The buzz for the last few years surrounding the Eagles LB corp has been one of consistent negativity, and with good reason: only in 2017 and 2022 did this franchise field a competent LB group. It's no coincidence that those happen to be the years the Birds made the Super Bowl. I thought it might be entertaining to see how previous Eagle linebacker draft picks have fared in recent memory. After doing the research, “entertaining” is likely not the word; perhaps “nauseating” would be the better choice. A couple comments before we start: I did not include UDFAs or free agents for this exercise; maybe we'll do a follow up piece that examines the free agent pickups. Also, I tried to focus on off-ball linebackers, excluding (most notably) Marcus Smith from 2014, who was listed as a linebacker but was more of a DE. I noted the following career stats (including time spent with other teams): starts, total tackles, sacks, forced fumbles and interceptions. I did not track Pro Bowls or All Pro nods as NONE of these players made either team (perhaps there were a couple that got on the injury alternate teams or were selected by a nonmajor selector; I didn't count those). Anyway, here's the complete list of every Eagle draft pick at linebacker from 2000-2020, with notes:
2001: Quinton Caver, Arkansas, 2nd round. In this article we're going to talk about 18 players in total. The fact that this guy was one of two players that I didn't even remember at all should say something about whether or not Caver lived up to his second round billing (he did not). Caver made four career starts and 69 total tackles. He recorded no other significant statistics. Total bust.
2005: Matt McCoy, San Diego State, 2nd round. McCoy was a bit of a project coming out of college, despite a productive career for the Aztecs. He had a couple moments on special teams but only started 13 career games. He played five total seasons in the NFL.
2005: David Bergeron, Stanford, 7th round. Who? I didn't remember him either. Bergeron was a big, athletic prospect that didn't make the team and recorded no stats of any kind in the NFL, in Philly or elsewhere.
2006: Chris Gocong, Cal Poly, 3rd round. Gocong was one of the more productive players on this list. I remember him being a key cog of the sneaky-good 2008 Eagles defense, the last that Jim Johnson coached. Cogong made 67 career starts in all, with 314 tackles, 9.5 sacks and 5 picks.
2006: Omar Gaither, Tennessee, 5th round. Gaither's career statline mimics Gocong's (45 starts, 344 tackles, 6 sacks, 2 picks). Two really solid picks by the Birds that year.
2007: Stewart Bradley, Nebraska, 3rd round. One of the great Eagle “what-ifs” of my lifetime is “What if Stewart Bradley doesn't get hurt in the 2009 preaseason?” Bradley seemed on track to become a poor man's Brian Urlacher, a super sized off ball linebacker with coverage chops and explosion. His knee injury effectively ended all that; Bradley was never the same afterwards, either here or in Denver, where his career ended.
2008: Joe Mays, North Dakota State, 6th round. Sneaky good pick that made 38 career starts in his career.
2009: Moise Fokou, Maryland, 7th round. I remember Fokou as being a better athlete than a football player. He had 35 starts here, mostly because there were few other options. Traded to the Colts in 2012 and sort of disappeared.
2010: Keenan Clayton, Oklahoma, 4th round. Very fast player (his 40 time was second in that year's combine among linebackers, behind the guy next up on this list) that never did a blessed thing for the Eagles. One career start, 48 tackles.
2010: Jamar Chaney, Mississippi State, 7th round. Chaney was built like a stump at 6-0, 242, and as mentioned ran the 40 faster than any other linebacker in that year's combine. With that promise he seemed on track to be great, especially once he wrestled away a starting spot during the playoff push in his rookie season. Unfortunately he fizzled after that; 23 career starts. Was released by Chip Kelly in 2013.
2011: Casey Matthews, Oregon, 4th round. Seemed to be on the fast track after he initially won a starting job on the “Dream Team” as a rookie. He was on the fast track, all right; to mediocrity. Made only 114 tackles for the Eagles. Even Chip Kelly got tired of him and released him after 2014.
2011: Brian Rolle, Ohio State, 6th round. Rolle had numerous family members that enjoyed successful NFL careers and came from a LB factory in college. He took Matthews' spot as a rookie early on and made 13 starts. Fell behind after that, and was out of the league two seasons later.
2011: Greg Lloyd Jr, Connecticut, 7th round. Lloyd's father was an All Pro for the Blitzburgh defenses in the 90s. Lloyd Jr. was an all-conference performer for the best stretch of UConn football in decades. One might have thought that such a player would be well worth a seventh round flier. One would have been wrong. Lloyd is one of two players on this list to never record an NFL stat.
2012: Mychal Kendricks, California, 2nd round. The 46th overall pick in Andy Reid's final Eagles draft (a loaded class that included Fletcher Cox, Vinny Curry, Nick Foles, Dennis Kelly and Bryce Brown), Kendricks played nine total NFL seasons and piled up 91 starts and 548 career tackles for the Eagles and Seahawks. A solid starter for the Super Bowl champs in 2017.
2015: Jordan Hicks, Texas, 3rd round. My personal pick for the best player on this list, Hicks is the only player still starting and is first or second among players on this list in every stat listed above. He's easily the best Eagle linebacker draftee since Jeremiah Trotter in 1998; this fact is more about the weakness of Eagle linebackers than anything else. No shame at all to Hicks, who more than lived up to his third round grade.
2016: Joe Walker, Oregon, 7th round. Made 14 career starts and did some special teams work, most notably in relief of Hicks following Jordan's season ending injury in 2017. Of course, Walker suffered his own season ending injury shortly afterwards. Also made a few appearances for the Cardinals following his release from the Birds in 2018.
2017: Nate Gerry, Nebraska, 5th round. An oversized but athletic safety for the Cornhuskers, Gerry was always an awkward fit as an NFL LB. Made 22 start with 163 tackles and 3.5 sacks for the Birds, but will mostly be remembered as the poster child of a particularly frustrating Eagles LB corps from 2018-2020. Hasn't recorded an NFL stat since that time.
2020: Davion Taylor, Colorado, 3rd round. A total project with intriguing athleticism but little else, Taylor has made seven regrettable and forgettable starts since his selection three years ago. In hindsight, his Day Two draft slot was an obvious overreaction by Howie to criticism that he had neglected both speed and linebackers in general. Still hanging around the Eagles' practice squad but almost certainly on his last shot to prove he can be an NFL player.
All in all, this list is long on injuries and total busts and short on meaningful careers. It seems that the third round is the sweet spot for the Birds; this is where they got Gocong, Bradley and Hicks. Of course, this round also brought us Taylor. Philly has largely sought to plug the spot with picks from the last three rounds and had found a few usable players but mostly has gotten what they paid for.
I did think of a simple way to summarize this info; a scoring system that gives credit as follows: one point per tackle, five points per start, five points per sack, ten points per forced fumble, twenty points per interception. The data is summarized below:
For reference, the great Jeremiah Trotter racked up 1,866.5 points using this system. I'll let you think through the question, “What threshold of productivity is acceptable to make a successful career?”, but my conclusion is that Philly just doesn't draft enough of these guys. Of course, they've gotten successful linebackers in other ways (Nigel Bradham and Kyzir White were free agents and TJ Edwards was a UDFA). It's worth noting that the 2020 draft was heavy in first round linebackers (four in all), none of which have had their 5th year options picked up. It's possible that one or more may be available for a trade. Some early mocks are tying Jeremiah Trotter Jr to Philly in 2024; apart from the media ready storyline, this would represent both a departure from Philly norms as it relates to the position, but also some optimism at last. No matter what else, we can likely agree on two things: this team has struggled to bring in players at this position, and as a result we need more options at LB for 2023.
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