Eagles draft reaction is all over the place.

Seems like people either loved Howie Roseman’s moves or hated them, with not much representation down the middle.

One of the partisans is Brian Baldinger, who really did not like what the Birds did this past weekend, telling Joe DeCamara and Jon Ritchie on 94 WIP that Howie Roseman and the front office “just fell in love with analytics, to be honest with you.”

Baldy:


“Whoever is running the analytics department, they must be paying him a lot of money. That’s what this looks like. It looks like  it was just an analytics-driven draft top to bottom, all the way through including Davion Taylor. I don’t care how fast he is. Speed is a great thing. Howie talked about speed, speed, speed. That’s great if you’re on the field and you know how to use it, but I mean if you’re just developing it doesn’t do you any good.”

Somewhat ironically, Baldy actually suggested drafting Jalen Hurts last month but had this to say when the Eagles did choose him:

“I actually thought that they should do it back in March, but that was before they took Jalen Reagor. When J.K Dobbins was on the board, I was going ‘give me some J.K. Dobbins in this offense with Miles Sanders,’ and let’s just be really dynamic. I like Jalen Hurts, I want him on my football team, I want him in my quarterback room. He’s an incredible competitor, really smart, and an improving player with a ton of ability. When you look at the Eagles playing six postseason games in the last three years, and Carson has played a total of nine snaps, you better have some kind of insurance policy. You just have to. I could kill the pick, but with J.K. Dobbins on the board, I couldn’t have passed that up.”

On the Taysom Hill comparisons and bullshit gadget and wildcat plays, Baldy:

“I don’t think it’s going to be a big package for him. We’re not talking about Taysom Hill here. We’re not talking about a guy who is going to play special teams punt team. I don’t think he’s that kind of player. They might have a small package for him where he can run some read option and do some of that kind of stuff maybe, but I don’t want to take the ball out of Carson’s hands. I think the best scenario this year, honestly, is if he doesn’t have to take a snap and he’s just a guy that’s gonna slice up the defense throughout the week in practice, make those guys sharper and better, learn an NFL offense and learn the season.”

On passing up Justin Jefferson and Kenneth Murray:

“The Minnesota Vikings spit their teeth out when (the Eagles) passed on Justin Jefferson. It’s not close. If the Eagles think over there at NovaCare that Justin Jefferson is a slot receiver, they didn’t do their homework. You watch the year before Joe Brady got there and he was outside receiver and he carved up the SEC. There wasn’t a more productive player in college football than Justin Jefferson. Elite route runner. The best route runner in the draft. Nobody could slow him down. Kenneth Murray, the Chargers traded back into the first round to go get Kenneth Murray. You put the green dot on that kid’s helmet and let him run your defense. Jim Schwartz had to be pissed that they passed on Justin Jefferson and Kenneth Murray.”

It was good stuff from Baldy. Here’s the full audio: