Eagles Rookies Making Little Impact

Aug 21, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown (84) makes a leaping catch in front of Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Marcus Smith (90) during the second half of a game at Lincoln Financial Field. The Eagles won 31-21. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

The 2014 draft class has not delivered strong early returns for the Philadelphia Eagles.

While wide receiver Jordan Matthews has been making his mark, the rest of this group has left a lot to be desired after the first 10 games.

Marcus Smith (26th overall pick): The first-round draft pick has been the most noticeably invisible of anyone in this class. Smith has been active for just six games this year, playing a grand total of 54 snaps. Even more alarming is that the rookie has failed to register even a single tackle in any of his appearances.

Going back to April, the Eagles have stated that Smith was going to be a project. But even with those tempered expectations, the fact that we’ve gone through more than half a season without seeing so much as a flash from Smith is concerning. The team tried to work him in as both an outside and inside linebacker once Mychal Kendricks went down early in the season, but the first-year man was unable to even push Casey Matthews or Emmanuel Acho for playing time.

Jordan Matthews (42nd overall pick): Matthews has been the lone bright spot of this class. He’s contributed 44 catches for 558 yards to go with six touchdowns, and has posted back-t0-back 100-yard games in the last two weeks. The receiver has also had two multi-touchdown games, including two key scores in the shootout win against the Washington Redskins.

Matthews has emerged as the team’s second option in the passing attack with Riley Cooper underachieving and the tight ends underutilized. If not for his success, the entire class would look much worse.

Josh Huff (86th overall pick): Huff turned a lot of heads with an exciting kick return for a touchdown in the preseason, but went down with a shoulder injury and spent the first month of the regular season getting healthy.

Once Huff returned to active duty, his accomplishments have been less than stellar. He’s lost the kick return duties to Chris Polk, and caught just six passes for 48 yards. His most memorable moment came in Arizona, where he fumbled the ball away deep in Arizona territory to cost the Eagles a valuable opportunity for points that could have been the difference in the game.

Jaylen Watkins (101st overall pick): Watkins has appeared in just three games, registering only one tackle. While he wasn’t expected to contribute much in his rookie year, given the struggles of the Eagles’ secondary its a little surprising that the team hasn’t tried to work him into some dime packages at the very least.

Taylor Hart (141st overall pick): Hart has not dressed for a single game, and has been completely buried on the Eagles’ depth chart. Hart was considered a reach by many, and some reports indicated that Chip Kelly would have selected him as high as the third round.

Ed Reynolds (162nd overall pick): Despite all of the Eagles’ problems at safety, Reynolds was unable to distinguish himself enough to make the final roster. Even once Earl Wolff was placed on injured reserve, the team opted to give that roster spot to Roc Carmichael instead of their most recent fifth-round selection.

Beau Allen (224th overall): Allen, a seventh-round pick, has made the most impact on this roster of anyone else in the class other than Matthews. He’s carved out a role for himself in the defensive line rotation, and picked up a half a sack.

When you look at this draft as a whole, what you’ve got are a heavy number of healthy scratches week to week, including the first-round pick.

While it’s obviously too early to determine whether this class is a bust or not, the reality for the time being is that the Eagles have not much of a boost from some of the key players in this group, and that lack of impact can be felt on the field week to week.