Eagles Day 2 grades: Alabama’s Tyler Steen, Illinois’ Sydney Brown strengthen depth chart

Eagles writers Zach Berman and Beau Wolfe score two Philadelphia picks on Day 2 of the NFL Draft: Alabama’s offensive lineman Tyler Steen and Illinois’ safety Sidney Brown.

Berman: Going into the night, it makes sense for the Eagles to address their offensive line given their emphasis on positions and their need for quality young tiers. I figured if the results were the same, defensive backs would be among the top, but I thought cornerbacks were more likely than safeties. The Eagles rarely draft this high and he could realistically be a Week 1 starter, so let’s start with safety.

The passion the Eagles have for Brown was evident in the way Howie Roseman spoke of him. , it will be interesting to see what he will be like when he arrives. I was. Who was the better bet: Antonio Johnson, Jair Brown, Jamie Robinson, Chris Smith, or Jordan Battle? Not according to the Eagles.

“He can blitz, he can run the game, he can cover slots, he can cover tight ends,” Roseman said. “He’s one of those guys, he’s fun to watch and the way he plays the game is interesting. I think our fans will love Sidney Brown.”

That includes high-level collegiate production (the second-team All-American led the Big Ten with six interceptions last season) and 50 career starts and impressive athletic test numbers (93rd percentile vertical jump, 92nd percentile). There is reason to believe that – percentile long jump, 79th percentile 40-yard dash). It’s a good combination of production and characteristics. The Eagles saw him play safe in the Senior Bowl. After spending most of the time in the box, questions will arise about role changes, but this is why scouts are on the road all year round.

Midfield is when you go for the starters, and the way the Eagles talk about Brown reminds me of how they talked about Abonte Maddox in 2018. I will be keeping a close eye on him this spring and summer. Other safety elsewhere during the season, as a relatively high-position draft slot was bold for Roseman. (And full disclosure: The player I thought made sense, Georgia cornerback Keely Ringo, wasn’t even drafted. This is how the league rated him. indicates whether the

As for Steen, part of me says that Jeff Stoutland has the benefit of the doubt when identifying and developing offensive linemen. A native of Stoutland, Kells has worked in Stoutland for 10 years. So if this is the lineman Stoutland wants, then there’s the equity he’s built. It’s worth noting that the Eagles used his second-day top pick for the offensive lineman for the third year in a row. Each time, they seemed to be thinking one year ahead (Landon Dickerson if 2021 was Brandon Brooks’ last year, Kam Jürgens if 2022 was Kelce’s last year. ). Jürgens started the season at right guard, and Steen has adapted to guard as a versatile reserve. If Kelse retires and Jürgens turns center, we hope he’s ready to take over guard in 2024. there is no.

“I don’t have to make that decision for a while, but I feel like the best player would play in that position and there are some good options. Because I’m happy with him,” said coach Nick Siriani.

Still, a guy in good shape (6-6, 321 pounds), quick on his feet, a year into left tackle in Alabama and Stoutland approval seems like a reasonable bet. His last three starting left tackles for Alabama before Steen were Evan Neal, Alex Leatherwood and Jonah Williams. It shows you to start with Nick Saban’s left tackle. Steen was his second team in his All-SEC and first team was Darnell Wright where he finished 10th overall. Arm length seems to be one of the reasons he has a guarding move, and Roseman thinks he can play in both positions.

“I feel like I can play over the offensive line, so it was great to get the chance to play guard in the Senior Bowl,” Steen said. I took the same approach to tackling and felt very comfortable.”

Ohio State’s Dawand Jones played upside down at offensive tackle, but if you consider him only at light tackle, you’ll find that the Eagles prefer players who can play more positions. (And yet again, Jones wasn’t drafted. Shows where the league put its value. If he can be a Jack Driscoll-type versatile reserve, that’s not a terrible outcome. Make it a floor with many opportunities.

Overall, this is the night the Eagles need to trust their scouting and player development. As Roseman explained, Thursday’s picks were an organizational decision, and they were more obvious based on how the board collapsed. Picks are determined based on how you see the player compared to. The progress of Steen and Brown will serve as evidence of talent discovery and development.

