Okay, that’s a bit harsh—they’re not seagulls, they are young guys with checkered backgrounds in some cases trying to make an NFL roster—but they are definitely not the cream of the crop. Again, you have to trust the Eagles scouting department on these late picks, but they didn’t exactly have a lot of guaranteed talent to work with.
With their first pick on the third day of the 2016 NFL Draft, the Eagles added to their depth in the backfield by adding running back Wendell Smallwood
out of West Virginia with the 153rd-overall pick.
At 5-10, 208 pounds, Smallwood was among the top performers at the NFL Scouting Combine in the three-cone and 60-yard shuttle drills. With the Mountaineers, Smallwood was the Big 12’s leading rushing in 2015, racking up 1,519 rushing yards and nine touchdowns in 13 games.
The Wilmington, Delaware native joins Ryan Mathews, Darren Sproles and Kenjon Barner in the Eagles’ backfield and should provide another explosive element to the Eagles’ rushing game, and he also caught 26 passes for 160 yards in his final season in Morgantown.
Smallwood has some “bones & thugs” issues left over from his high school days. He’s got about 3 months to clear away that crap for good.
With the 164th-overall pick in the fifth round, the team selected TCU standout Halapoulivaati Vaitai, a tackle whose massive frame matches his protracted name.
Hailing from Halton, Texas, Vaitai is a physical specimen, standing tall at 6-6, 320 pounds. At the NFL Draft Combine, he measured out with 34.5-inch arms that matched those of first-round pick Laremy Tunsil and notched the second-best broad jump (113 inches) at his position. In 2015, he played in 12 games for the Horned Frogs, starting 10 of them at left tackle. He was a key member of an offensive line that helped TCU produce a 1,000-yard receiver and a 1,000-yard rusher in the same season for just the second time in school history.
“When we talk about our team and what we need going forward, this is something we need, a big, athletic guy you can work with at tackle,” said executive vice president of football operations Howie Roseman of selecting the Tongan giant. “He’s got all the tools. Now it’s just got to come together for him. He’s a guy that when you talk to our coaching staff, they would take him anywhere in the Draft because of the tools that he has.”
Aside from his physical traits, Vaitai, who goes by the nickname “Big V”, also has the versatility to play on both sides of the line, much like the team’s third-round pick Isaac Seumalo. At TCU, Vaitai played both left and right tackle and contributed as both a run and pass-blocker.
“[I am] comfortable on both sides,” he said. “The Eagles can expect a hard-working guy who’ll finish through the ball, they can trust me to protect the quarterback. You know, they can trust me to contribute to the team and help the other o-linemen do their jobs too.”
While he develops under the tutelage of Eagles offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, Vaitai figures to provide depth along a veteran offensive line.
With their fifth pick, the 196th-overall pick in the sixth round, the Eagles bolstered their secondary, selecting Auburn defensive back Blake Countess after moving back eight picks in a deal with the Vikings that netted the team an extra pick (240 overall) in the seventh round.
Countess, who has experience at both cornerback and safety, had an inkling that he might be an Eagle by the end of the Draft on Saturday evening. The Eagles brought the 22-year-old native of Owings Mills, Maryland in for a visit during the pre-draft process, telling him that they didn’t know where it would be but that they hoped to pick him during the weekend.
“I had a pretty solid idea about how they felt about me,” Countess said. “They brought me in, I want to say kind of late, actually, for a visit. But when I got down there on my visit, you could tell that they really had done their homework and had looked into me a lot. I really felt the love on my visit more so than my other visits.”
At 5-10, 185 pounds, Countess has experience at both corner and safety. As a graduate transfer from Michigan, Countess started at outside corner in his first three games with the Tigers before moving to safety for the remainder of the season. He racked up a career-best 71 tackles in 2015. Before transferring to Auburn, Countess started 30 games in three seasons with the Michigan Wolverines. In Ann Arbor, he was named All-Big Ten as a sophomore and as a junior.
