Chris Infante
The Super Bowl has come and gone and we can finally congratulate Andy Reid and LeSean McCoy on their first rings!
Ok, now time for Eagles content.
For many, it's finally the start of mock drafts and free agency predictions. For some, including myself, it's been that way since December. I've already blessed you all with my free agency scenarios that could impact draft plans, check it out here. Before I dive fully into a mock draft, join me in analyzing the college conferences that have been drafted by Howie Roseman and which have been the most productive in his tenure. (Excludes the 2015 Chip Kelly GM year)
*Bolded areas denote updated article as of April 2021 and paragraphs following may not reflect new updates
The ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference)
The ACC consists of:
Boston College
Clemson
Duke
Florida State
Georgia Tech
Louisville
Miami
NC State
North Carolina (UNC)
Pitt
Syracuse
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Wake Forest
Since 2010, here are the players selected by Howie Roseman:
2010: Ricky Sapp (Clemson)
2011: Dion Lewis (Pitt)
2012: Brandon Washington (Miami)
2013: Earl Wolff (NC State)
2014: Marcus Smith (Louisville)
2017: Mack Hollins (UNC)
2018: Avonte Maddox (Pitt) and Josh Sweat (Florida St.)
2020: K'Von Wallace (Clemson)
Eight players from the ACC under Howie Roseman.
Pretty bad luck from the conference until the 2018 draft. Maddox became a fixture in the secondary after a stellar rookie season. He regressed a bit in 2019 but, with Marquand Manuel as the new defensive backs coach, could be in store for big things again in 2020. Sweat appeared in nine games as a rooie in 2018 and registered one tackle. But in 2020, he had four sacks in 16 games while never playing more than 51% of the snaps in a game. The promise is there for the upcoming third year pro.
Big 12
The Big 12 conference includes:
Baylor
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas St.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma St.
TCU
Texas
Texas Tech
West Virginia
Here are the players drafted from those schools:
2010: Keenan Clayton (Oklahoma)
2011: Danny Watkins (Baylor)
2012: Bryce Brown (Kansas St.)
2013: Lane Johnson and David King (Oklahoma)
2016: Wendell Smallwood (West Virginia) and Halapoulivaati Vaitai (TCU)
2017: Rasul Douglas and Shelton Gibson (West Virginia)
2018: Matt Pryor (TCU)
2020: Jalen Reagor (TCU) and Jalen Hurts (Oklahoma)
Out of the ten players selected, you could say six had prominent roles. Johnson is an All-Pro, Douglas is a fixture in the secondary, Vaitai is a SUper Bowl starting left tackle and very serviceable back up guard/tackle, Pryor stepped up to start for Brandon Brooks in 2019, and Smallwood was either a starter or RB5 for his whole career. Gibson was the burner that the Eagles wanted but he didn't pan out. Brown had a couple of good years before being traded. Clayton had 43 tackles in two seasons. King never played a down for the team. We won't get into Watkins.
Big East/American Athletic Conference
The Big East ended football operations in 2013, and schools transferred over to the American Athletic Conference. Those schools are:
Connecticut
Cincinnati
UCF (Central Florida)
Houston
SMU (Southern Miss)
Navy
Memphis
Temple
East Carolina
Tulane
Tulsa
South Florida
The players drafted to the Eagles from that conference are:
2010: Nate Allen (South Florida)
2011: Greg Lloyd (Connecticut), Jason Kelce (Cincinnati), and Jaiquawn Jarrett (Temple)
2020: Shaun Bradley (Temple)
Only four players since 2010 from that conference before and after the change. Nate Allen had five productive seasons before moving on to the Raiders. Greg Lloyd never played a snap for the Eagles. Jaiqwuan Jarrett had 17 tackles in two seasons. But the Eagles did get the league's best center in Jason Kelce.
Big Ten
The Big Ten Conference includes:
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Maryland
Michigan
Michigan St.
Minnesota
Nebraska
Northwestern
Ohio St.
Penn St.
Purdue
Rutgers
Wisconsin
The players drafted from the Big Ten are:
2010: Brandon Graham (Michigan), Mike Kafka (Northwestern), and Kurt Coleman (Ohio St.)
2011: Julian Vandervelde (Iowa) and Brian Rolle (Ohio St.)
2012: Dennis Kelly (Purdue) and Marvin McNutt (Iowa)
2014: Beau Allen (Wisconsin)
2017: Nathan Gerry (Nebraska)
2019: Miles Sanders (Penn St.), Shareef Miller (Penn St.), and Clayton Thorson (Northwestern)
Kafka played four games for the Eagles and is now a rising star in NFL coaching. Marvin McNutt played four games as a rookie and recorded two tackles as a wide receiver.
