May 05, 2015

The Eagles are screwed at OL: Part II

By Jimmy Kempski
PhillyVoice Staff

Matt Rourke/AP

Jason "The Big Anomaly" Peters

As we covered at length yesterday, the Eagles' biggest mistake of the 2014 offseason (and perhaps also the 2013 offseason) may eventually turn out to be their failure to bring in quality talent along the offensive line.

If anything, I thought I was going a long way to state the obvious in that article, which is, (cups hand in front of mouth for better acoustics)...

"THE EAGLES HAVE THE OLDEST OFFENSIVE LINE IN THE NFL AND HAVEN'T DRAFTED ANY OFFENSIVE LINEMEN THE LAST TWO YEARS."

Feedback from that piece has not been received well. If you disagree with things I wrote, *you're dumb and I hate you.

We summed up the Eagles' short-term and long-term issues on the OL like so:

• In the short term, the Eagles will be in decent shape if everyone stays healthy. If they don't stay healthy, they'll be counting on undrafted free agents and marginal NFL roster-worthy players to provide their depth along the OL. It has the strong potential to cost them games, like it did in 2014.

• In the long term, the Eagles don't have much to be excited about on their bench in terms of future starters, which is obviously not ideal, seeing as they have three positions where they will need replacements in the immediate future. Replacing three starters on the OL in a short amount of time is extremely difficult, and even IF the Eagles are able to find quality replacements, it'll take time for the new unit to develop rapport, which again, is not easy. Had they added young talent to the mix, those young players could be developed and acclimated to the Eagles' offensive scheme, with an eye toward inserting them in as starters in 2016 or 2017. Instead, the Eagles are going to have to replace a bunch of starters along the OL simultaneously when the older guys experience an inevitable decline.

The above conclusions were backed by a mountain of supporting facts, which again, felt like overkill to make a seemingly obvious point.

I'll address the two most common rebuttals I've received over the last two days:

1) Jason Peters was undrafted and Jason Kelce was a sixth-round pick. Great linemen can be had in later rounds.

This is true. Jason Peters was originally an undrafted free agent of the Buffalo Bills, although the Eagles traded a first-round pick, a fourth-round pick and a sixth-round pick to acquire him. And yes, Jason Kelce was a former sixth-round pick. So yes, good offensive linemen can certainly be had in later rounds. This is true of literally every position in the NFL. Name a position, and I'll give you a really good undrafted free agent who has had success in the NFL.

In 2014, there were 30 offensive linemen who received at least one All-Pro vote. The following is a list of those players, and where they were drafted:

Player	Position	Round	Overall
Joe Thomas, Browns	OT	1	3
Trent Williams, Redskins	OT	1	4
Lane Johnson	OT	1	4
Tyron Smith, Cowboys	OT	1	9
Ryan Clady, Broncos	OT	1	12
Zack Martin, Cowboys	OG	1	16
Mike Iupati, Cardinals	OG	1	17
Maurkice Pouncey, Steelers	C	1	18
Kyle Long, Bears	OG	1	20
Bryan Bulaga, Packers	OT	1	23
James Carpenter, Seahawks	OG	1	25
Joe Staley, 49ers	OT	1	28
Nick Mangold, Jets	C	1	29
Travis Frederick, Cowboys	C	1	31
Joel Bitonio, Browns	OG	2	35
Andrew Whitworth, Bengals	OT	2	55
Rodney Hudson, Chiefs	C	2	55
Sebastian Vollmer, Patriots	OT	2	58
Ryan Kalil, Panthers	C	2	59
Jared Veldheer, Cardinals	OT	3	69
Louis Vasquez, Broncos	OG	3	78
Evan Mathis, Eagles	OG	3	79
Marshal Yanda, Ravens	OG	3	86
Jahri Evans, Saints	OG	4	108
Josh Sitton, Packers	OG	4	135
Corey Linsley, Packers	C	5	161
Ricky Wagner, Ravens	OT	5	168
Jason Kelce, Eagles	C	6	191
Jason Peters, Eagles	OT	N/A	Undrafted
Dan Connolly, Patriots	OG	N/A	Undrafted

The final tally:

• 14 players were drafted in the first round.

• 5 players were drafted in the second round.

• 4 players were drafted in the third round.

• 2 players were drafted in the fourth round.

• 2 players were drafted in the fifth round.

• 1 player was drafted in the sixth round.

• 0 players were drafted in the seventh round.

• 2 players were undrafted free agents.

What does that all mean?

It means that just because you can get extremely lucky and find a great offensive lineman off the street like the Bills did with Peters, it doesn't mean it's likely.

Now, I already know what the next rebuttal will be, which will go something like, "But the media votes for those guys, and they are going to be biased toward first-round picks because they have no idea how to evaluate line play." OK, maybe. But if you're going to make that argument, please come armed with the names of a few undrafted free agent offensive linemen not included above that are better than the first-round picks listed.

2) 28 of the 57 offensive linemen on the Patriots, Seahawks, Packers, and Colts were undrafted. If the NFL's "final four" can fill their rosters with UDFAs on their offensive lines, so can the Eagles.

The above stat has been pointed out to me endlessly over the last day, but it makes no sense. Most NFL teams carry somewhere between 8-10 offensive linemen on their 53-man rosters. 57 offensive linemen among four teams averages out to 14.25 offensive linemen per team. So yes, if we're counting players who are either on practice squads, or other guys who will never see an NFL field during a regular season game, then yes, there is going to be a high number of offensive linemen on every single roster in the NFL.

However, the notion that those four teams are winning with undrafted free agents is nonsense. Here are the starters on those four teams, and where they were drafted.

Player	Position	Round	Overall
Russell Okung, Seahawks	OT	1	6
Nate Solder, Patriots	OT	1	17
Gosder Cherilus, Colts	OT	1	17
Anthony Castonzo, Colts	OT	1	22
Bryan Bulaga, Packers	OT	1	23
James Carpenter, Seahawks	OG	1	25
Max Unger, Seahawks	C	2	49
Sebastian Vollmer, Patriots	OT	2	58
Jack Mewhort, Colts	OG	2	59
Justin Britt, Seahawks	OT	2	64
Hugh Thornton, Colts	OG	3	86
Bryan Stork, Patriots	C	4	105
David Bakhtiari, Packers	OT	4	109
T.J. Lang, Packers	OG	4	109
Khaled Holmes, Colts	C	4	121
Josh Sitton, Packers	OG	4	135
Corey Linsley, Packers	C	5	161
J.R. Sweezey, Seahawks	OG	7	225
Dan Connolly, Patriots	OG	N/A	Undrafted
Ryan Wendell, Patriots	OG	N/A	Undrafted