EAGLES NEWS

The Eagles finished their draft today with two picks in the 5th round, one in the 6th, and one in the 7th. With the 159th pick of the 5th round the Eagles finally got a safety, C.J Gaddis, from Clemson, the same school from which the Eagles drafted perennial pro-bowl safety Brian Dawkins. Gaddis proved to be a very versatile while at Clemson playing at both safety positions, cornerback, kick-returner, and even quarterback for their scout team. Basically, he's the kind of guy that the Eagles can plug in anywhere and get good production out of, and obviously that's what they're looking for out of him. Three picks later the Eagles took Cincinnati TE Matt Celek with the 162nd pick in the 5th round. In his career Celek had 91 career receptions for 1,135 yards and 14 touchdowns, numbers good enough for him to be the Eagles 3rd tight end behind L.J Smith and Matt Schobel. In the 6th round with the 201st pick the Eagles took CB Rashad Barksdale out of division 1-AA Albany. Barksdale is a physical specimen at 6-2 210 Lbs and with a time of 4.38 in the 40 yard dash. Hopefully, he'll give the Eagles the depth at CB that they didn't have last season. Finally, with their last pick, the 236th pick in the 7th round, the Eagles took Hawaii FB Nate Ilaoa. In 37 career games Ilaoa rushed 1,689 yards and 20 touchdowns on 222 carries, while taking in 151 receptions for 1,694 yards and 9 touchdowns. Those are pretty good numbers for a fullback and although the Eagles already have capable Thomas Tapeh at FB, Ilaoa could fit in with the Eagles somewhere and just give them one more weapon on offense.