“He was a favorite player of ours,” said executive vice president of football operations Howie Roseman of Countess. “He has some traits of guys like [Rodney] McCloud when he plays [safety]. He’s also played nickel, he can play nickel, he can play corner… Phenomenal character kid and just somebody that we had really kind of earmarked – we got kind of cute there [trading down], but it was someone that we think has a lot of value and versatility for our defense.”
With the No. 240 pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, the Philadelphia Eagles selected Florida defensive end Alex McCalister.
McCalister is one of the 30 prospects the Eagles hosted on pre-draft visits. Here’s what Bleeding Green Nation wrote at the time:
“McCalister is big and long. He measures in at 6-6, 239 pounds with 36” arms. In 22 games played for the Gators, McCalister racked up 49 tackles (17.5 for loss), 12.5 sacks, and two forced fumbles. There are some red flags with McCalister. He was suspended for Florida’s season opener in 2015 before later being dismissed entirely from the football program late last year. McCalister also missed a few games in his final season with the Gators due to a foot injury At only 239 pounds he’d need to add some weight in order to play as a defensive end in Philadelphia’s 4-3 scheme.”
With their first pick in the seventh round, the Eagles added defensive playmaker Jalen Mills from LSU with the 233rd-overall pick.
Mills played safety for the LSU Tigers but has the versatility to play cornerback as well. At the Combine, Mills’ 37.0-inch vertical jump was among the best from the defensive back group.
In August, Mills fractured his left fibula (leg) and tore ligaments in his ankle. So he took a redshirt year, right? Wrong. He came back to play in six games, starting the final five at nickelback or safety (30 tackles, sack, three pass breakups). Mills’ toughness wasn’t surprising given his strength as a tackler (62 stops in 2014) and the hands to create turnovers consistently (six interceptions in his first three years). LSU is known for the talent in their secondary, but that didn’t stop Mills from starting at cornerback as a true freshman (57 tackles, two INT, five PBU) after Tyrann Mathieu was dismissed from the team. Though scouts will love his versatility, they have questions about an arrest for second-degree battery of a woman in the summer of 2014 (the charges were eventually reduced to a misdemeanor and he was assigned to a diversion program).
With their eighth and final pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, the Eagles once again addressed the defense, selecting Oregon linebacker Joe Walker with the 251st-overall pick. Walker rounds out a balanced draft for the Eagles, as the team selected four offensive players and four defensive players.
Walker played in 40 games for the Ducks over three seasons (2013-15). He recorded 205 total tackles in that time.
PRO DAY RESULTS:
40-yard dash: 4.56 seconds
Vertical: 37 1/2 inches
Broad jump: 10 feet, 4 inches
Short shuttle: 4.31 seconds
3-cone: 6.81 seconds
Bench: 23 reps of 225 pounds
STRENGTHS:
Surprised some NFL scouts with solid workout at his pro day. Adequate play speed on tape. Uses hands well to punch and shift around blockers to stay clean. Square scraper with good lateral agility and quickness to flow to outside with run play. Plays under control. Productive tackler who rarely takes shortcuts and plays his role. Gets good depth in his drops has some cover ability in space.
Now here is the first wave of Undrafted Free Agent signings by the Eagles:
LB Quentin Gause, Rutgers
WR Hunter Sharp, Utah State
DE Connor Wujciak, Boston College
CB C.J. Smith, North Dakota State
DL Aziz Shittu, Stanford
DT Destiny Vaeao, Washington State
RB/WR Byron Marshall, Oregon
To sum up, the Eagles drafted:
1st (2) – Carson Wentz, QB, North Dakota State
3rd (79) – Isaac Seumalo, OL, Oregon State
5th (153) – Wendell Smallwood, RB, West Virginia
5th (164) – Halapoulivaati Vaitai, OL, TCU
6th (196) – Blake Countess, DB, Auburn
7th (233) – Jalen Mills, S, LSU
7th (240) – Alex McCalister, DE, Florida
7th (251) – Joe Walker, LB, Oregon
(Give me a few hours to compare all the MACH 10 ballots to these somewhat underwhelming draft results. The winner of the 10th Annual Green Jacket will be announced after said review.)
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
