Why are the Giants Super Bowl champs? Because they draft so well
I've focused my last couple of Eagles articles on the draft. The draft is so essential to a team's success that its importance cannot be undermined. In previous years, I've scratched my head at some draft choices made by the Eagles organization. It's easy to criticize the Eagles for poor draft choices in retrospect, but they've made a lot of bonehead decisions. On the other hand, I also have to give the Eagles a lot of credit for drafting guys like Brian Westbrook in the 3rd round and Trent Cole in the 5th round. What I'm not happy about is that the Eagles draft a guy like Matt McCoy in the 2nd round and the Giants get a guy like Justin Tuck in the 3rd round. This is their 2005 draft by the way, arguably the worst draft in the Eagles' recent history. They did, however, redeem their poor 2nd, 3rd, and 4th round picks by drafting Trent Cole in the 5th round. The Eagles took Ryan Moats in the 3rd round and Sean Considine in the 4th round. Want to know which runningbacks the Eagles passed on to take Moats? Brandon Jacobs and Marion Barber, both who were taken in the 4th round.
A big reason that the Giants are Super Bowl XLII champions is because they draft so well. Guys who have less than three years of experience, such as Brandon Jacobs, Justin Tuck, Aaron Ross, Steve Smith, Kevin Boss, Mathais Kiwanuka, and Corey Webster, have already made a huge impact on the team. Which players have the Eagles drafted in the last 3 years that I'm happy about? Trent Cole, Omar Gaither, Chris Gocong, Stewart Bradley and Broderick Bunkley. Notice: Nobody on offense. Hopefully Tony Hunt and Kevin Kolb will turn out to be players, but with our first-round pick this year, I want a guy who can change the offense immediately.
As you can see, the Giants list of impact players with less than three years of experience outnumbers that of the Eagles -- a huge reason why the Giants are Super Bowl champions and the Eagles got to watch them from home. None of the players that the Eagles drafted in the last three years has had an impact on the offense -- none. Celek and Avant are the only offensive players drafted in the last three years to have any sort of contribution to the offense and it hasn't been much. Celek was good for a rookie, I'll give him credit, especially for a 5th-rounder, I'm just saying that the Eagles need to draft more weapons to help out the offense. The Eagles have done a great job at drafting defense, but Andy, please get McNabb and Westbrook some help this year. I'll also give Andy a tip of the hat at drafting offensive linemen. Andrews, Herremans, and Jean-Giles have all been great picks. If you do in-fact take Chris Williams with the first pick, he better turn out to be special because a glaring need is at receiver and there are about a half dozen of phenomenal receivers to draft.
Here is a comparison of the Eagles and Giants last four draft classes:
Giants 2004 Draft Class
1st Round - Eli Manning
2nd Round - Chris Snee (Starting RG)
4th Round - Reggie Torbor
5th Round - Gibril Wilson
Eagles 2004 Draft Class
1st Round - Shawn Andrews
4th Round - J.R. Reed
5th Round - Thomas Tapeh
Giants 2005 Draft Class
1st Round - Traded to San Diego in 2004 for Eli Manning
2nd Round - Corey Webster
3rd Round - Justin Tuck
4th Round - Brandon Jacobs
Eagles 2005 Draft Class:
1st Round - Mike Patterson
2nd Round - Matt McCoy
3rd Round - Ryan Moats
4th Round - Sean Considine
4th Round - Todd Herremans
5th Round - Trent Cole
Notes: The Eagles drafted Matt McCoy and Ryan Moats over Justin Tuck and Brandon Jacobs.
Giants 2006 Draft Class
1st Round - Mathias Kiwanuka
2nd Round - Sinorice Moss
3rd Round - Gerris Wilkinson
Eagles 2006 Draft Class
1st Round - Broderick Bunkley
2nd Round - Winston Justice
3rd Round - Chris Gocong
4th Round - Max Jean-Giles
4th Round - Jason Avant
5th Round - Omar Gaither
6th Round - LaJuan Ramsey
Giants 2007 Draft Class
1st Round - Aaron Ross
2nd Round - Steve Smith
5th Round - Kevin Boss
7th Round - Ahmad Bradshaw
Eagles 2007 Draft Class
2nd Round - Kevin Kolb
2nd Round - Victor Abiamiri
3rd Round - Srewart Bradley
3rd Round - Tony Hunt
5th Round - Brent Celek
