Round 5 – Pick 150 – Julian Blackmon, S, Utah
The later the draft goes, the harder it is to pick players for the Eagles, mainly for the reason that they should fill our major needs within the first 5 picks, and with 10 picks at Howie’s disposal, it’s hard to find roles outside of our major needs that need filling. However, I have to admit, I’ve fallen in love with a developmental safety that has huge potential but needs a fair amount of work.
The safety I am talking about is Julian Blackmon from Utah. Julian stands at 6 foot 1 and 204 pounds. At his current talent stage, I wouldn’t play him in many snaps, however, he has great potential and will be a useful guy to have on the roster in case of injuries in the secondary.
As you can see, Blackmon is listed as a safety, however, he only moved there in his final year and played cornerback for most of his college career, so having a guy who can play both roles is going to be useful.
He has really good long speed and could develop into a single high safety, but the safe bet is to play him in a two safety setup, which could happen in the future with Ashtyn Davis. His tackling is his strong suit, a reason why I picked him for now and the future if he was to partner up with Davis. He’s a very secure tackler, who finishes his tackling well, wraps his guys up efficiently and stops them from gaining more yards than they should.
He has great ball skills that can still be developed further. Loves to challenge the ball if he believes he has a chance to break the pass up or even pick the QB off. He has good anticipation and tracks the ball decently.
His toughness is his strong suit, he hates being burnt and he hates if the offensive guy gets more yards than he should, but he uses that anger as a tool of motivation and will not let it get him down. Will always give 110% and has a great physical feel when he’s on the field.
He has great man coverage skills for a safety given his time as a cornerback and this will surprise NFL offenses when coming up against him. He’ll play really well in a press nickel because of his physical stature and his skills at disrupting receivers on their routes.
He does struggle with deep balls at the moment, he doesn’t get burnt or anything like that, he just takes some bad angles and leaves a route for the receiver to run after they catch the ball, it could be something to work on but I don’t think he’ll ever develop that skill to be a comfortable, single high safety.
He hasn’t learned to track the QB’s eyes properly so he can be on the same wavelength as the offense but that’s something he can work on off the field. There are multiple other things he’s not great at but he can develop those skills, which is why we’re picking up a starting safety in the 2nd and then someone else to develop and learn from a guy like Malcolm Jenkins.
Round 5 – Pick Acquired From New England – Nate Stanley, QB, Iowa
Now, before I get canceled and kicked off PSN for good by suggesting the team draft a QB this year, let me put my reasoning why. McCown will likely venture back into retirement and Sudfeld is a pending free agent. It’s probable that Lurie, who wants to draft one QB per year again, will have a hand in this decision.
That’s where Nate Stanley steps in, the QB from Iowa. Standing at 6 foot 4 and weighing 243 pounds, Stanley is your traditional pocket passer QB who has room to develop further than what he has shown in college.
The major positive in taking Stanley is the fact that Iowa run a pro-style offense, with their offensive line using NFL protections. He already knows how an NFL scheme and playbook will work, meaning he’ll only have to learn the small specifics of the Eagles playbook. He has very desirable audible talent, in which he’ll change the play and protections into a better call, depending on the shape of the defense. He has good enough footwork and mobility to sidestep within the pocket and dodge the on-rushing defensive tackles and displays good enough arm strength.
He’s usually pretty accurate in the short and intermediate areas and will deliver passes the receivers will specifically want to receive. He plays to his receivers’ strengths and is willing to sacrifice his own comfort so the play is at the easiest level for his receivers to catch.
Looking through his tape, he doesn’t mind being in a losing situation in a game and shows good leadership qualities to fire up his team in these situations. During college, he’s been pretty efficient in 3rd down situations, something the Eagles find themselves in quite often.
The only major issue of Stanley is, in a league where rushing QB’s are becoming the hot trend, he doesn’t fit that at all, he will not be a threat whatsoever to a defense when running outside of the pocket and he struggles on hitting passes when he is passing on the run, meaning he’ll struggle to execute RPO’s or anything that will require him to move outside of the pocket. He can also make it obvious where his first read was to the defense, meaning they can lurk that receiver and then punish him for staring at his target for too long.
Round 6 – Pick 170 – Denzel Mims, WR, Baylor
With the last pick of this mock draft I’m going to pick a guy that could develop into a very good receiver, a receiver that could fill a void in the near-ish future and still contribute here and there from the day he’s drafted.
The receiver I am talking about is Denzel Mims from Baylor. Mims stands at 6 foot 3, weighing 215 pounds. Mims is a phenomenal athlete and its quite scary how athletic the kid is considering his size and the position he plays. Mims would be a perfect, speedy backup to have sitting behind DJax and I’d love the Eagles to get real value from their last pick in the draft.
Mims is arguably the most explosive athlete in college football who possesses incredible strength considering how quick he moves. He’s a track and field star who fully understands how to change his speeds at the different stages of his routes to trick defenders into biting on double moves, or he just straight up burns them vertically when he feels like it.
His 6 foot 3 frame gives him great length which helps massively with his deep threat ability and really gives safeties that go up against him a physical nightmare. He can separate from matchups using either his quick feet and pure speed or he can physically bully them and create himself space to work within. Defenses should never press this man at the line of scrimmage because he will leave your DB’s on the floor, wondering why they’re even playing against him.
He’s a pain for DB’s in the redzone too, because of his quickness, quick plays like a small slant or a quick fade can leave DB’s behind him within an instant. He may have the biggest ceiling in the entire draft, and we just have to hope new Panthers HC Matt Rhule, who just left Baylor, doesn’t want his old receiver in the big leagues when they select at pick 164.
The main issue Mims has is his technical ability at running routes isn’t there. He doesn’t leave himself in a good body position when running and gives away his break in routes a few times to DB’s, so there’s work to do with his route running for sure. Another issue is his upper body strength, its good but it can harm him sometimes when he goes for contested catches and that leaves him dropping a ball on the odd occasion. He can also lose concentration during run blocks, which can harm your team’s drives but all in all, Mims can fix all those issues off the field.
Summary:
So, there you have it, my full 7 round mock draft for the Eagles. I’m hoping to get as many of these as I can out for you, especially once the combine has happened and we can truly evaluate these players’ athletic ability. Let me know what you think of this format, I know it’s fairly long but do you like that or would you rather have less detail in the player’s reports? Let me know on Twitter (@steveoo242) or down in the comments below. It truly is mock draft season, the best season in football.
Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
