Eagles Wake-Up Call: Cowboys Could Have Had McCoy

In six career games against the Dallas Cowboys, LeSean McCoy has averaged 5.7 yards per carry and reached the end zone four times.

But according to a former scout, McCoy could very easily have a star on his helmet right now.

Dallas had the 51st pick (second round) in the 2009 draft, but running back wasn’t a glaring need. They had three tailbacks (all under 25) on their roster in Marion Barber, Felix Jones and Tashard Choice. So when it came time to pick, even though the Cowboys had McCoy atop their board, they decided to trade down.

“If you go back to the 2009 draft, they sat there and they had LeSean McCoy with a first-round grade,” said ex-scout Bryan Broaddus during a radio interview on KRLD-FM 105.3 (via the Dallas Morning-News). “The problem was, they weren’t willing to take LeSean McCoy. That’s the issue. Don’t window-dress your board. They’re sitting there in the second round and they’ve got LeSean McCoy with a first-round grade on their board. That’s value. They did it (got it right) with Sean Lee, they did it with Bruce Carter. They sat there, they took the guy that was on the board that they were supposed to take. Mistakes are made when you jump around on the board. Jerry’s done it a couple of different times.”

Now, four years later, the Cowboys are left looking for a fix at running back. They averaged just 3.6 yards per carry last season, second-worst in the league. And often times, Dallas was forced to abandon the run altogether, averaging just 22.2 attempts per game, second-fewest, ahead of only the Cardinals.

As for the Eagles, they’ve had their own issues with not sticking to their board. Howie Roseman, Jeffrey Lurie and company have talked about reaching for players like safety Jaiquawn Jarrett to fill a need. Those decisions have come back to haunt them.

Of course, the way the Eagles tell it, those decisions weren’t on Roseman. Lurie said earlier this offseason that 2012 is the first draft he holds the general manager completely accountable for. In that draft, the Eagles selected Vinny Curry in the second round, even though defensive end was not considered a need area.

Going forward, we’ll see how committed the Eagles (and the Cowboys, for that matter) are to sticking to their boards.

WHAT YOU MISSING

Despite some of his comments at the end of last season, Michael Vick doesn’t anticipate having any issues with his teammates.

The Eagles signed offensive tackle Ed Wang on Friday.

At the age of 33, Vick will have to tackle another offensive system. Tim’s got the story on how Eagles coaches plan to help him succeed.

What does the Dennis Dixon signing mean for Nick Foles?

And finally, a note on our commenting policy.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

Ray Didinger examines whether Jeff Stoutland can save Danny Watkins’ career:

Most fans see Watkins as a lost cause. Stoutland sees something entirely different.

“I think Danny Watkins is a winner,” Stoutland said. “He’s athletic, he’s explosive. I see a young man with a lot of talent.”

The first question that comes to mind is, “What film was Stoutland watching?” The player he described bore no resemblance to Watkins. It was almost painful to watch Watkins on film last season; he looked lost and ineffective.

Over at IgglesBlitz.com, Tommy Lawlor looks into the prospect of trading Foles:

Would the Eagles be willing to deal Foles?  Yes. You’ll hear lots of talk about how high the team is on him and that may be true to a certain extent, but Foles isn’t Chip Kelly’s fantasy QB.  There’s no way around that fact.

I know many people think Foles cannot play for Kelly.  I disagree with that.  Kelly can tailor his offense to the QB.  At Oregon, the QBs weren’t the best passers in the world, but were mobile.  He used them in the run game.  As Kelly himself has said, if he had Tom Brady there would be no QB running.

Clearly this isn’t meant to compare Foles and Brady.  The point is that the playbook has the read option in it, but that isn’t all Kelly can do.  He can run a conventional offense where the QB hands the ball of and throws passes.  Kelly’s preferred offense involves feeding the ball to RBs and mixing in play-action passes.  He doesn’t want his QB running.

COMING UP

Thanks to T-Mac for holding things down while I got a few days off. I’ll be returning the favor this week. Lots to get to – draft talk, free agency, etc.

Follow Sheil Kapadia on Twitter and e-mail him at skapadia@phillymag.com.
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