Mail Bag: One day 3 Eagles tow bar at any position

In our Eagles chat on Wednesday, there were a lot of questions we couldn’t get to in time or other questions that we answered but could use more color. And so let’s post a mail bag to answer some of the overflow, as well as some frequently asked questions on Twitter and via email.

Question from Hurts SZN: Are there any sleepers / hidden gems on the Eagles’ need positions that you have a crush on or think would be a good fit for the Eagles? Would love to have some more options to explore!

I will name a guy who is expected to go to day 3 and who I like, in every position:

QB Kellen Mond, Texas A&M: He can run, he has a good arm, and he was respected as the leader of his team in college. That’s good enough for me as a man worth developing in Round 3.

RB Kene Nwangwu, State of Iowa: He’s 6’1, 210, and he ran a 4.31 40 on his pro day. He carried the ball only 143 times at ISU, which means he’s an unedited prospect, but it also means he’s got very few miles on him. He also kicks back.

WR Marquez Stevenson, Houston: Small, fast slot machine with great RAC skill, turning the game upside down.

TE Kenny Yeboah, Ole Miss: Graduated transfer from Temple who broke out in his last college season with Ole Miss, 27 passes for 524 yards (19.4 YPC!) And six TDs in seven games. He played a more traditional tight role in college. In the pros he will be more of a “move TE”, AKA an F, and could pair nicely with Dallas Goedert.

OL Sedarius Hutcherson, South Carolina: Ultra-strong interior lineman who played a ton of positions at South Carolina, including LG, RG and LT.

THE Joshua Kaindoh, State of Florida: Tall, 6’6 athletic rusher who was a five-star prospect coming out of high school, but only had eight career pockets, due to schedule changes and injuries. The next Josh Sweat?

DT Kenny Randall, Charleston: He’s rather small for a DT (6’2, 302), he’s old (25), and he’s got a few red flags (he was fired from the team a few years ago), but he was productive in 2019 ( seven pockets, two FF), and he’s got some burst (1.65 in the first 10 of his 40). This is a terrible DT class, but I like him as UDFA, and the Eagles would make sense to him considering he grew up on the Jersey coast.

LB Buddy Johnson, Texas A&M: A little below par (6’0, 229), but his production was very good in 2020. He had 85 tackles, four sacks, two FF, three PBU, one INT in 10 games, and he is seen as a high character leader.

CB Marco Wilson, Florida: I had Wilson in my Eagles-only mock draft 1.0, and Florida fans went out of their way to tell me they didn’t want anything to do with him, mainly because of this:

“Unsportsmanlike behavior, throwing the LSU player’s shoe 20 yards across the field …” lol.

Anyway, there is, and he put on some big plays in Florida. But he also played the “star” position in Florida defense, a hybrid role from CB-S-LB, and ran a 4.34 on Florida pro day. Jonathan Gannon has seemingly done a good job making the most of his defensive backs in Minnesota and Indy. This is the profile of a man on Day 3 who is worth coaching.

S Trill Williams, Syracuse: Played outside corner, lock corner and safety in Syracuse. Running a 4.57 40 means he’ll be a safety in the pros, and he’s got the physical game there. I like it as a third security that can be implemented in a number of places, including larger slot receivers.

Question from fifiafon: Do you think the Eagles would have a better chance of drawing well by becoming CB in the first round and WR in the second, or vice versa? I feel like it’s easier to find a good WR in lap 2 than a good CB.

So this has been a common question lately, and while I believe WR and a CB are clearly the Eagles’ two biggest needs, I don’t think they should land either of each with their first two picks either.

If there is a WR and a CB on the board with the Eagles’ pick at 12, and they rated those two players very closely, then maybe a tie-breaker is that the WR position is stronger on days 2 and 3 than on CB, but if I’ve rated one higher than the other I’ll just take the better prospect.

Question from Pete: Am I the only one who thinks the Eagles should make all 11 design choices? My thinking process is we’ve been weak at drafting talent and Howie was able to use whatever ammo he can get because deep down I know he’s not going anywhere for the past five years. With 11 tips, Howie should be lucky and walk away with 3 decent players.

In previous years, the roster was strong enough and deep enough not to foresee in any way hell that you could fit double-digit draft picks into the roster. Now? If they show something in training camp, they can pass. So I’m with you, not only on the point of “bite more at the apple”, but also because there is the opportunity for many rookies to make the team.

Question from Catheter Cowboy: Is Isaac Seumalo still considered a possible replacement for Jason Kelce?

I think he’s the most likely next starting center for the Eagles, yes.

Question from CS: I think my takeaway from all these front office issues is that an NFL team’s office environment looks a lot more like any other office in the corporate world than most fans realize. This is a workplace with politics, egos, ambitions and rejected feelings. I think we delve into the things that happen in prime time on the field and under the bright lights, but these are people with daytime jobs and working relationships that can be anywhere on the map, from astonishing to downright awful. Do you get a better idea that that kind of world is a little more under the hood of the organization than the average fan who watches a game at the weekend?

I mean I better get a pulse of the work environment more than the typical guy / girl who flips the game at 1pm on Sundays! It’s part of my job. But I included this question because I think your point is a good one. Before joining this company I had several sales jobs in traditional office setups. Some companies had strong leadership at the top that trickled down. Others, not so much!

It was always very easy to diagnose the strengths and weaknesses of the people in leadership positions, at least if you spent enough time on them. I’m sure many of you can relate. I think this is, in part, why you’re seeing multiple reports on this off-season of the Eagles’ internal dysfunction, which have common themes in them (and also tie in in many ways with little bits of information I’ve heard along the way).

When things are going well, it doesn’t really matter if there is an underlying dysfunction. But when it’s bad, employees’ doubts about leadership grow. In a day-to-day work environment, that discontent is expressed to colleagues at the bar after work. In a professional sports organization it is expressed to the public, with the media as the messenger.

So there are certainly some similarities, but the dysfunction happens in a much more public way at a professional sports organization than at another company that the general public doesn’t really care about.

Question from Commander Molandr: Jimmy, if you could be in Lurie’s draft cave and influence him positively or negatively, who would it be and why?

Ha, I like that you now call it “Lurie’s draft cave” instead of Howie’s. But to me it would probably have been Justin Fields, who I think will be a good NFL quarterback over time (mandatory disclaimer that QB evaluation is very dependent on personality dissecting etc, and you can I don’t).

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