Eagles Future

Two weekends ago against the Bucs it looked clear Nick Foles had potential.  This past Sunday, Foles slow feet, inaccurate passing, and grand total of 80 yards through the air had Eagles fans back to looking for a quarterback for the future.

Rather than just talk about a bunch of college QBs, let’s talk about team building.

Drafting went well for the Eagles front office in the late 90′s. They picked up Bobby Taylor, Brian Dawkins, Duce Staley, Tra Thomas, Jermane Mayberry & Jeremiah Trotter in a 4 year span from 1995 to 1998.  Finally in 1999, once the Birds had built a solid foundation, Andy Reid drafted his quarterback Donovan McNabb.  What followed from 2000-2004 were five straight playoff seasons including four NFC Championship appearances culminating in their 2004 Superbowl appearance.

In the past four drafts, early round misses like Brandon Graham, Danny Watkins and Jaiquawn Jarret stalled out efforts to build a foundation for a solid roster.  Lane Johnson and Mychal Kendricks are no Tra Thomas and Jeremiah Trotter quite yet, but their selections re instilled some faith that the Eagle front office is capable of making picks worthy of an NFL roster.  Because of the proverbial swing and misses in the early rounds of 2010 and 2011, the Eagles still need help on defense if any QB’s lead is going to hold up.

The Eagles need a safety to shore up the back end after opting to not draft Earl Thomas in favor of Brandon Graham.  The Birds also need a vocal leader at the 3-4 OLB position who will put pressure on the quarterback.  The Eagle defensive personnel is in the middle of an overhaul that did not go to well in year one.  Rather than get a lot of personnel for the new 3-4 system, the Eagles just brought in 32 year old Isaac Sopoaga to play nose tackle, and ask practically every other player to learn a new position.   A lot of the skill sets haven’t transferred to the new positions. Consequently, the Eagles front seven has struggled against the run and rushing the passer on a consistent basis.

On offense it is pretty simple- the Eagles will need to draft a young QB.  But I say don’t do it next year.  Give Matt Barkley a chance.  He may or may not pan out but this team is far from a winner, so give them a chance to build a team.  The truth is, the Eagles probably won’t “find” a QB until they have a team for him to play on.  Take the Dick Vermiel 5 year plan approach.