Now, with the selections of safety Jaiquawn Jarrett and cornerback Curtis Marsh, we get a small glimpse into what we can expect from the Eagles defense. It certainly appears that Castillo wants the defense to reflect his personality - tough, gritty, intense and hard-working.
Even though the comparison is unfair, head coach Andy Reid couldn't help but compare Jarrett's size and physical style of play to future Hall of Fame safety Brian Dawkins. The 6-0, 196-pound Jarrett, who was selected in the second round with the 54th overall pick, was also lauded for turning Temple football into a respectable program.
"You're getting a very explosive hitter; one of the more intimidating, if not the most intimidating safety in this draft," Reid said. "When you talk about people who can come up and smack you, he'll come up and smack you."
Jarrett was a four-year starter for the Owls and was a two-time first-team All-MAC performer. Jarrett finished among the school's all-time leaders in tackles (299) and interceptions (9). He led Temple in tackles in two of his four seasons.
With Marsh, the Eagles get a cornerback who is raw but presented the upside to be a potential starter down the road. Even though the Eagles got him in the third round, with the 90th pick, Reid said that Marsh had second-round potential. The biggest drawback to Marsh was a lack of experience. Marsh was a running back who volunteered to switch sides two years ago and never went back to offense.
"What you're getting with Curtis is big, strong, physical, fast, and very, very intelligent cornerback who doesn't have quite as much experience as some of the other guys in the draft," Reid said. "But we feel like, with our coaching here and his athletic ability, we'll really develop him into a fine football player and have a starter eventually here for the Philadelphia Eagles."
The secondary is an area that the Eagles wanted to address this offseason after giving up 31 passing touchdowns last season - the most of Reid's tenure. But the Eagles didn't feel like that had to force the picks either. Reid believes he got good value for both players.
"This is just a part of the whole so we've always banked on going in and getting good football players, and that's what we're trying to do," Reid said. "We feel like we did it here. We also know that somewhere along the line free agency is going to come about. And wherever we would feel that we need somebody we could always look at that. But again, these are quality players and we have quality players here. This presents great competition and good youth."
It remains to be seen when we will get our first glimpse of Castillo's defense on the field. At least on this night, we get a small taste of potentially what can be in store.
