And the nightmare is over

Mercifully, the first day of the draft comes to an end.

After trading down to secure a total of four first-day picks, the Eagles managed to pick up four players with third-round grades. Kolb was a ridiculous decision - he would have been available in the fourth round, but instead the Eagles draft him at the top of the second. Their next two picks were wasted on a DE and a OLB who have below-average speed. Although they did come through with Tony Hunt at the end of the 3rd round, it's not nearly enough to recover from the disaster of this day.

The Eagles three biggest areas of need - CB, S, and TE, were not addressed. In a very deep WR draft, the Eagles passed on major value that fell into their lap. This is the worst draft I've ever witnessed for the Eagles. If even one of their top three picks is a starter within the next three years, I'll be stunned.

With their first-round pick, they passed over the #1 TE in the draft, Greg Olsen. They passed on the #3 DE, Anthony Spencer, and traded down with Dallas so that a division rival could draft him. With their first second-round pick, they passed on Eric Wright, Marcus McCauley, Eric Weddle, Tanard Jackson (it appears this guy isn't even on their board, since they passed on him 4 times), Dwayne Jarret, and Steve Smith, just to name a few. At the end of round two, they passed on McCauley again, Jason Hill, Jacoby Jones, Buster Davis...then in round three they passed on Daymeion Hughes, Audre Allison, and Antonio Pittman. All for some mediocre prospects who will barely make the team this season, and have little chance of developing into studs down the road.

I haven't evaluated every team yet, but just glancing at the board, I'd have to say that the Eagles managed to assemble the single worst draft class out of the 32 teams. Even Washington's single pick is more valuable than this motley crew.

All those scouts, all those hours watching film, all those plane tickets to visit with players, all the workouts, all the meetings, all the late nights...and this is the end result. If I had taken 60 minutes to assemble my top 100 players from the various mock drafts posted on the internet, and then thrown darts when it was my turn to pick, the class I would have drafted could not possibly have been worse. Just imagine all the money I'd have saved the Eagles, and I would have drafted players they actually could have used.

Seriously, if these picks were submitted by computer, I'd be willing to believe that the Eagles mis-clicked three times today. But since they have to write the player's full name on an index card and carry it to the commissioner, I am forced to accept that the Eagles actually picked these players on purpose.

I can't let this go. I waited months for this day. I look forward to the NFL draft, starting the day after football season ends in January. And here I sit in stunned disappointment. Andy Reid and Tim Heckert: I'm sorry, but you sucked today.