April 30, 2016
On a conference call, Halapoulivaati Vaitai was asked what he knew about the current Eagles offensive line, a unit he’s set to join. The enormous TCU tackle had a pretty good answer, mentioning that he once had a random encounter with Jason Peters.
“I was at a mall or something,” Vaitai said. “He was down there [in Texas] and my cousin stopped him, we all stopped him. I bet he don’t remember me.”
Peters’ memory might be better than Vaitai thinks. It’s hard to imagine that the too many people that stop the longtime Eagles left tackle in search of a picture are actually bigger than him. Vaitai stands at 6’6”, 320 pounds.
It’s Vaitai’s size that had Howie Roseman and the front office intrigued. The Eagles executive vice president of football operations freely admitted that there is a reason that “Big V” fell to the fifth round and 164th pick of the draft: He’s not consistent enough.
The Eagles are taking a flyer on Vaitai, hoping that the coaching staff can get something more out of him.
“He’s got all the tools,” Howie Roseman said. “It’s got to come together for him. He’s a guy that when you talk to our coaching staff, they would take him anywhere in the draft because of the rare tools that he has.”
Unlike some of the other draft picks on their way to Philadelphia, the Eagles didn’t necessarily tip their hand with Vaitai. The only contact he had with the organization was when offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland flew down to Texas to work him out.
Over the past few years, offensive line depth has been a major reason that the Eagles have missed the playoffs. On a related note, the Birds haven’t drafted an offensive lineman the past few years, either. Along with Isaac Seumalo, they now have taken two in this draft.
“It’s about the offensive line,” Roseman said. “We wanted to make a commitment to that in the offseason. Brandon [Brooks], Wiz [Stefen Wisniewski], Isaac, and Big V we’re excited about. Those are our four real guys there and we got a great coaching staff to work with them.”
At Haltom High School in Texas, Vaitai played on the offensive line with his brothers Will and Kevin (yes, those are their names). Coming from playing left and right tackle in a spread offense at TCU, he will have to make an adjustment to Doug Pederson’s pro-style offense. Roseman said that he’ll start out playing tackle as a pro.
“The Eagles can expect a hard-working guy finishing through the ball,” Vaitai said. “They can trust me protecting the quarterback.”
One of the big stories of the weekend was Howie Roseman’s willingness to draft players with questionable off-field histories, something that was an absolute no-no when Chip Kelly was in town. Another sticking point with Kelly was measurables, particularly with defensive backs.
So it’s pretty safe to say that the Eagles wouldn’t have considered 5’9”, 184-pound back Blake Countess last year. With Roseman in charge, the Eagles traded back and selected the Auburn defensive back with the 196th pick.
“Just somebody that we had really kind of earmarked,” Roseman said. “We got kind of cute there trying to get another pick because we don’t have many, but it was someone who we think has a lot of value for our defense. He can play nickel, he can play safety, he can play on special teams, so it was kind of unanimous.”
Countess, who transferred from Michigan to Auburn for his senior season after a coaching change (HARBAUGH!), was immediately a favorite of defensive coordinator Will Muschamp.
"Blake is a guy that gives you a different skill set from he can play inside as a nickel, can play outside as a corner and also has safety instincts as far as playing the deep ball part of the field," Muschamp told Al.com last August. "He seems to be a willing tackler, but a guy that has a lot of experience and is extremely bright."
Immediately, Countess expects to be used on special teams “first and foremost.” The Owings Mills, Maryland native came in for a visit at the NovaCare Complex, but he wasn’t invited to the NFL Combine.
“Personal, very personal,” Countess said of his reaction to not getting invited. “As a competitor, you want to be at those events competing against the best.”
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
