NFL Draft: Philadelphia Eagles specific big board
The NFL Draft is less than 36 hours away and every NFL fan, at this point, is ready for the Cleveland Browns to finally mercifully be on the clock.
For the last several months, Ben Solak & I have been ranking the draft prospects by position based on their fit for what the Eagles like to do on each side of the ball. For a look at those positional rankings and words regarding our thoughts on some notable names, click below:
It’s been a labor of love, to say the least, with Ben & I immersing ourselves in game film, spider charts, character reports, etc. This is how we got to where we are:
We started with the film. It all (usually) comes back to the film. Before the smoke screens, the Pro Days, the Combines, etc., it’s important to remember these kids were once real, actual, in-game football players. (I know, right?)
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After finalizing each position group rankings, we then debated how we would split each group into a type of prospect: great, very good, good, serviceable, etc. For example, Jamal Adams, Malik Hooker, and Budda Baker were a notch above Obi Melifonwu and Jabrill Peppers. Obi and Jabrill were similarly a notch above Marcus Williams. Sorting the prospects this way formed a (very) rudimentary ranking of guys into draft rounds.
Next, we developed our “horizontal board.” Here, the position groups were stacked next to one another and players were finally compared cross-positionally. Simply put, better prospects move to the top. Liberties here were taken, as they would be in an NFL front office, for positional value. An Edge rusher in today’s NFL is more valuable than a linebacker. It’s just the way it is. This is how the horizontal board came out:
After more debate and finalizing the horizontal board, Ben & I alternated picks to stack the prospects vertically. Being the magnanimous analyst I am, Ben went first.
There was some debate in this process…a lot of which you all read. Ultimately, we developed what we feel is a reasonable, Eagles-scheme specific Big Board and we are very proud to share it with you below. Thank you for all those who joined us in this process and followed each week. We had a lot of fun and anticipate your full-throated support of or rankings in the comments section.
Next: Ranking the best places to grab a cheesesteak in Philly
Writer’s note: The links above are our combined horizontal & vertical “Big Boards” for the Philadelphia Eagles 2017 Draft class. Let us know in the comments or on Twitter what you think.