April 29, 2015
Gerald Herbert/AP
Don't expect the Eagles to be in on Alabama's Landon Collins if they're drafting at pick #20.
In Ed Marynowitz's first session with the media as Chip Kelly's right-hand man, he laid out the Eagles' three-part evaluation process for draft prospects, noted below:
"Number one, it's the height-weight-speed, according to the position. That's the one factor of it. They either have that or they don't. It doesn't necessarily eliminate them per se, but that's one element of it. So you'll grade that individually."
"The second part is the position specifics, or the critical factors for that position, which is basically the guy's athletic ability to play that specific spot, which is also relative to your system and scheme. Every team is different, so we have certain prototypes for that."
"The third part is the character, attitude, and intelligence piece, in terms of the right football makeup, and how we want to build the team."
To note, the "#culture" column is very difficult to determine, having no knowledge of how well prospects interviewed with the Eagles. Therefore, I can only go on whether or not there are any known serious issues.
All three of the Eagles' major evaluation sticking points would be nice, but the Eagles are willing to make exceptions. "Each one in and of itself is evaluated," said Marynowitz. "Just because a guy is exceptional or deficient in one won't preclude us from taking him, but ideally, especially in the in the upper rounds, you're striving for guys that fit in all three of those."
During that same press conference, Marynowitz also noted that the three biggest positional strengths of the 2015 draft are at wide receiver, cornerback, and along the offensive line. Those positions happen to match up with what are arguably the Eagles' three most glaring needs.
Over the last couple of days, we're look at the wide receivers and corners in the 2015 draft, and determined how many "Ed heads" each prospect gets.
Today, let's take a look at the top 5 rated safeties in the 2015 NFL Draft, via CBS Sports' rankings. Tomorrow we'll finish it out with offensive linemen.
Collins might actually be too heavy at 228 pounds, but certainly he is not too small for the position. While Collins ran a good 40 time, the rest of his measurables are very unimpressive. Additionally, Collins' strengths (being an in-the-box thumper) and weaknesses (man-to-man coverage, and the ability to play centerfield) don't match up with what the Eagles value at the position.
Randall doesn't have good size, but he is a very good athlete with excellent coverage skills. However, some really ugly tape of Randall in run support exists, although I'm not sure the Eagles care as much about that from their safeties as other teams.
Amos has good size at 6'0, 218, and like Randall has very good coverage skills. He's better in run support than Randall, but doesn't make as many plays.
Tartt has outstanding size, and very good athleticism for a 6'1, 221 pound safety. However, he isn't thought to be a good man-to-man cover guy, and playing against small school competition at Samford it's tough to project him covering NFL slot receivers.
Smith is short and only ran a 4.6 40 at his pro day, so he won't fit the Eagles' H-W-S specs, but he is a good cover safety with excellent ball hawking skills, and he'll hit.
Conclusion: This is a very weak safety class.
Follow Jimmy Kempski on Twitter: @JimmyKempski
