Well, let’s look year by year, eff typing them all out, so
Eagles Drafts at Pro Football Reference
In evaluating draft picks I give most consideration to what the player achieves in the rookie contract, excepting a couple of premium positions (QB, OT, pass rusher). So many variables when it comes to considering extensions that I think it’s best to concentrate on the known 4 (or 5) year period the player is under the teams control.
I expect starters out of Rnds 1-3, depth contributors in the 4th, and anything you get below that is cream pretty much
2016 - Still believe Wentz is the right pick, Seumalo became a solid baseline type starter in Year 3. Smallwood and Vaitai were solid given where they were picked.
2017 - Barnett is a solid starter, but no more. Mid 1st round pick should have given a higher return. Notable alternatives from later in the round are Marlon Humphrey, Tre’Davious White and TJ Watt. The only other player still on the team is Nate Gerry, who is arguably not roster worthy.
2018 - Goedert is a good player, but all 4 years of his rookie contract overlap with Ertz. He was on the field no more than 65%of the time over those two years, and until this year was below Ertz as a target priority. Good evaluation, but bad use of resources IMO. No guarantee an ascending player like this wants to sign an extension here at this point either if that’s your argument. Notable alternatives were DJ Chark, James Washington and Fred Warner.
Maddox and Josh Sweat are playable depth, which is fine for 4th round picks. Mailata is a great pick.
2019 - Dillard looked below average at LT and disastrous at RT that year. Only 1 year, but a less than promising start and may have been overtaken permanently by a 7th round pick. Notable alternatives were Josh Jacobs, Hollywood Brown, Deebo Samuel and AJ Brown.
Sanders is a good pick, although drops and fumbles are an issue, JJAW, no point going over that. Besides Metcalf, Terry McLaurin was another alternative. Nothing else left from that draft. Think about that.
2020 - Look I still like Reagor, but Justin Jefferson is playing like a Top 10 WR in the league, in a run first offense with Kirk Cousins at QB. Turns out, he’s not just a slot guy and can get deep. Poor evaluation. Jalen Hurts pick was a waste of resources, regardless of his merit as a player. If Taylor is so raw he’s not playable in front of these LBs, its a worry. If he’s not ready for significant playing time on D starting next year, then this was a reach. Driscoll looks like a good pick and Hightower is already = Torrey Smith ie gets open deep and catches half the catchable balls, not bad for a 5th rounder.
A couple of nice mid / late round picks like Mailata and Driscoll don’t make up for the terrible returns in early rounds. 2018 and 2019 also suffered because of Howie’s ridiculous veteran trades.
Do you really think coaching is a bigger problem than the above? I’m not saying they’ve been good, but there’s such a lack of young talent on this team and this is the reason. It would be indefensible to fire Pederson and keep Howie based on this.
