At the conclusion of the 2013 season, the Philadelphia Eagles were in possession of the 22nd pick in the first round of the 2014 NFL draft. Johnny Manziel ended up going 22nd overall… to the Browns.
Instead the Eagles traded back to 26 and scooped up an extra third-round pick from Cleveland in doing so. They used that No. 26 overall pick to select Louisville DE/OLB Marcus Smith. With blaring holes in the secondary and receiving core this pick was received by a crowd of booing Philly fans at Radio City Music Hall. With names like Darqueze Dennard, Bradley Roby and Kelvin Benjamin still on the board it can be considered a bit of a head scratcher to pick a player who wasn’t expected to go in the first round at all.
That being said, the birds ranked 31st in the NFL last year in sacks per pass play. When analyzing a draft pick, teams either go with the best player on the board or sacrifice some superior talented players to draft someone that they feel is a good fit for their specific needs. With the scheme the Eagles have recently imported defensively, a hybrid 3-4 DE/OLB with the ability to drop into coverage is in fact a perfect fit for them, it’s just a matter of Smith panning out as a dominant player or not. With 34 inch arms and a 4.68 40 time, Smith has the tools to put his hand on the ground and shed offensive tackles to put pressure on the quarterback while still being versatile enough to stand up in a stance and cover tight ends or backs.
Smith was a playmaker on a tough Louisville defense last year. He recorded 18.5 tackles for loss and 14.5 sacks while forcing four fumbles, blocking a kick and producing some good numbers at the combine. With only three years of playing defensive end under his belt, the former quarterback can either be considered inexperienced or a dynamic player with a ton of untapped potential waiting to be coached out of him. Either way Billy Davis certainly has a new toy to play around with now and hybrid 3-4 guys like Connor Barwin to show him the ropes.
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