For my first article I wanted to look at Philadelphia and there draft needs. There have a lot of good players but they have a lot of major holes to fill. They struggled most of the year.
Philadelphia needs to have a great draft to quickly rebuild there team. First and foremost they need to start on defense. With the 3rd pick in the draft there are plenty of great players available to fill a lot of there needs. They need guys that will immediately impact there defense if they want to improve from 3 wins last season.
Defense tackle, Linebacker and Corner back are the biggest needs on defense. They have good depth at Defensive end and Safety.
Defensive tackle is the number one priority and if Goat Tank is available at #3, they can't pass him up. He should be number one on their draft board. There are a lot of good LB in this draft, there is only one DT who generated a pass rush and dominated games. Goat Tank was voted DT of the year and it wasn't even close. He would also be an instant starter on a team in desperate need of a good DT. He had 7 sacks last year which lead all DT in the DFSL and he also forced 3 fumbles. Philadelphia as a team only had 35 sacks which was dead last in the ISFL. Getting that kind of production from a defensive tackle is very rare and instantly makes everyone on the defense better. There lack of pressure was one of there biggest issues last year and a stronger pass rush helps mask a lot of the issues Philadelphia had on defense last year.
35 sacks is simply unacceptable and they will not improve without finding a way to generate more sacks. Goat Tank fixes this issue for them and should be number one on there draft board.
If Goat Tank isnt available at #3 which I believe he will be, they should have Guy Fields on close to the top of there list. He seems like pretty much consensus #1 pick but if he should fall to #3 and Goat Tank isnt available, he would be hard to pass up.
Fields led all Rookies with 120 tackles last season. He didnt generate any sacks and only had 1 Tackles for loss but nothing gets past him. A solid run stopping LB is a very high need for them. He doesnt fix there pressure issue, but they currently don't have a strong middle Line backer and he can help control the run and take some of the pressure off of there safeties. Between there two starting safeties they had a combined 228 tackles. Eriksen was tied for 3rd in the ISFL in tackles. Having your safety lead your team in tackles is never a good thing. Having a solid MLB will take the pressure off Eriksen to make all the tackles. Eriksen will benefit by having Fields so he can go back to his natural position of roaming around the middle and not having to always support in the run game.
Hank Winchester is another great option at LB. He had 111 tackles and 2 sacks last season. He has more speed than Fields and is better suited for a 3 - 4 style outside LB. Those are solid numbers for an outside LB. I think Winchester would help them out but he doesn't fill a huge need but helps fix a problem with there pass rush.
They need a full rebuild so you cant go wrong with either guy. I would lean towards Fields because he will be the anchor in the middle of the defense for a long time and with the lack of dept on the defensive line he would be a huge help in the run game. I think Winchester would get double teamed a lot because of the lack of depth on the d line which would minimize his impact.
Peter Patterson is one of the Top CBs available. He is a Zone CB which would pair up well with Booker. Patterson had 3 int and 12 PD last year. Great productivity and would help Philadelphia immediately.
Philadelphia was dead last in PD. While Booker had a great year with 5 int and 10 PD, there was no help on the other side of the field. Teams simply won't force the ball his direct if they don't need to. Patterson forces the opposing QB to make that decision.
Swantavius Jones also would pair well with Booker because both are all around CB who would both adapt well to a schemepp change. He has 2 int and 9 PD last year in a pretty good rookie season. He also had a sack. They could you Jones on some corner blitzes knowing that Booker is on the other side.
Both CB would be very good additions but neither will help generate a pass rush. I would only target one of these guys if they thought there draft board setup up for taking a LB or DT in the second round.
Philadelphia needs to focus on defense and it would be difficult for them to make a mistake with this pick. There are too many holes to fill on defense and too many good defensive players available at the top of the draft for them to even consider going offense.
Offensively they have great players all around and overall did well. The offense had too much pressure on it to make up for the defense which caused a lot of pressing. Drafting any offensive player early in the draft will be a huge mistake. If they want to turn things around they need to nail this draft. Especially the first few rounds, any offensive player they draft will not make an impact right away in they are not in a position to draft and develop unless they want to continue to draft in the top off next year.
The theme of their draft needs to be Defense. If they spend all of their pick on defense it will be a successful draft. Best case scenario is they get Goat Tank, two LB and a CB.