Grade — Steen: B- | Brown: B

Wolf: Before going into two selections, the Eagles seemed to do quite well with a small tradedown from 62nd to 65th, earning sixth and seventh picks to do so. Roseman said he hoped the team would do some late-round swings on Saturday, partly because the team had done well in past swings, and partly to give scouts a little juice as they headed into the building on day three. It’s definitely true that the Eagles have fared better than most teams in the final stages of the draft, with hits like Kes Watkins, Jordan Mailata and Jalen Mills in recent years. I’m here. The three players the Eagles drafted before Steen were interior offensive lineman Juice Scruggs, wide receiver Marvin Mims Jr. and defensive tackle Zack Pickens.

To Steen, who looks like an Eagles meat and potato pick. Roseman stressed during the daily wrap-up press conference that the team will always be emphasizing building along the offensive line, and that Steen is the next entrant in that pipeline. With the loss of Cemalo and Andre Dillard, the Eagles needed the backup weight of Driscoll in the final year of his rookie contract. Steen will take over the right guard as a successor to the center. However, Steen’s experience as a tackle (both left and right) gives him the advantage of being his player in his four positions at Stoutland.

Steen tested well in the combine with a 79th percentile time (4.59 seconds) on the short shuttle, an 81st percentile long jump (109 inches), and a 67th percentile vertical jump (29 1/2 inches). With what appears to be his 32 3/4-inch arm, which is in the 9th percentile for tackles, perhaps indicating that guard is his primary position, as the Eagles announced him. At the time Steen was elected, Ohio State’s offensive lineman was Ohio State’s offensive lineman who was not elected in the third round.

The Eagles mostly get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to drafting an offensive lineman, but this pick is more than falling in love with Steen specifically, it’s the best offensive lineman on the board. I feel like it was about getting.

That contrasts with Brown, which the Eagles seem to love. Roseman noted that he was a Red Star player on their board of directors. So he’s “someone who embodies what it means to be an Eagle, great character, captain, test numbers, intelligence, playing the way it should. Practice the way it’s supposed to be played.” , make these designations on the Wednesday before Round 1 across the various levels of the draft.

The way the board fell is also a story of the Eagles’ obvious passion for Brown. Roseman has spoken of the difficulty of evaluating college safety in the past, and the team hadn’t drafted one in the first three rounds since Jequon Jarrett in 2011.

“We still need safety, so we need to evaluate them,” Roseman said Friday night. If you look at Sydney, they used him a lot around the box, like they used him in Illinois. You gave an incomplete evaluation because

“Then at the Senior Bowl, where the Jim Nagy staff did a great job, they gave me the opportunity to see him as a post player, playing deep passing, going one-on-one. You see the athleticism and I think it really helped us complete the process.”

Brown was drafted in the first or second Safety Draft, depending on whether you would classify the Alabama Division in safety, but was ranked lower in the class position stack on the outside board (Dane Brew 10th in Safety and 4th in Draft for The Beast at Grahler). Arif Hasan Consensus Big Board). With no picks until round 6, the Eagles could have theoretically slipped further in the round and drafted a viable safety, but they risked missing a safety supposedly “their man.” I didn’t want to.

Given the league’s difficulty in assessing safe positions, it would be foolish to provide a scouting report without taking a closer look at him. I like the profile given that it seems to be correlated. Brown started 50 games in 51 games with Illinois. In the last 11 years he has had 33 Pro Bowl or All-Pro safety players, 29 of whom have come from power-5 schools (88%, behind centers only). So Brown also ticks that box. He tested well in the pre-draft process, where he seemingly rocked 211 pounds, except he was a little short of a position just under 5-foot-10.

Given the state of the depth chart, the need at that position is obvious, so it’s an understandable swing, especially given that beloved Brown appears to be in the building. Considering he’s away from , he could be a viable starter at all. They could have chosen to add a running back or another offensive weapon in their third-round selection, or they could have chosen to draft a starting-caliber linebacker or depth cornerback. There is something to be said for trusting people who have spent a year evaluating players and personalities as a job.

Grade — Steen: B | Brown: B+

(Sidney Brown Photo: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)