by David ElfinFiled under: Cowboys, Eagles, Giants, Redskins, NFC East
With free agency on hold in the likely event of the players being locked out by the owners on March 4, the main way for NFL teams to get better this spring will be the old-fashioned way: the draft. This year's selection of the top college players will be spread out over three days, April 28-30.No longer the 17-round marathon it was as recently as 1976 or the 12-round extravaganza it was as recently as 1992, the 2011 draft will be more important than it has been since unrestricted free agency was implemented 18 years ago.
So given the draft's newfound dominance, let's take a look at how the four NFC East teams fared in the 2010 rookie haul and how many picks they have three months from now.
EAGLES: It's pretty hard not to have the division's best draft when you chose 13 players last April -- one more than the Redskins and Cowboys selected between them. But it wasn't just quantity that Philadelphia had, there was some definite quality, as well. Nine, count 'em nine, of the Eagles' 13 draft picks started a game. So did rookie free agent offensive tackle Austin Howard. Contrast that with the Giants, who didn't have any rookies start a game on offense or defense, or the Redskins, whose only rookie starter was offensive tackle Trent Williams, the fourth pick in the draft.
Philadelphia's top rookie was second-rounder Nate Allen. He easily won the free safety job in training camp, had interceptions in each of his first two games, a sack in his third, another interception in his fourth and three hurries in his fifth. The big plays plunged from then on and Allen's season ended with a knee injury in Week 15. He wound up being credited with 59 tackles.
He was replaced by seventh-rounder Kurt Coleman, who had picked off a pass when Allen sat out Week 10 with a neck injury and made eight tackles in Week 16. Another seventh-rounder, Jamar Chaney, took over when middle linebacker Stewart Bradley was hurt in Week 14. Chaney was credited with a team season-high 16 tackles and forced a fumble in his first start, the critical Week 15 come from behind victory at the Giants.
First-rounder Brandon Graham teamed with Allen to give Philadelphia's defense its first pair of opening day rookie starters in 27 years. Eventually beaten out by veteran left end Juqua Parker, Graham recorded three sacks and 13 hurries before tearing an ACL in Week 14 at Dallas. Clay Harbor, the last of four fourth-rounders, barely got on the field during the first half of the season but wound up starting the final five games in a two-tight end set. He caught nine passes, one for a touchdown. Fifth-rounder Riley Cooper caught seven passes, one for a touchdown but became best known as the receiver to whom Michael Vick was throwing the pass that was intercepted to end the Eagles' last hope in their wild-card playoff loss to Green Bay.
Defensive end Daniel Te'-o-Nesheim (third round), cornerback Trevard Lindley (fourth) and linebacker Keenan Clayton (fourth) all started the finale when coach Andy Reid rested most of his regulars. Coleman, Chaney, Clayton and safety Colt Anderson, signed off Minnesota's practice squad for the final eight games, all ranked among Philadelphia's top special teams tacklers. Quarterback Mike Kafka (fourth) was inactive all year. Defensive end Ricky Sapp (fifth) spent the season on injured reserve. Defensive tackle Jeff Owens was promoted from the practice squad in Week 16 and promptly tore a patella tendon. Running back Charles Scott (sixth) was traded to Arizona for cornerback Jorrick Calvin in August.
GRADE: A-
This April, the Eagles have an extra fourth (from Washington), an extra fifth (from San Diego), no sixth and Seattle's seventh.
COWBOYS: It should come as no surprise that Dallas, long the NFC East's flashiest team, had its flashiest rookies. Receiver/return man Dez Bryant, who was taken 24th overall and missed all of preseason with a high ankle sprain, returned a punt 62 yards for a touchdown in Week 2 against Chicago and took one 93 yards to the house in Week 7 en route to averaging a scintillating 14.3 yards per return. Bryant averaged 24.4 yards on kickoff returns with a long of 43.
Bryant's two touchdown catches in that wild Week 7 loss to the Giants made him the first Cowboys rookie since NFL career rushing leader Emmitt Smith 20 years earlier to score three times in a game. That performance jump-started Bryant at receiver. The next three games, he totaled 19 catches for 274 yards and two touchdowns. His season ended with a fractured ankle in Week 13 but he still finished second among NFC rookie receivers with 45 catches, 561 yards and six touchdowns.
The other flashy Dallas rookie was free agent cornerback Bryan McCann. Promoted from the practice squad in Week 9, McCann returned his first career interception a franchise-record 101 yards to help upset the Giants. McCann, who was named NFC Defensive Rookie of the Week, was just the NFL second rookie with an interception return of that length during the 45-year Super Bowl era. The next week, McCann returned a punt 97 yards for a touchdown to become the first rookie with two scores of at least 90 yards since Bears superstar Devin Hester in 2006.
He was much less noticeable than Bryant or McCann, but rookie free agent Chris Gronkowski took over at fullback when Deon Anderson was cut in September and wound up starting eight games. Gronkowski's biggest play was his failure to block blitzing Giants Michael Boley, whose Week 7 hit on Tony Romo broke the quarterback's left collarbone and ended the 2007-09 Pro Bowl pick's season.