Clayton Thorson lol. (Sorry Liam Jenkins)
The jury is still out on Miller, as he only played two snaps on special teams all season (he was inactive for 15 games).
Coleman had two very productive years with the Eagles, including a 93 tackle campaign in 2012. His rookie year and final year left a lot to be desired.
Brian Rolle had a strong rookie season with 54 tackles in 16 games, but only played four in his sophomore season and was cut after.
Vandervelde spent five years with the Eagles as the backup guard and appeared in 17 games (14 in 2013).
Kelly is now known as the guy who spent three years with the Eagles, only to be traded for a failed wide receiver and has caught a touchdown pass in the playoffs. That sent off a storm of jokes and "hot takes" on Eagles Twitter.
Allen was a cog in the run defense for four years and was an important part of the Super Bowl run. He only missed one game in his Eagles career.
Gerry is entering the final year of his rookie deal after a career high in tackles with 72. He also mised 14 tackles.
Brandon Graham and Miles Sanders. Studs. Need I say more?
Conference USA
Out of the 14 C-USA schools, the one that matters here is Marshall.
Vinny Curry was selected in the 2012 draft from Marshall and spent six seasons with the Eagles before having a Tampa Bay year. He returned this past season and played in all 16 games and four of his five sacks within weeks 13-16.
(EDIT: 2020: Quez Watkins (Southern Miss))
Check out some more conferences on the page below.
Mountain West
Short and sweet. 12 teams, but three schools matter.
2011: Curtis Marsh (Utah St.)
2017: Donnel Pumphrey (San Diego St.)
2020: John Hightower (Boise St.)
Marsh played seven games his rookie season and 15 games his rookie sophomore and was cut before the 2013 campaign. He was signed back with the Eagles late in 2013 and played in two more games.
Pumphrey... yeah.
PAC-12
The conference that is the one "to stay away from" for many Eagles fans. These teams include:
Arizona
Arizona St.
California
Colorado
Oregon
Oregon St.
Stanford
UCLA
USC
Utah
Washington
Washington St.
The players taken from here have been:
2010: Daniel Te'o-Nesheim (Washington)
2012: Nick Foles (Arizona) and Mychal Kendricks (Cal)
2013: Zach Ertz (Stanford), Matt Barkley (USC), Joe Kruger (Utah), and Jordan Poyer (Oregon St.)
2014: Josh Huff (Oregon), Taylor Hart (Oregon), and Ed Reynolds (Stanford)
2016: Isaac Seumalo (Oregon St.) and Joe Walker (Oregon)
2017: Sidney Jones and Elijah Qualls (Washington)
2019: Andre Dillard (Washington St.) and JJ Arcega-Whiteside (Stanford)
2020: Davion Taylor (Colorado) and Casey Toohill (Stanford)
"WHERE'S AGHOLOR?!" Remember, no 2015 in this because that was Chip's year.
16 players from the Pac-12 under Howie.
Te'o-Nesheim played six games and had two tackles with one sack.
Poyer was cut two months into his rookie year, and now is a very productive member of the Bills.
Barkley spent two years as the backup/third string.
Kruger never played a game.
Reynolds had two seasons and played six games.
Qualls played six games in one season.
Hart played 14 games his sophomore season after not playing at all his rookie season. He was then cut and resigned four different times, only to not be resigned after the fourth time.
Huff played two and a half years before being released after he was arrested.
Walker played 12 games as a rookie before getting cut.
Kendricks had five highly productive years and one not so productive year with the Eagles before getting cut.
The jury is still out on Sidney Jones and JJ Arcega-Whiteside. It's still WAY too early to call either busts. Jones could have a renaissance year with a new DBs coach and Arcega-Whiteside might finally crack the starting lineup for more than five games (and maybe see some targets).
The Eagles may have found their left side of the line for the foreseeable future in Seumalo and Dillard.
The gems here are Foles and Ertz. The legend of Nick Foles is known across the country and world. Ertz is 65 receptions away from becoming the team's all time leader in receptions and already holds the NFL record for receptions in a single season by a tight end. He is 15th on the NFL's all time list for receptions by a tight end in their career.
The Super Bowl doesn't happen without Foles and Ertz. Thank the PAC-12 for that.
SEC
The schools in the South Eastern Conference:
Alabama
Arkansas
Auburn
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
LSU
Mississippi State
Missouri
Ole Miss
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas A&M
Vanderbilt
The players drafted:
2010: Trevard Lindley (Kentucky), Riley Cooper (Florida), Charles Scott (LSU), Jamar Cheney (Mississippi St.), and Jeff Owens (Georgia)
2012: Fletcher Cox (Mississippi St.) and Brandon Boykin (Georgia)
2013: Bennie Logan (LSU)
2014: Jordan Matthews (Vanderbilt) and Jaylen Watkins (Florida)
2016: Blake Countess (Auburn), Jalen Mills (LSU), Alex McCalister (Florida)
2017: Derek Barnett (Tennessee)
2020: Jack Driscoll and Price Tega-Wanogho (Auburn)
14 players.
Lindley played in 11 games in his rookie season and had one interception. That was his only season in the NFL. Scott never played a game for the team. Owens played in one game. McCalister never appeared in a game. Countess was waived before his rookie season and was reacquired in May of 2019. Then he was cut again in August.
Watkins spent four seasons with the Eagles before moving on to the Chargers.
Cooper spent his entire six year career with the Eagles and had 169 receptions for 2,418 yards and 18 touchdowns. He was released prior to the 2016 season.
Cheney had three solid years with the team, leading the team in tackles in 2011.
Boykin was known as one of the league's best slot corners during his tenure. He had six interceptions in 2013 including a pick-6. He was traded by Chip Kelly for a fifth round pick that ended up becoming Halapoulivaati Vaitai.
Logan formed a nice run defense duo with Fletcher Cox during his four year tenure. He had 164 tackles and 5.5 sacks in his Eagles career.
Ah, Jordan Matthews. His first three seasons came with 872, 997, and 804 yards respectively. Then he got traded for Ronald Darby and his production fell off. When the Eagles called him this past season for reinforcements and he played in two games and had four receptions for 33 yards.
Jalen Mills. The Green Goblin. He's a free agent this off-season and there's a good chance he won't be back. He's had some head scratching plays, and some game saving ones.
Derek Barnett has 14 sacks in his three seasons. He's played 15, 6, and 14 games in those seasons respectively. There's loads of potential, he just needs some consistency.
Of course, I save the best for last. Fletcher Cox has made a name for himself as one of the most dominant defensive tackles in the league. He is seventh all time in Eagles history in sacks, and he's only eight years into his career.
Non BCS Division 1-A and Non Division 1-A
Those were the only big time conferences targeted by Howie Roseman. He's taken three players from non BCS schools and non division 1-A.
That has given the Eagles:
2010: Clay Harbor (Southwest Missouri St.)
2016: Carson Wentz (North Dakota)
2018: Dallas Goedert (South Dakota St.)
Clay Harbor played three seasons with the Eagles and was pretty productive.
But let's thank those non-BCS conferences for Carson Wentz and Dallas Goedert.
Goedert is well on his way to being an elite tight end. He's forming an electric duo with Zach Ertz.
Wentz, well, what can I say about him that already hasn't been said? He's the franchise and will be the franchise for the next decade. He's the team's first ever 4,000 yard passer and did it without one receiver going over 500 yards receiving. He has yet to hit his prime, and that should scare every team.
For a full count of players by school, check out the next page.
Players drafted by school:
| Florida |
3 |
| LSU |
3 |
| Oklahoma |
4 |
| Oregon |
3 |
| Stanford |
4 |
| Washington |
3 |
| West Virginia |
3 |
| Georgia |
2 |
| Iowa |
2 |
| Mississippi St. |
2 |
| Ohio St. |
2 |
| Oregon St. |
2 |
| Penn St. |
2 |
| Pitt |
2 |
| TCU |
3 |
| Arizona |
1 |
| Auburn |
3 |
| Baylor |
1 |
| Cal |
1 |
| Cincinnati |
1 |
| Clemson |
2 |
| Florida St. |
1 |
| Kansas St. |
1 |
| Kentucky |
1 |
| Louisville |
1 |
| Marshall |
1 |
| Miami |
1 |
| Michigan |
1 |
| NC State |
1 |
| Nebraska |
1 |
| North Dakota |
1 |
| Northwestern |
1 |
| Purdue |
1 |
| San Diego St. |
1 |
| South Dakota St. |
1 |
| South Florida |
1 |
| SW Miss. St. |
1 |
| Temple |
2 |
| Tennessee |
1 |
| UConn |
1 |
| UNC |
1 |
| USC |
1 |
| Utah |
1 |
| Utah St. |
1 |
| Vanderbilt |
1 |
| Washington St. |
1 |
| Wisconsin |
1 |
While no one school stands out as an Eagles hub for players, two conferences do. If you're looking at players the Eagles may draft in 2020, you might want to focus your attention to the PAC-12 and the SEC.