Philadelphia needs to have a great draft to quickly rebuild there team. First and foremost they need to start on defense. With the 3rd pick in the draft there are plenty of great players available to fill a lot of there needs. They need guys that will immediately impact there defense if they want to improve from 3 wins last season.
Defense tackle, Linebacker and Corner back are the biggest needs on defense. They have good depth at Defensive end and Safety.
Defensive tackle is the number one priority and if Goat Tank is available at #3, they can't pass him up. He should be number one on their draft board. There are a lot of good LB in this draft, there is only one DT who generated a pass rush and dominated games. Goat Tank was voted DT of the year and it wasn't even close. He would also be an instant starter on a team in desperate need of a good DT. He had 7 sacks last year which lead all DT in the DFSL and he also forced 3 fumbles. Philadelphia as a team only had 35 sacks which was dead last in the ISFL. Getting that kind of production from a defensive tackle is very rare and instantly makes everyone on the defense better. There lack of pressure was one of there biggest issues last year and a stronger pass rush helps mask a lot of the issues Philadelphia had on defense last year.
35 sacks is simply unacceptable and they will not improve without finding a way to generate more sacks. Goat Tank fixes this issue for them and should be number one on there draft board.
If Goat Tank isnt available at #3 which I believe he will be, they should have Guy Fields on close to the top of there list. He seems like pretty much consensus #1 pick but if he should fall to #3 and Goat Tank isnt available, he would be hard to pass up.
Fields led all Rookies with 120 tackles last season. He didnt generate any sacks and only had 1 Tackles for loss but nothing gets past him. A solid run stopping LB is a very high need for them. He doesnt fix there pressure issue, but they currently don't have a strong middle Line backer and he can help control the run and take some of the pressure off of there safeties. Between there two starting safeties they had a combined 228 tackles. Eriksen was tied for 3rd in the ISFL in tackles. Having your safety lead your team in tackles is never a good thing. Having a solid MLB will take the pressure off Eriksen to make all the tackles. Eriksen will benefit by having Fields so he can go back to his natural position of roaming around the middle and not having to always support in the run game.
Hank Winchester is another great option at LB. He had 111 tackles and 2 sacks last season. He has more speed than Fields and is better suited for a 3 - 4 style outside LB. Those are solid numbers for an outside LB. I think Winchester would help them out but he doesn't fill a huge need but helps fix a problem with there pass rush.
They need a full rebuild so you cant go wrong with either guy. I would lean towards Fields because he will be the anchor in the middle of the defense for a long time and with the lack of dept on the defensive line he would be a huge help in the run game. I think Winchester would get double teamed a lot because of the lack of depth on the d line which would minimize his impact.
Peter Patterson is one of the Top CBs available. He is a Zone CB which would pair up well with Booker. Patterson had 3 int and 12 PD last year. Great productivity and would help Philadelphia immediately.
Philadelphia was dead last in PD. While Booker had a great year with 5 int and 10 PD, there was no help on the other side of the field. Teams simply won't force the ball his direct if they don't need to. Patterson forces the opposing QB to make that decision.
Swantavius Jones also would pair well with Booker because both are all around CB who would both adapt well to a schemepp change. He has 2 int and 9 PD last year in a pretty good rookie season. He also had a sack. They could you Jones on some corner blitzes knowing that Booker is on the other side.
Both CB would be very good additions but neither will help generate a pass rush. I would only target one of these guys if they thought there draft board setup up for taking a LB or DT in the second round.
Philadelphia needs to focus on defense and it would be difficult for them to make a mistake with this pick. There are too many holes to fill on defense and too many good defensive players available at the top of the draft for them to even consider going offense.
Offensively they have great players all around and overall did well. The offense had too much pressure on it to make up for the defense which caused a lot of pressing. Drafting any offensive player early in the draft will be a huge mistake. If they want to turn things around they need to nail this draft. Especially the first few rounds, any offensive player they draft will not make an impact right away in they are not in a position to draft and develop unless they want to continue to draft in the top off next year.
The theme of their draft needs to be Defense. If they spend all of their pick on defense it will be a successful draft. Best case scenario is they get Goat Tank, two LB and a CB.