Todd McShay: ‘Seumalo Has Starting Ability’

Isaac Seumalo (USA Today Sports)

In the wake of this past weekend’s NFL draft, Mel Kiper and Todd McShay held a conference call to offer their reactions to all that transpired. Here are their thoughts on the Eagles’ non-quarterback additions.

McShay disagrees with Kiper’s assertion that Isaac Seumalo was a reach in the third round.

“I think Seumalo has starting ability in this league,” McShay said. “He came off the board kind of where we thought he would in the third round. People seem surprised, I’m not sure why. That’s where we had him rated.”

Roseman felt more than comfortable pulling the trigger on Seumalo at No. 79 overall, and soon found out that the Eagles weren’t the only team in pursuit of the Oregon State lineman there.

“Easy pick for us. Easy pick,” Roseman told 97.5 The Fanatic during a revealing interview. “Explosive guy. Powerful. He started every game he’s played in. He can play any position on the line…He’s one of the guys you win with, and we were really excited to get him.

“I’ll tell you a great story: Obviously we didn’t have a lot of picks. We’re picking and we’ve got to consider trade offers because we don’t have a lot of picks. And we got a call from a team that asked us to move down and our board for the guys we had at that spot was getting a little low. We get a call from a team and we’re friendly with them so I said, ‘Alright, we haven’t picked in a long time. I need to know: what side of the ball?’ He says offense. And I said, ‘Alright, you’re killing me, I don’t think we can do it.’ And he goes, ‘You’re not picking the player we’re going to pick.’ And so I said, ‘If you’re that confident, tell me the position on offense.’ He said, ‘O-line.’ I go, ‘Yeah, we can’t do this.’

“Hang up, we make the pick. The guy picks later in the third round and doesn’t take an offensive lineman. So I call him. I said, ‘Why didn’t you just tell me you were taking that other position? I would have made the trade with you.’ He goes, ‘You took our guy.'”

Seumalo is expected to compete for the left guard spot along with the likes of Allen Barbe, Andrew Gardner, Malcolm Bunche and Stefen Wisniewski.

McShay also likes the tackle the Eagles added, Halapoulivaati Vaitai.

“I think he has some tools that can develop as well. When you look at him and what he did in his career, I liked his tape. When you look at his length and the toughness that he plays with … I thought he was a solid three-year starter who has experience playing both right and left tackle. His technique has to improve but he has the agility and some movement skills to do a good job in that system.”

The Eagles would love for Vaitai to develop into a starting-caliber right tackle. They may need one soon depending on what happens with Jason Peters this upcoming season.

Kiper, meanwhile, likes a different later-round Eagles selection.

“I think Jalen Mills is a guy with his versatility as a seventh round pick out of LSU should be able to help that secondary,” Kiper said.

“[Alex] McCalister’s gotta get stronger and add some weight. He’s got a chance as a pass rusher.”