Second-round linebacker Sean Lee saw limited action, but he did pick off Peyton Manning twice in Week 13, returning one 31 yards for a touchdown in helping forge the upset of the Colts. Rookie free agent Danny McCray topped the Cowboys with 21 special teams tackles. Fellow safety Akwasi Owusu-Ansah averaged 21.7 yards on kickoff returns before a high ankle sprain ended his season in Week 8. Seventh-round defensive tackle Sean Lissemore suffered the same fate in his debut the next week. Rookie free agent Barry Church contributed on defense and special teams. Rookie free agent Phil Costa started Week 8 at left guard. Sixth-round offensive tackle Sam Young was inactive all season. Sixth-round cornerback Jamar Wall didn't make the roster.
GRADE: B-
Dallas has a pick in each round this April although the seventh-rounder was originally San Diego's.
REDSKINS: Wiliams had an up and down debut while battling a slew of elite pass rushers (DeMarcus Ware and Osi Umenyiora twice each, Trent Cole, Mario Williams, Dwight Freeney, Kyle Vanden Bosch, Jared Allen and at times, Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers). The former Oklahoma standout is the likely cornerstone of Washington's offensive line for years to come, but he's still a work in progress.
Fourth-round linebacker Perry Riley didn't see much action. His biggest play was an illegal block that nullified a 77-yard punt return for a touchdown by rookie free agent Brandon Banks in Week 12. Banks, the NFL's smallest player at 5-foot-7 and 155 pounds, was a revelation in becoming the Redskins' best return man since NFL career leader Brian Mitchell in the 1990s. Banks was inactive the first two weeks and then cut and re-signed before debuting with a 53-yard punt return in Week 4. He returned one 30 yards the next week and had a 44-yard kickoff return the week after that before going wild with 251 yards on 11 returns in Week 8 at Detroit to win NFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors. That total included a 96-yard kickoff return touchdown but not a similar 95-yarder that was called back. Banks finished ninth in the league with an 11.3-yard average on punt returns and 12th with a 25.1-yard average on kickoff returns despite playing the second half of the season on a balky knee that he had scoped after the Lions' game.
Banks ran twice from the Wildcat formation and caught just two passes, one less than seventh-rounder Terrence Austin, who got into four of the final five games after spending most of the season on the practice squad along with offensive linemen Erik Cook and Selvish Capers, also both seventh-rounders. Fifth-round fullback/tight end Dennis Morris was dealt to St. Louis in August in a swap of disappointing draft choices.
Rookie free agent running back Keiland Williams started three games and finished second on the Redskins with 261 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns. He averaged a fine 4.0 per carry and was fourth on the team with 39 catches and two touchdowns. Rookie free agent tight end Logan Paulsen had a touchdown among his two catches. Anderson Russell ripped up a knee in his second game. Fellow rookie free agent safety Sha'reff Rashad played in the finale, rookie free agent defensive tackle Joe Joseph in the last two.
GRADE: C
Washington has traded away its third-rounder (to New Orleans for offensive tackle Jammal Brown) and fourth-rounder (to Philadelphia for quarterback Donovan McNabb) in 2011 but has an extra fifth-rounder (courtesy of the Brown trade) and seventh-rounder (courtesy of Indianapolis).
GIANTS: It wasn't much of a year for Big Blue's rookies. Punter Matt Dodge was often criticized en route to finishing 30th in the league with a 34.3-yard net average but a robust ninth with a 44.8-yard gross average, which highlighted the difference between the seventh-rounder's big leg and his poorly refined directional punting skills (and awful coverage unit). Top pick Jason Pierre-Paul was the third or fourth defensive end most of the year. He didn't have a sack during his first eight games before registering two in each of his next two games. He finished third on the team with 4.5 sacks, recovered two fumbles and was credited with 21 tackles. Second-round defensive tackle Linval Joseph had eight tackles in his four games.
Fifth-round guard Mitch Petrus played most of the second half in Week 9. Fourth-round linebacker Phillip Dillard played on special teams in seven games. Third-round safety Chad Jones and sixth-round linebacker Adrian Tracy spent the season on I.R. Duke Calhoun caught one pass while fellow rookie free agent receiver Victor Cruz, a preseason star, got into three games before going on I.R. Calhoun was one of the special-teamers who failed to tackle Philadelphia's DeSean Jackson on the 65-yard punt return touchdown that completed the Meltdown in the Meadowlands in Week 15 and effectively killed the Giants' hopes of winning the NFC East. Rookie free agent safety Brian Jackson had seven special teams tackles, one fewer than Pierre-Paul. Rookie free agent tight end Jake Ballard played in one game.
GRADE: D-
New York has all of its picks in 2011 except for the fifth-rounder which was traded to Minnesota for a backup quarterback Sage Rosenfels and return man Darius Reynaud.
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Source: http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2011/01/20/nate-allen-helps-eagles-top-current-nfc-east-2010-draft-grades/
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