Eagles football blog

Eagles sign third-round pick Bryan Smith

The Eagles signed third-round pick Bryan Smith to a 4-year contract yesterday. Smith is the eighth draft choice to come to terms with the Birds. Only their second-round picks, wide receiver DeSean Jackson and defensive tackle Trevor Laws, remain unsigned. Training camp opens on Monday, July 21. Continue

3 new Eagles could have sudden impact

On the first day of the draft, the Eagles - who finished 8-8 last season and were the only team in the NFC East not to make the playoffs - traded away their first-round pick to the Carolina Panthers, a team that won just one fewer game than the Eagles, for a package of picks that included the Panthers' 2009 first-round selection.

On the second day of the draft, the same Eagles spent a fourth-round selection on a cornerback, Jack Ikegwuonu, who is recovering from a major knee injury and won't be able to play this season. Continue

Round 2 picks

Trevor Laws DT Notre Dame round 2 47 overall

DeSean Jackson WR California round 2 49 overall

Eagles trade out of first round

The most predictable thing about the Eagles on draft day during the Andy Reid era is that they are almost always bound to do something entirely unpredictable.

Sticking to form yesterday, when it was time for Roger Goodell to announce the Eagles' first-round pick, the NFL commissioner instead stepped to the podium in New York to reveal that the Carolina Panthers had taken University of Pittsburgh offensive tackle Jeff Otah.

The Eagles, for the second straight year, had traded out of the first round entirely, a move that the head coach said was driven by the team's inability to move up in the first round and an offer from the Panthers he didn't think could be refused. Continue

Eagles may opt for offensive tackle

Tell a football fan his favorite team is about to use its first-round draft pick on an offensive lineman and you'll probably get the same reaction as when you tell your kid it's time to go to the dentist.

Sure it's painful to watch another team pluck a big-name wide receiver or a stud running back while your squad gets a beefy mauler who is graded by the number of pancakes he registers and how clean he kept his quarterback in college. Like the dentist, however, it's sometimes necessary, and this may just be the right year for the Eagles to use their first pick on one of the big men paid to protect the quarterback. Continue

What do the Eagles really need?

Let's make believe for a minute that the Eagles are going to do what every NFL team says it never does. Let's just pretend that coach Andy Reid and general manager Tom Heckert decide in the first round Saturday that they are going to draft for a need rather than follow the league mantra of "taking the best player available." What's the Eagles' biggest need as they head into the 2008 season? Wide receiver? Safety? Offensive tackle? Returner? Defensive tackle?

It's no secret that the Eagles have tried this off-season to bring in a star veteran wide receiver. They made it known that they pursued Randy Moss before the record-setting receiver re-signed with the New England Patriots. It's also known that they asked the Arizona Cardinals if they were interested in trading Larry Fitzgerald before he restructured his contract. Continue

Eagles don't take Day 2 of draft for granted

The second day of the NFL draft is a lot like New Year's Day. New Year's Eve means parties and is met with great anticipation. The next day? No parties, little attention, but it's still significant.

"That's where we make our money, on the second day," New York Giants general manager Jerry Reese said earlier this month at the NFL owners' meetings in West Palm Beach, Fla. "Those guys are back there for a reason, and you try to figure out what most of them can do. There are a lot of them that can't do some things, but you try to figure out what they can do to help your football team." Continue

Birds OK in NFL draft

For the last three months, the most hard-core Eagles fans have been bombarded by mock drafts, listened to all sorts of trade speculation, and wondered what their team will do on draft day. The possibilities are endless. You couldn't find a single person conducting mock drafts a year ago at this time who had the Eagles trading their first-round pick to division rival Dallas, then taking quarterback Kevin Kolb with their first overall pick in the second round.

With cornerback Lito Sheppard as a trade chip, the Eagles could end up with something other than the 19th pick in the first round of Saturday's draft. The trade rumors about wide receivers such as Cincinnati's Chad Johnson and Detroit's Roy Williams persist, and the infinite number of mock drafts online have different players being selected by the Eagles in the first round. Continue

Draft a receiver? Not so fast

The calls for the Eagles to draft a wide receiver never really go away. Since taking Donovan McNabb No. 1 in 1999, the Birds have yet to complement him with a great receiver, with the single exception of 2004. And you may recall how that season went.

But the Eagles seem to shy away from that sort of commitment these days. Having been burned by Freddie Mitchell and Terrell Owens, they seem ultra-reluctant to revisit the past. Continue

Texas tight end Finley works out for Eagles

Texas tight end Jermichael Finley worked out for the Eagles yesterday, a source close to the situation said. Finley, who turned 21 last month, left Texas with 2 years of eligibility remaining; some experts felt he should have stayed for more seasoning. Continue