The Eagles have claimed 27-year old offensive guard Shawn Murphy off waivers from the Buccaneers.  The 6′4″, 314 pound Murphy was a 4th round pick of the Dolphins in 2008.  He played in 1 game (0 starts) for the Bucs last season which was the only time he has gotten onto the football field in his career in the NFL.  Murphy has the potential to help out the Eagles on the O-Line and the price was right to take a chance on him.

UPDATE:  (5/2/2010) - The Eagles have already released Murphy. 

The Eagles have selected DE Daniel Te’o Nesheim with the 86th overall pick (3rd round) of the NFL Draft.  Nesheim is 6′3″, 263 pounds and he runs a 4.77 40 so he is a pretty good athlete.  He played in 12 games last season for the Washington Huskies and he had 37 tackles, 14 tackles for a loss, he had 11 sacks and he forced 5 fumbles.  Nesheim was a 4-year starter at Washington in which he played in 49 games in which he made 194 tackles, 46 tackles for a loss and he had 30 sacks.  The 30 sacks makes Nesheim the all time leader in sacks at Washington.  He is a very aggressive player which often makes up for his shortcomings.  Many experts had Nesheim going in the 6th round or later so this was likely a reach for the Eagles this early in the draft.

The Eagles have selected safety Nate Allen out of South Florida with the 37th overall pick (2nd round) of the NFL Draft.  Allen is 6′1″, 205 pounds and he runs a 4.5 40.  He is a excellent pass defender but he needs to get a little more physical against the running game and that could come in time.  Allen played in 13 games (all starts) for the Bulls last season in which he finished up with 85 tackles, broke up 4 passes, he had 4 interceptions, forced 1 fumble and he recovered 1 fumble.  In his four years at South Florida, Allen played in 47 games (38 starts) in which he had 226 tackles, he broke up 12 passes, had 9 interceptions, forced 2 fumbles and he recovered 3 fumbles.  Allen was selected with the pick the Eagles got from the Redskins for Donovan McNabb which will likely put some added pressure on him.  But, I like this pick as Allen will be a starter for them as early as the opening game this season.

The Eagles traded up from #24 to #11 in the first round to select DE Brandon Graham out of Michigan.  The cost also included two third round picks going to the Broncos.  Graham played in 12 games (all starts) for Michigan last season and he finished up with 64 tackles, 26 tackles for a loss, 10.5 sacks, he batted down 2 passes, forced 2 fumbles and he had 1 fumble recovery.  Graham has good power despite weighing in at 263 pounds and he is fast as he can run a 4.6 40.  He was living in opposing backfields last season in the Big Ten and the Eagles hope he does exactly that starting in 2010 for them.  Graham played in 46 games (28 starts) in his four years with the Wolverines and he finished up with 124 tackles, 56 tackles for a loss, he had 29.5 sacks, batted down three passes, he forced 8 fumbles and he recovered 1 fumble.  This could wind up being a outstanding pick for the Eagles.

The Eagles have taken a wrecking ball to their roster over the off-season and reinforcements are needed at a lot of positions.  The Eagles have 5 of the first 87 picks in the NFL Draft and 10 overall so they should be able to move up if needed to get a player they really want.  MLB and S appear to be the biggest needs on the D for the Eagles and those positions will be the likely target of their first round pick.  The players most likely to become a Philadelphia Eagle in the first round tonight will be LB Rolando McClain, LB Sean Lee, S Taylor Mays and S Nate Allen. 

PROJECTED FIRST ROUND PICK:  LB, Sean Lee, Penn State