Eagles Wake-Up Call: A Cowboys Slant On the Draft

In the weeks leading up to the draft, Howie Roseman loves talking about the board.

It’s all about setting the board, analyzing the board and staying true to the board. Spend months ranking the players, form some kind of consensus, and making final decisions during draft weekend should be relatively simple.

Of course, reporters and fans have never been privy to the Eagles’ board.

But this year, once again, we get to see how one team had its players ranked.

Jerry Jones gave interviews in front of the Cowboys’ draft board, and the writers at BloggingTheBoys.com were able to cobble together a complete picture of how Dallas had its prospects ranked.

So, what did Jones and company think of the players the Eagles ended up landing? They probably view the Lane Johnson pick as a slight reach. The Cowboys had Johnson as their third-rated tackle and had a first-round grade on him. But they had Alabama CB Dee Milliner, Florida DT Sharrif Floyd, North Carolina guard Jonathan Cooper and Alabama guard Chance Warmack ranked ahead of him. Johnson was their seventh overall prospect.

The Cowboys had definite interest in the Eagles’ next three picks.

It probably did not bother them when the Eagles took Stanford tight end Zach Ertz with the 35th pick. The Cowboys had Ertz as the No. 27 player on their board, but they had San Diego State tight end Gavin Escobar at No. 25. Dallas ended up selecting Escobar with the 47th overall pick.

In the third round, the Eagles grabbed LSU defensive tackle Bennie Logan with the No. 67 pick. Dallas liked Logan; he was the 51st player on the Cowboys’ board.

And perhaps the most interesting revelation was how the Cowboys had their quarterbacks ranked. They did not have a first-round grade on any of the signal-callers, but the top two QBs on their board were Syracuse’s Ryan Nassib and USC’s Matt Barkley. Nassib was the Cowboys’ 28th-ranked player, and Barkley was 31st. Those players went 110th and 98th, respectively. EJ Manuel was the No. 16 overall pick, but the Cowboys had a fourth-round grade on him.

The Cowboys’ board had 132 players on it, and none of the four players the Eagles took after the fourth round – Earl Wolff, Jordan Poyer, Joe Kruger and David King – was considered draftable, according to Dallas’ standards.

WHAT YOU MISSED

An All-22 look at Connor Barwin, along with some thoughts on how he might fit in with the Eagles.

T-Mac talks Kenny Phillips, Barkley and more in his Twitter Mailbag.

What they’re saying about the Eagles includes Bryce Brown buzz, a Jason Peters ranking and more.

Brandon Graham is down to 260 pounds and has a personal nutritionist.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

Phillips is not back practicing with the team, reports CSNPhilly.com’s Geoff Mosher:

But the 26-year-old former Giants safety is expected to participate in the team’s final camp, a June 4-6 mandatory camp that will wrap up the first spring season under new coach Chip Kelly, according to a source close to Phillips.

Ed Kracz of PhillyBurbs.com caught up with undrafted free agent receiver Russell Shepard:

“When players have so much success early and don’t go through rough stages, you fail once you get in the NFL, you fail once you have a couple years in the NFL. Going through what I went through at LSU, it prepared me for life after football, it prepared me for life after LSU. In the NFL, you have up and down years, days, dropped balls, you’re going to miss passes, but the great ones are ones who bounce back from tough plays.”

COMING UP

Practice is open today. We’ll have it covered.

Follow Sheil Kapadia on Twitter and e-mail him at skapadia@phillymag.com.
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