March 29, 2016

Eagles work out three Stanford draft prospects

By Jimmy Kempski
PhillyVoice Staff

Jae C. Hong/AP

Kevin Hogan's brains are more impressive than his arm.

According to Tony Pauline of DraftInsider.net, the Eagles worked out a trio of Stanford players this afternoon -- QB Kevin Hogan, WR/TE Devon Cajuste, and LB Blake Martinez.

Philadelphia Eagles working out Kevin Hogan/QB and Devon Cajuste/WR-TE at Stanford today...
— Tony Pauline (@TonyPauline) March 29, 2016

Philadelphia Eagles also working out Blake Martinez at Stanford today.
— Tony Pauline (@TonyPauline) March 29, 2016

We'll start with Cajuste, who we profiled back in December. Cajuste came to Stanford as a tight end, but moved to wide receiver. His career numbers are rather unimpressive:

Year	Rec	Yards	YPC	TD
2013	28	642	22.9	5
2014	34	557	16.4	6
2015	27	383	14.2	3

But, he can block! And therefore, we had thought of him as a cheaper candidate to play the ever-important role in the Eagles' offense under Chip Kelly as the "receiver who doesn't actually receive" once the Eagles got rid of Riley Cooper and Miles Austin. Cajuste could be a movable piece in Doug Pederson's offense, who could play a hybrid WR/TE position.

Hogan is a quarterback we have not yet profiled in depth, but I did get a chance to watch him both at the Senior Bowl and in drills at the NFL Combine. Here's what we said about Hogan at the Combine:

One drill the quarterbacks ran at the Combine was a 20-yard dig route. Quarterbacks took five step drops, and then let it rip. That drill exposed the quarterbacks who are unable to push the ball down the field with top end velocity. Again, Kessler did not shine there. However, the quarterback who really threw with underwhelming velocity was Stanford's Kevin Hogan. Unsurprisingly, this was a drill where Wentz and Lynch could show off their impressive arm strength.

The consensus on Hogan is that he is a smart player who ran a pro-style offense at Stanford, but he lacks quality NFL arm strength.

As for Martinez, the Eagles' lack of depth at linebacker is obvious. As we pointed out in our Eagles depth chart preview, linebacker is a very underrated need heading into the draft. The Eagles desperately need linebacker depth. After the starters, the Birds have Najee Goode and not much else.