Eagles Wake-Up Call: Draft By the Numbers
Blake Countess. (USA Today Sports)
Here are some numbers of note as it applies to the Eagles’ 2016 draft class:
57.1 — Carson Wentz‘s accuracy percentage under pressure last year according to Pro Football Focus. That ranks 27th among quarterbacks in this draft. Paxton Lynch had a 70.3 completion rate and Jared Goff 64.7 when pressured by comparison.
38.5 — Accuracy percentage on passes of over 20 yards for Wentz, ranking him 29th in the draft class in that category.
70.7 — Wentz fared much better in the intermediate game (11-20 yards). That’s his adjusted completion percentage on mid-range throws, good for second among incoming QBs.
37 — Number of starts Isaac Seumalo accrued over three seasons at Oregon State. He played 23 at center, nine at right guard, two and right tackle and three at left tackle. The only position he didn’t play? Left guard, which happens to be the spot he’ll be gunning for beginning this spring.
4 — Number of pressures Seumalo surrendered all of last season per PFF, which has the Oregon State product as the fourth highest rated guard of the group.
6.4 — Wendell Smallwood‘s yards per carry last season for West Virginia. He led the Big 12 in rushing with 1,519 yards on the ground.
88 — Halapoulivaati Vaitai‘s ranking as a run-blocker in 2015, per Pro Football Focus. Overall he was the 16th highest-rated tackle among the group in 2014, though.
1 — Number of touchdowns Blake Countess yielded this past season on 71 targets.
4 — Number of years Jalen Mills was a starter at LSU.
9.5 — Tackles for a loss registered by Florida defensive end Alex McCalister over a span of just nine games [six starts] in ’15. He finished tied for the team-high in sacks (6.5) as well.
87 — Tackles for linebacker Joe Walker last season to lead all Oregon players.
5 — Quarterbacks taken in the first round in Eagles history. They are:
Davey O’Brien (1939, 4th overall)
Frank Tripucka (1949, 9th overall)
John Reaves (1972, 14th overall)
Donovan McNabb (1999, 2nd overall)
Carson Wentz (2016, 2nd overall)
WHAT YOU MISSED
Three more Eagles players were released yesterday. Josh has the details.
“Seumalo has starting ability.” Todd McShay and Mel Kiper on the Eagles’ draft.
We take a look at one crucial aspect of Wentz’s game going forward in the NFL: durability.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
Tom Condon spoke more about Sam Bradford‘s desire to be moved in a podcast with Andrew Brandt. Les Bowen has the details.
Condon mostly reiterated points he made in a few interviews granted when he made public his request that Bradford be traded, a little more than a week ago. But Condon showed that he was aware of criticism of Bradford for not being willing to compete for the starting job with rookie Carson Wentz, whom the Eagles traded up to draft second overall last week.
“Clearly, if Sam’s in the locker room, all of the other players — the players always know what’s going on — … they know that Sam’s a short-term guy, and he’s just there until the rookie is ready to go. So that’s not a particularly favorable situation for (Bradford). And I know people say, ‘Why doesn’t he just compete and win the job?’ There is no real competition” with a QB drafted so high, that a team had to expend extra resources to acquire, Condon said. “He’s playing, and that’s all there is to it.
“Ideally, (Bradford) would get to go someplace and establish himself and be there for some lengthy period of time. That certainly isn’t going to be in Philadelphia.”
Mike Sielski is skeptical of the Eagles’ quarterback plans as it pertains to Bradford.
[The Eagles’] theory is this: Once Sam Bradford wises up and realizes that the franchise will not trade him and that he has no leverage to force it to, he will have no choice but to report for training camp. At that time, the Eagles will, as head coach Doug Pederson told reporters after last week’s NFL draft, “welcome [him] with open arms. . . . He’s the leader of this football team.” Then, the real work can begin. Bradford will be the starter. Carson Wentz will be the eager apprentice/franchise quarterback-in-waiting. And Chase Daniel will be the savvy, unselfish backup who understands Pederson’s offense so well that he can tutor the other two guys.
As far as Bradford’s concerned, though, the room’s atmosphere will be great only if he has a genuine opportunity to be the Eagles’ No. 1 quarterback for a while. And he doesn’t, not really. Not only does the stockpile of resources that the Eagles relinquished for Wentz increase the pressure on the team to play him (and on him to play well), but giving Bradford a full season as the starter would be an anomaly in the modern NFL. It would require a measure of patience that the Eagles could afford in 1999 but that most teams don’t display anymore.
COMING UP
We’ll continue to look at the draft.