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MOCK DRAFT WAR ROOM: FANS DECIDE

13 February 2017 Eagles News

NFL war rooms are setting the stage for the upcoming draft. These rooms are where discussions and evaluations among scouts, coaches and the front office of the organization are being had.

Ryan Neal and Kelly Carpenter are collaborating in order to have a little fun with the Eagles fan base prior to the combine.

Ryan evaluated offensive players and Kelly reviewed defensive players in order to determine best value picks for each round at this current stage.

Here’s how it will work.

  • With so many positions and choices to be made, Ryan and Kelly will state their case for the players they’ve selected.
  • Thereafter, fans will vote on what direction they’d like to see the Eagles take.
  • You’ll have one defensive and one offensive player to select from round by round.
  • Each round will be posted on separate articles after polls determine what player was selected in the previous round.

Teams are having tough conversations right now. Lots of talent and needs to comb through at every stage in the draft. 4thandJawn is bringing Eagles Twitter into that mindset as we await the combine. Listen to our arguments and decide which player you’d want selected for the birds. Here we go!

FIRST ROUND SELECTIONS- DALVIN COOK VS. SIDNEY JONES:

Ryan’s case for DALVIN COOK:

Look at our division rivals, you have seen what Ezekiel Elliott has done to them. Now imagine what Dalvin Cook would do to us.

Firstly, Cook might be an overall better prospect than Elliott. Just look at these two tweets.

Obviously, that is not enough to convince you to draft him. So, let’s really get into it.

In college, Cook tore up the field, rushing for 4,464 yards and 46 touchdowns. As you may know, Cook does it all, so he also caught 79 passes for 935 yards. In fact, if Cook were an Eagle last season, not only would he have been our leading rusher, he would also have been third in receiving with 488 yards.

Another thing Cook does really well is finding the end zone. In each of his last two seasons, he rushed for 19 touchdowns. In fact, last season he had three more rushing touchdowns than our whole team (16).

Having a dual threat running back of Cook’s caliber will electrify our offense. There is nothing better for a quarterback than a successful run game, it takes a lot of pressure off of Carson’s shoulders. Not only would Carson love handing the ball off to Cook, but Carson would also have a very reliable receiver too.

Kelly’s case for SIDNEY JONES:

Realistically I am anticipating Marshon Lattimore to have been selected before the 14/15 pick but luckily, I love Sidney Jones almost as much as I do Lattimore at the cornerback position.

My first argument is one no one will disagree with. Eagles need to make the secondary a priority in the 2017 Draft. Defense wins championships and with a guy like Jones in the game, our chances of creating turnovers increases.

Jones is aggressive and loves to be challenged by opposing offenses. He is also intelligent and has natural instincts when reading receivers and quarterbacks. With Jim Schwartz rushing a ton of threats at the quarterback, many teams did not fear our corners and were able to make things happen in a pinch. With Jones in coverage, Eagles would have more chances to create issues for quarterbacks down the field.

Don’t you want to see more of this action out of our corners?

via GIPHY

He actually TURNS his head to find the ball. His great footwork and closing speed allow him more opportunities to locate the ball in the air and make a play. He is a student of the game and rarely allows a wide receiver to create separation against him. He isn’t just a threat when the ball is in the air. During his career at Washington, Jones had 6 forced fumbles.

Jones’ tape proves how aggressive he is game in and game out. His stats don’t tell the full story of how dominant he can be. Largely this was due to the fact that coaches made their game plan to avoid him. He is that good and the Eagles desperately need that threat in the secondary.

I fully expect Jones to be a lockdown corner at the next level and believe the addition to our defense is much needed.