EAGLES NEWS

The Eagles continued the draft tonight in prime time with the 2nd and 3rd rounds. They had 2 picks in the 2nd round including the 4th pick of the round obtained in the Donovan Mcnabb trade . They used that pick, the 37th overall, to select South Florida S Nate Allen. Allen is a is a great athlete and a great cover guy, fully capable of running with recievers and filling that centerfield role that Brian Dawkins played so well. He was according to most experts the best safety left on the board. He's not as hard hitter and some question his tackling ability even though he was 2nd on the Bulls in tackles last season. Hard hitting though was really all Taylor Mays brought to the table, and the Birds were looking for a good cover guy, so Allen fits the bill for them much better than Mays would have. Also Allen is one of those versatile safeties the Eagles like, who is capable playing at either safety position or even at CB. So I would say he was a good pick up this late in the draft.

After that the Birds traded their other 2nd round pick and then moved down 2 more times before finally picking Washingon DE Daniel Te'O-Nesheim in the 3rd round with the 86th pick of the draft. Te'O-Nesheim or TO for short like 1st round pick Brandon Graham, is a bit undersized but has a high motor is a relentless pass rusher who piled up a school record 30.5 sacks while starting all 4 years for the Huskies. He may not be as explosive as Graham but he's a guy who can get after the quarterback and the more guys you have who can get to the QB the better. Also Trent Cole is 30 years old now so eventually someone will have to replace him and maybe that someone will be TO. At any rate the Eagles have now built themselves a fast and strong defensive line and at least the start of a good cover secondary. We'll have to wait and see how it pans out but I am feeling pretty optimistic at this point.