November 07, 2015
LM Otero/AP
Wait, the football is in the receiver's hands. This is new and strange to me.
As long as you're taking in some college football games today, here are some players who could make some sense for the Eagles in the 2016 NFL Draft.
Duke. North Carolina. The rivalry continues. Oh wait, that's basketball.
OK, so you're probably not going to watch a Duke-UNC game just to watch an offensive lineman, but I like what I see out of Landon Turner, OG for the Tar Heels. While Turner doesn't have a lot of OL versatility like the Eagles prefer, he does have an attribute that the Eagles don't currently have along the interior of their offensive line -- Turner can move defenders against their will. Here's Turner's game against South Carolina this season. He looks steady in pass pro, and just about all of North Carolina's big runs in this game came behind great blocks by Turner.
For each quarterback we profile, we're going to do an extensive look worthy of its own post. That's what we did for Gunner Kiel here Friday night. In case you missed any of the other quarterbacks we've profiled, you can catch up with them all below:
• Michigan State's Connor Cook
• Ohio State's Cardale Jones
• USC's Cody Kessler
• Cal's Jared Goff
• Cincinnati's Gunner Kiel
Spoiler on Kiel: I like him.
If you read my "Grocery Shopping" series every week, you already know that I stress high pass breakup numbers when projecting cornerbacks to the Eagles.
Why? Of the 31 cornerbacks that were selected in the 2015 NFL Draft, the three corners the Eagles drafted all landed among the top six players in pass breakups the last two years, including the No. 1 overall player, sixth-round pick JaCorey Shepherd, who had 28. Jackson fits the profile of a player with outstanding ball skills, as he had 10 pass breakups in 2014, and he already has 14 in 2015. Jackson is a PBU machine, and he also has three interceptions this season, two of which he returned for pick-sixes.
He also possesses the length the Eagles love from their corners, at 6'1, 195. Here's a pick-six vs Vanderbilt:
Can you say 8-0? @UHCougarFB's William Jackson ran through the entire Vandy team for a pick-six. Houston up 34-0. https://t.co/RGiLi8FZAQ
— ESPN (@espn) November 1, 2015
In the above video, you'll hear the announcer say he's projected as a 4th-round pick. No. Freaking. Way. At worst, barring injury, he's a second-round pick.
The Eagles have invested heavily in the wide receiver position in the draft over the last two years, so it would be somewhat of a surprise to see them go that direction again. Then again, the Eagles receivers haven't exactly produced:
The three receivers the Eagles drafted the last two years were all very productive heading into the pros. Here were their numbers their final seasons in college:
| Player | Rec | Yards | YPC | TD |
| Jordan Matthews | 112 | 1,477 | 13.2 | 7 |
| Josh Huff | 62 | 1,140 | 18.4 | 12 |
| Nelson Agholor | 104 | 1,313 | 12.6 | 12 |
Doctson's numbers in 2014 were good, when he caught 65 passes for 1,018 yards and 11 TDs. This season, they are insane:
| Opponent | Rec | Yards | YPC | TD |
| Minnesota | 8 | 74 | 9.3 | 1 |
| Stephen F. Austin | 4 | 81 | 20.3 | 0 |
| SMU | 5 | 171 | 34.2 | 2 |
| Texas Tech | 18 | 267 | 14.8 | 3 |
| Texas | 7 | 129 | 18.4 | 2 |
| Kansas State | 8 | 155 | 19.4 | 2 |
| Iowa State | 10 | 190 | 19.0 | 2 |
| West Virginia | 11 | 183 | 16.6 | 2 |
| TOTAL | 71 | 1,250 | 17.6 | 14 |
He has at least two touchdown receptions in six straight games.
As we've noted, one of the Eagles' biggest team strengths (perhaps their biggest, actually) is their defensive line, so it's not as if they need to reach for a need here. However, Cedric Thornton is a free agent at the end of this season, and if the Eagles are unable to retain him, the Eagles could look to address the D line in the draft.
Alabama actually has two defensive linemen worth watching in this one -- Reed and A'Shawn Robinson, who we profiled back in September. Reed and Robinson two are run-stuffer extraordinaires, and they'll be facing LSU man-beast RB Leonard Fournette.
Check out our grocery shopping page here, or any of the individual grocery shopping posts below.
Follow Jimmy on Twitter: @JimmyKempski
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