster.”

      In all, the Eagles have made 11 draft-weekend trades the past two years. The Eagles place a unique premium on late-round picks, and it’s pretty easy to multiply seventh-round picks. Last year, the Eagles wound up with three guys in the seventh round, two of whom were starting and playing at a fairly high level by the end of the season (Jamar Chaney, Kurt Coleman) and another who got a chance to play before getting hurt (Jeff Owens).

      It makes sense. If a seventh-round pick generally has maybe a 20 percent chance of panning out, a team can turn those odds into better than 50 percent by drafting three players in the seventh round.

      “For a couple years, we didn’t have a lot of picks, and the depth on this team we thought we needed to turn over and get some good players,” Roseman said. “The more picks you have, the more chances you have of hitting on players and you saw that last year even when you went into the seventh round, getting guys like Kurt Coleman and Jamar Chaney, you’ve got to keep drafting. You’ve got to keep seeing guys on the board.

      “Everybody makes fun of me when I come in the draft room and we’re in the seventh round, and I’m like, ‘Man, I wish we had four or five more picks.’ ... That’s like my favorite round. I love it.”

      E-mail Reuben Frank at [email protected]

      Comment


      • #4
        We've seen that play out over the years, specifically on defense, where a large number of late-round picks and undrafted free agents (Moise Fokou, Antonio Dixon, to name a couple) earned starting jobs. Another example was veteran Juqua Parker taking the starting job back from first-round pick Brandon Graham.


        And maybe that's why your friekin defense SUCKS Howie!
        "Hey Giants, who's your Daddy?"

        Comment


        • #5
          http://mcnabborkolb.com/post/5545227...draft-strategy

          Questioning the Eagles Draft Strategy

          Over the years, the Eagles have often been lauded for their overall draft strategy of trading back and picking up lots of extra draft picks. Unlike a lot of teams that put all of their eggs in a few baskets, the Eagles understand that the draft is just a giant gamble, and the more times you play the more likely you are to win.

          Rubeun Frank over at CSN Philly is the most recent to praise this style of drafting. He noted that (after four trades) Howie Roseman turned a second round pick from last year into six players: Daniel Te’o-Nesheim, Mike Kafka, Clay Harbor, Ricky Sapp, Riley Cooper and Dion Lewis. That’s certainly impressive considering the team could have had only one player and instead were able to draft six. But, to play devil’s advocate for a minute, might that have been the wrong move?

          It’s too early too tell for sure, but right now none of those six players look like starters, at least yet. Te’o-Nesheim barely got on the field, Kafka was mostly inactive, Harbor got some minutes but only as back up, Sapp missed the year with a knee injury, Cooper is fourth-string, and Lewis was just drafted. That’s six players who might contribute down the road, but none of them look like potential stars, or even starters this coming season. It’s tough to isolate even one of them who’s sure to be a big contributor with the team.

          Instead, the team could have picked a second round player, like Dallas did in the spot the Eagles traded out of last year, number 55 overall: linebacker Sean Lee. Obviously, Lee isn’t a guaranteed long-term starter, let alone star, but he showed more potential last season in limited play than any of the six players the Eagles received in return. Lee was named NFC defensive player of the week for his performance in week 13 against the Colts, in which he made nine tackles, broke up two passes, and made two key interceptions — including one that he returned for a touchdown. Again, the future is still murky for all of these players. But, while you might disagree with me, I hesitate to name a single player of those six the Eagles drafted who has the potential to be as good as Lee.

          The truth about the Eagles draft strategy is that it amasses lots of extra draft picks, but most of these picks come in the later rounds when many of the players won’t even make the team long term. Look at the table at right. Yes, over the last four drafts the Eagles have made 10 more selections than the average team — but all them came in the second half of the draft. In fact, despite their numerous picks, the team has actually drafted fewer players in the first three rounds than average.

          Sure, there are tradeoffs involved either way. But would you rather make 11 early picks and 31 late-round selections like the Eagles did, or go the Patriots route — 19 picks in 1st-3rd rounds and 18 after that? Look at the rising stars on the team, and consider where they were drafted: Jeremy Maclin (1st round), DeSean Jackson (2nd), LeSean McCoy (2nd), Nate Allen (2nd), Brandon Graham (1st).

          The Eagles give themselves a lot of chances to succeed by gathering draft picks the way a kid runs house to house for candy on Halloween. But at the end of the night the danger is that they end up with lots of raisin boxes and mysterious hard candies rather than one or two big Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups or Snickers bars that they really crave.
          Originally published at NBC Philadelphia

          Comment


          • #6
            I'm OK with this article, but I'm not sure I would've used Brandon Graham as an example of a "rising star" drafting in the early rounds at this point.

            Comment


            • #7
              "we thought in the next couple years we could come out with 24, 25 picks. If you hit on half those guys, wow, you’ve really replenished the bottom half of your roster. "

              So...your strategy was guided by your focus on the BOTTOM HALF OF YOUR ROSTER?
              http://shop.cafepress.com/content/global/img/spacer.gifOK, let's try this again...

              Comment

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