Eagles head to Rounds 4 through 7 after polarizing pick of Sidney Jones

Spending their 2nd Round pick on a very iffy injury rehab project, the Eagles have earned the admiration of some fans but the contempt of others.

Drafting crippled Washington cornerback Sidney Jones in the second round of the NFL draft with the 43rd overall pick was not going to be an easy decision. I understand the team’s good intention, it’s just a shame they had to use such a valuable pick to get the job done. It’s unlikely Jones will be able to play at all until 2018 coming off his Achilles injury rehab—and who knows what his performance will be like when he does return to the playing field?

Jones was a favorite to be chosen by the Eagles at No. 14 overall before he tore his left Achilles tendon at his pro day in March. The injury sent him tumbling down draft boards and scared off some evaluators. A handwritten letter from Eagles senior director of college scouting Anthony Patch, who was in attendance the day Jones got hurt, offered the cornerback some assurance that at least one team was still very much in play.

Tim McManus of ESPN: “According to a league source, the Eagles were the team that “put the most time into him” during the pre-draft process. Now that they have him, they’ll have to show some patience. Speaking to ESPN’s Matt Bowen in April, Jones said he would be back on the field in six months, as doctors told his camp that he’ll be able to play “by the end of October at the latest.” The message coming out of the Eagles’ NovaCare Complex headquarters on Friday, however, was that the team would take a conservative approach.”

“We don’t know that timetable, and to be fair, we just want to make sure that he’s healthy and ready to go,” said GM Howie Roseman.

Listed at 6-0, 186 pounds, Jones has ideal size for a corner. At the NFL Combine, Jones ran a 4.47 40-yard dash. In three seasons with the Huskies, Jones totaled nine interceptions, running one back for a touchdown in 2015. He earned first-team All-Pac-12 honors in both 2015 and 2016.

The Eagles made a more conventional pick with their 3rd Round selection, 99th overall: West Virginia’s Rasul Douglas, a tall, physical cornerback at 6-2, 209 pounds. In 2016, a season in which he recorded an incredible eight interceptions, Douglas played mostly off-coverage in WVU’s 3-3-5 defense. At the NFL Combine, Douglas ran a 4.59 40-yard dash and displayed a 120-inch broad jump.

My only real concern with Douglas is he will have to learn to play press-man coverage in the Eagles 4-3 defense. That could be a tough adjustment from his ball-hawking roaming assignments at West Virginia.

Eagles’ remaining picks on Saturday, April 29th, beginning at noon:

Round 4 (118 overall)

Round 4 (139 overall)

Round 5 (155 overall)

Round 6 (194 overall)

Round 7 (230 overall)

MACH 10 Draft Challenge update going into Day 3:

We have five guys tied with one correct pick each so far: STINE, ~BROZ, HOPPER, BEANSTALK, and BRIZER.

Carry on.