No Tony Gonzalez. The Eagles have other plans at tight end, clearly. Atlanta made a good deal for that team to send a second-round draft pick next April to acquire Gonzalez. The Eagles certainly looked into the possibility, but then moved on. They know they have Brent Celek, who came on strong last year and who has added 10 pounds of muscle and who looks absolutely great. They know they have 10 draft picks and that this crop of tight ends is said to be strong.
We all want something to happen right now. Go make a move! Get a big-time player! Add more talent to this roster!
I'm confident in the Eagles and their ability to manipulate this draft. I sat down with head coach Andy Reid on Thursday and enjoyed our conversation. We're taping a piece tomorrow for our pre-draft coverage. On Thursday, Reid talked about the picture at No. 21.
"When you're sitting at the 21st pick, and then at the 53rd pick, you're going, 'OK, a lot can happen.' You might be able to predict it up to an 80-percent win margin and a 20-percent error margin, but other than that it's a crapshoot on who is going to be there when you're there. You have to have a feel and you have to know, obviously, what peoples' needs are and that type of thing ... we do that," said Reid. "We study it and we have our little game plan put together and we go in and do all our different scenarios that could possibly happen, or that we think could happen.
"Do you trade up? Do you trade back? Do you stay where you are at? You take all those different looks and see what works best for your team."
So Reid has an 80-percent idea of what he will do. Considering all of the variables, it's truly impossible to know right now where the Eagles are going to go.
They are involved in trade conversations, of course. Every team is. The phones are busy. The draft board is done. Gonzalez is crossed off the fans' wish list. The Eagles will probably draft a tight end somewhere in this draft, but make no mistake about it, and plan for it, Celek is the starter now. What the Eagles see in Celek is a young player who has his best days in front of him, and that those 10 catches and two touchdowns in Arizona were no mirage, and that his entire playoff production was strong and that he is ready right now to be the guy at tight end.
Celek has to improve his blocking, and that's why he has been at the NovaCare Complex the entire off-season improving his strength and working on his technique. He wants to take full advantage of the opportunity.
Understand that the Eagles are still in the game for a lot of things that *could *happen. How many of those conversations will actually amount to a deal? The Eagles don't shy away from trades. They are going to active. They are going to be looking for ways to improve this football team any way they can.
Tight end is going to be a draft pick in all probability. Running back, too. Which position do they address at 21? Could be one of those two spots. Could be a wide receiver. Maybe it will be another offensive lineman. You know how Reid surprises so many times on draft weekend, so defense is certainly not out of the question for a head coach who has addressed the line of scrimmage six times in the first round of the draft (counting the Jason Peters trade).
Great times. Exciting times. The Eagles have a lot of options to consider as they firm up their draft picture and we make sense of what direction this team is taking during the weekend.
