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

The big headline move for the Eagles this off season was trading Donovan McNabb to the division rival Washington Redskins.  I hate the move for the Eagles because McNabb makes the Redskins better while the Eagles are weaker with Kevin Kolb at QB.  The bloodletting didn’t stop there as they also traded OLB Chris Gocong and CB Sheldon Brown to the Browns, thus hurting the defense.  The Eagles have spent most of their time devoted to the defense this off season.  They have added DE Darryl Tapp, OLB Alex Hall and OLB Ernie Sims in trades while they have signed safety Marlin Jackson.  Tapp, Sims and Jackson will all start for the Eagles in 2010 as long as they start the year healthy.  Offensively RB Mike Bell is the big addition for the Eagles and he should pair with Lesean McCoy to help them have a solid running game in 2010.  The Eagles have also signed WR Hank Baskett, RB Dwayne Wright and WR/KR Chad Hall.  Those three guys will likely help out much more on special teams than on offense.  The Eagles will be busy this weekend at the NFL Draft and they will likely keep wheeling and dealing into next week.

The Eagles have acquired 25-year old OLB Ernie Sims from the Lions.  The Eagles have sent a 5th round pick to the Broncos while Denver sent TE Tony Scheffler and a 7th round pick to the Lions.  Sims fills an immediate need for the Eagles and they will love this guy as he really hits hard.  Sims played in 11 games for the Lions last season in which he made 49 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss and he defensed 1 pass.  He was dinged up most of last season.  He has now played in 59 games in his four years in the NFL in which he has 421 tackles, 5 passes defensed, he has 2.5 sacks, forced 4 fumbles and he has 1 interception.  This was outstanding value for a fifth round pick as the Eagles finally made a trade that  I like.

The Eagles have already annointed Kevin Kolb as the starting QB in 2010.  But, he is far from a sure thing as he doesn’t have much experience.  Vick will not get to compete for the starting job in September but the Eagles will have him ready in case Kolb falters or gets injured.  Vick played in 12 games for the Eagles last season completing 6 of 13 passes (46.2%) for 86 yards with 1 TD pass and 0 INTs (93.7 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 24 times for 95 yards (4.0 ypc) with 2 TD runs last season.  He has now played in 86 games in his NFL career and he has completed 936 of 1,743 passes (53.7%) for 11,591 yards with 72 TD passes and 52 INTs (75.9 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 553 times for 3,954 yards (7.2 ypc) with 23 TD runs in his NFL career.  Vick wouldn’t seem to be a good fit in the Eagles’ offense as a starting QB as they like to pass the ball a lot while his best skill is running the ball.

The Eagles took a big risk in trading Donovan McNabb.  They will hand the starting job over to 25-year old Kevin Kolb who doesn’t have much experience.  He played in 5 games for the Eagles last season and he completed 62 of 96 passes (64.6%) for 741 yards with 4 TD passes and 3 INTs (88.9 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 5 times for -1 yard (-0.2 ypc) with 1 TD run.  In his three years with the Eagles, Kolb has played in 12 games completing 79 of 130 passes (60.8%) for 885 yards with 4 TD passes and 7 INTs (68.9 QB Rating).  He also has carried the ball 21 times for -1 yard (0.0 ypc) with 1 TD run.  There will be a ton of pressure on Kolb in 2010 especially with Donovan McNabb still in the NFC East.

The Eagles have traded 33-year old QB Donovan McNabb to the division rival Washington Redskins for a 2nd round pick in this year’s NFL Draft (#37 overall) and a conditional 3rd or 4th round pick in the 2011 Draft based on McNabb’s performance in 2010.  McNabb played in 14 games last season for the Eagles and he completed 267 of 443 passes (60.3%) for 3,553 yards with 22 TD passes and 10 INTs (92.9 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 37 times for 140 yards (3.8 ypc) with 2 TD runs last year.  McNabb is the Eagles’ all time leader in TD passes and passing yards.  He played in 148 games in his 11 years with the Eagles.  In those games, McNabb completed 2,801 of 4,746 (59%) for 32,873 yards with 216 TD passes and 100 INTs (86.5 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 573 times for 3,249 yards (5.7 ypc) with 28 TD runs.  The Eagles better hope that McNabb’s career is almost over because you know he will be circling the two dates on his calendar when he will be lining up against them.