Philadelphia Eagles: Don’t Judge the Trade for the Second Pick yet

Football fans, Philadelphia Eagles’ fans, in particular, jump to judge trades quicker than they should. Give this one some time.

Draft pick deals generally see the team that got more picks proclaimed as the winners. Currently, that sees the Cleveland Browns as having won their trade with the Philadelphia Eagles.To acquire the second overall pick in the draft the Philadelphia Eagles sent five draft picks to the Browns: the No. 8 pick in the first round, a third-round pick (77th overall) and a fourth-round pick (100th overall) in this year’s draft, a first-round pick in 2017 and a second-round pick in 2018. The Eagles will also get the Browns fourth-round pick in 2017.

The trade that this one is most likened to is the Rams-Redskins trade of 2012. In that trade, the Rams received the Redskins’ No. 6 overall pick in 2012, as well as the Redskins’ first-round picks in 2013 and 2014. The Rams also received the Redskins second round pick in 2012, all for the second overall pick in the draft (huge difference from what the Philadelphia Eagles had to give up). This trade was immediately criticized with the Rams being declared the winners.

Declaring a winner of this trade was done a little prematurely, though while the Rams spent three straight years with multiple first round picks they have no playoff appearances to show for it. The Redskins were able to make it to the promised land of the playoffs last season (more in spite of this trade than because of it) so if you looked at the two franchises you’d probably have to say that the Redskins have the better outlook for the future.

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The Rams ended up getting eight players as a result of the deal: Micheal Brockers (2012), Janoris Jenkins (2012), Isaiah Pead (2012), Rokevious Watkins (2012), Alec Ogletree (2013), Stedman Bailey (2013), Zac Stacy (2013), and Greg Robinson (2014). That’s a lot of players, a lot of talented players. But they still weren’t able to help the Rams win.

In the Philadelphia Eagles’ situation, they are only giving up their first rounder for two years (this year and next year) so they aren’t putting themselves in a situation where they’ll miss out on too much talent. If Jared Goff / Carson Wentz end up being the real deal, the Philadelphia Eagles could easily be declared winners of this deal.

They may be giving the Browns more shots at bettering their system but there haven’t been many teams as dysfunctional when it comes to player development as the Browns recently.

In short, this trade can’t be adequately analyzed until Goff / Wentz and whoever the Browns  draft has been starting for at least a year (if they become starters) because picks are arbitrary until they turn into players.

While this deal has caused some fallout with the Philadelphia Eagles i.e Sam Bradford requesting a trade it was ultimately a necessary deal to make. It’s tough for a team to succeed without a franchise quarterback and it’s clear that Sam Bradford is not that guy for the Philadelphia Eagles.

They were given the chance to take a shot on a potential franchise quarterback and took it. Scouts rate Carson Wentz as a quarterback who has the potential to be a franchise QB if he’s given the time to acclimate to the NFL. Because the Philadelphia Eagles see the value in sitting a quarterback during their first year in the league this could be a perfect situation fo him.

Next: Sam Bradford Requests a trade

He won’t have the pressure that the average first round quarterback would have heaped upon them and will step into a team without many holes. This trade has the possibility to be a good one but it will take some time to see how good it can be.