The Eagles have made a huge trade today. And it doesn't involve Donovan McNabb, or any of the 50 QB's the Eagles have on the roster. I guess Andy Reid wants to hang onto the QB's as long as possible so he can continue to tell us all how amazing the Eagles are for having 3 quarterbacks that could start. But I digress...
We have lost one of the members of our Wolfpack today... and not because the Eagles no longer have Chris Gocong. The Eagles also traded Sheldon Brown to the Cleveland Browns, and in exchange receive the Browns 4th round pick and 5th round pick in this year's draft, and linebacker Alex Hall. The Browns picks that the Eagles receive are the 105th and 137th overall picks in the draft. Linebacker Alex Hall was a 7th round pick in 2008, and is a former Division 2 All-American at St. Augustine's. Not surprising that the Eagles wanted Hall, as Reid loves former Division 2 and Division 3 guys who dominate in college... yet they usually aren't very good in the pros. Reid goes after D-2 and D-3 guys almost as much as he goes after Mormons. The 4th round and 5th round picks are decent, but I don't have too much confidence that the Eagles will turn these into solid players, especially like Sheldon Brown was.
Chris Gocong was below average in my opinion, and was on the field way too much. He can't tackle, he can't cover. The only thing Gocong is supposed to be good at doing is rushing the passer from the outside. Unfortunately, even though this was the report on Gocong on draft day, the Eagles still picked him, and did not use him properly. So if Chris Gocong does have any skill, which I don't think he does, we wouldn't even know because he is not used to his strength. Gocong could end having success in a 3-4 defense where he can play the outside linebacker spot and rush the passer.
Sheldon Brown on the other hand is a great player, and has been so ever since the Eagles drafted him. Brown was one of the longest tenured Eagles, and was definitely a fan favorite. He is probably the hardest hitting cornerback in a league full of cornerbacks who don't even like contact, including the Eagles own Asante Samuel. Brown thrived with his physical play. Everyone remembers the famous Sheldon Brown hit on Reggie Bush on one of the first plays of the game to start a divisional playoff game. Sheldon Brown not ever being a pro-bowler so far in his NFL career is an absolute joke. Eagles fans know that Brown has been playing at a pro bowl level for a while now, and he does not get the national attention that he deserves. Brown epitomizes what Philadelphia loves in their athletes. He plays injured, he plays his hardest on every play, and one time, he came out with a Jason mask on. Even though Brown is getting older, and is probably past his prime, he is still very effective, and is better than Ellis Hobbs any day of the week. Brown will definitely be missed.
The trade overall is a bad one in my opinion. If the goal is to get rid of an older player in Brown, and an ineffective player in Gocong, then they accomplished that. But the trade makes the Eagles a much worse team. Andy Reid loves his late round draft picks, and loves to try to have the most picks of any team in the NFL every year. This doesn't seem to translate into solid draft picks, however. If the Eagles plan is to rebuild, they need to do it right - get rid of the older guys, which unfortunately includes McNabb, and spend the next year improving the defense, to hopefully go along with the young offensive playmakers this team has in a season or two.
1 comment:
Agree that on the face of it, this is hardly an even exchange for both Brown & Gocong -- hell, Brown himself is worth more than 4-5 rounders. Reid's track record at this draft level ain't exactly sterling either, though maybe not much worse than the league in general. Buckhalter, Trent Cole, and Mr. Green's boy Feeley (who's still in the league!!) came out of those rounds -- other than those, either nothing to write home about or just plain stiffs. So the odds aren't good for turning these picks into anything useful unless the plan is to collect all these lower picks for maneuvering room to move up in the draft. If that's the case -- which has happened before -- maybe something good can come of it. More likely, though, Big Red is hoarding picks so he can move around the draft to fulfill his ultimate goal: filling every position with Mormons. Renaming the team The Philadelphia Latter Day Saints is the closest a Reid-coached team will ever get to resembling a Super Bowl winner...
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