The drafting styles of the NFC East General Manangers

The NFC East has a handful of very accomplished General Managers– each with their own unique drafting style.

With the draft nearly upon us, let’s discuss drafting style of the NFC East and it’s decision makers/general managers.

Washington Redskins:

Scot McCloughan comes from the schools of Seattle(reaching for scheme fit) and Ron Wolf(best player available) primarily. He gets described in the media as a “best player available” drafter but his drafting history as the primary decision maker in San Francisco and Washington highly suggest a move from “best player available” to “reaching for a need.”

This is best shown in comparing his draft in 2008 in San Fran to his draft in 2015 with the Redskins. In 2008, he took Kentwan Balmer at the bottom of round 1 and Chilo Rachel at the top of round 2(they had the Colts’ 1st round pick from a trade during the 2007 draft). Both were seen as high talent picks for their draft spot and both dropped for what turned out to be good reasons.

Fast forward 7 years and the Redskins take Brandon Scherff, Preston Smith and Matt Jones with their first 3 picks. They passed on far more talented players(at the time of the draft) like Todd Gurley, Leonard Williams, Randy Gregory, Eric Kendricks, Jeremy Langford and Daryl Wililams. Smith and Jones really underline this point. Smith was seen as a late 2nd round pick at best and he went at the top of the 2nd. Matt Jones was seen as a late 4th round pick and he went in the late 3rd(after a trade down). This shows a clear change in his drafting priorities.

The other thing that comes through in his drafting style is that he prefers seniors or redshirt juniors and almost always from big schools. Only 2 of his 23 draft picks came from smaller schools and only 3 of those same 23 picks came from non-power 5 conference teams. In a recent interview with the Bleacher Report, he also talked about his preference for players who are mentally tough and overcame adversity.
Philadelphia Eagles:

Howie Roseman has been with the Eagles’ organization for 16 years serving in a variety of roles. Nominally, he’s been the general manager since 2010 but in reality Andy Reid and Chip Kelly had final say in moves and it’s hard to say how much say Roseman truly had in any moves. With apologies, this analysis is largely triangulation.

Considering the turnover since Chip Kelly was deposed by the Eagles org and specifically the turnover in players that Chip Kelly acquired, it would be almost impossible to make an argument that Roseman had much say during the Kelly era. And the re-hiring of Doug Pederson and Jim Washburn suggests that his personnel beliefs could signal a return to the Andy Reid era.

So what does this mean? A focus on prospects whose physical tools impress more than any film on the field. Andy Reid loved wideouts, runningbacks and corners who could fly on the field. He loved lineman with great power and strength.

New York Giants:

Jerry Reese has blue blood in his veins. He started with the legendary George Young and never left. He slowly moved up the ranks and eventually replaced Ernie Accorsi in 2007. Which might explain why he decided to just promote Coughlin’s offensive coordinator to replace the Super Bowl winning coach.

His drafting style has never been some big secret. He even flat out stated it in an interview:

“We never try to reach in the draft,” Reese said. “We’re conscious of what we think our needs are, but we try to pick the best player in the draft. We do try to fill holes in free agency when we get an opportunity to do that, but we never say let’s get a certain position in the draft. We just try to pick the best player.”

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This is always a very boom/bust strategy for any team to run and the Giants have done it since the George Young era. When it works, the team ends up with a hall of famer. When it doesn’t, they end up with a Cedric Jones.

In the Reese era, it’s been Odell Beckham Jr or Kenny Phillips. And the Beckham picks of his past mean that it will be full steam ahead on this come April 28th regardless if there’s another Kenny Phillips out there.

Dallas Cowboys:

Jerry Jones used to be the punchline to a joke when it came to drafts. Since Parcells left in 2007, the Cowboys were in a freefall as a drafting time culminating with their disastrous 2009 draft when they dealt away a chance to get Percy Harvin, Clay Matthews Jr, Alex Mack and many other talented players to get Roy Williams(the wideout) who netted 1400 yards and 13 TDs for the Boys in 3 seasons. And out of 12 picks made in that draft, the best value they got was John Phillips who has been a good blocking tight end for them.

Something happened after this draft because the Boys have rarely missed on top picks since then. Morris Claiborne was a gigantic miss for them, especially since they dealt up for him, but outside of that they’ve taken 4 All Pro players and 2 others who have made a pro bowl. This doesn’t happen out of dumb luck.

So what changed? To me, it appears that they went from drafting more physical prospects early who needed to be taught to play their own positions to taking the best player to fill their biggest need regardless of draft perception or perceived value.

They’ve also moved from taking bigger projects in the later rounds to taking accomplished players at bigger programs.

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