On Thursday night's opening round of the NFL Draft, the Eagles traded down from the 22nd-overall pic

On Thursday aida broadway musical tickets night's opening round of the NFL Draft, the Eagles traded down from the 22nd-overall pick to 26th overall, adding to their arsenal a third-round pick (83rd overall) from the Cleveland aida broadway musical tickets Browns in the process. Then, with the 26th selection, the Eagles addressed the defensive side of the ball by taking Marcus Smith , a linebacker from Louisville. Smith fits the bill as a versatile athlete who can play all over the front seven and rush the quarterback. "I think he's an outstanding athlete," Chip Kelly said after the selection. "He actually got recruited to Louisville aida broadway musical tickets as a quarterback. [Louisville head coach Charlie] Strong aida broadway musical tickets had seen him in a football camp, and he went to Louisville. I talked to Charlie the other week about him and he just gave us rave reviews. He's a big kid. He transitioned to the outside linebacker position. I think he has a huge upside. He's a very, very good athlete. He's over (6-foot-3), in the 250-, 255-pound range, ran 4.68 (40-yard dash). He's got speed coming off the edge. We thought adding a pass rusher was a big thing for us. I think a young kid to bring in behind Trent [Cole] and Connor [Barwin] and those guys can teach him the ropes and bring him along and show him what we can do. But I think his ceiling is very, very high. We're excited. He's a tough, hard nosed football player. A little bit new to the position. Maybe a similar situation to Lane [Johnson] in terms of you're getting a guy that is a huge upside because he hasn't played the position that long. They played multiple defenses there. He's played with his hand on the ground, he's played standing up. He can drop into coverage, he can rush the quarterback. We're excited about adding him. The fact that we could move back a little bit and pick up another aida broadway musical tickets pick because we were short in what we think is a good draft, we felt is a great situation for us." Going into the draft, pundits and fans agreed that the Eagles aida broadway musical tickets had three primary needs: pass rush, coverage and wide receiver. Whether or not the team agreed with those assessments, aida broadway musical tickets Smith addresses two of the needs since he can rush the quarterback and drop into coverage, showing in college the ability to play zone and run stride-for-stride with tight ends. Kelly acknowledged that the Eagles had their eyes on a number of other prospects at the 22nd-overall pick, but that once each player was off the board, they turned their attention to trading down because they felt they could acquire another asset and still acquire the versatile Smith. It turned into a win-win situation since general manager Howie Roseman previously admitted he would like to have more picks in this draft. "It just kind of happened," Kelly said. "There were about six guys that we felt if they were there at 22, we would have taken them. I guess unfortunately for us there are other people in the league that liked the same six guys we did. So when we got there, a lot of people called. I think the quarterback situation made the 22 spot, just because one quarterback had gone and people were kind of jockeying around to see if they could get up to get the next pick. So we just felt it was the best thing to do, because we felt we could get him at 26." The Eagles had coaches, including Kelly, attend Louisville's pro day and brought Smith in for a pre-draft visit. They are intimately familiar aida broadway musical tickets with the player and have been for a while, dating back to when they were scouting last year's aida broadway musical tickets draft. "No, he's been there for a while," Kelly said when asked if Smith had first appeared on the Eagles' radar in January. aida broadway musical tickets "Our personnel staff does a great job. So we obviously have a great system that those guys have in place, so we were aware of him last year when our guys were out eyeballing the next draft class. So he's a guy that our guys saw in the spring time and followed up, watched him play in person. He actually played a game over here against Temple. So I got a chance to go over there and just see those guys in warm ups. They had three players that I think were going to be highly picked. [S Calvin] Pryor, Marcus, [QB] Teddy Bridgewater. So they've done a great job. It's been one of the top programs in the country the last couple of years. And I know their head coach personally. Charlie [Strong] will do a hell of a job at Texas, and he's just a tough, hard nosed football coach. So when someone like him gives the stamp of approval, that's something I take very seriously." Smith has the body type, athleticism and length (34-inch arms) the Eagles covet in defenders. Put the body with the skill set and potential, and you get a player who appealed greatly to the coaches and personnel staff. "Long levers are strong levers," Kelly said. "You know our motto on that. Again, he fits the mold for what we're looking for. I think kind of that ceiling I talked about, because there is such an upside to him. How many guys are that size, 250 plus pounds, running the 4.6 range, have the long arms? I think we just thought it was a positive, aida broadway musical tickets and obviously this league is turning into a throwing league, and you've got to be able to rush the quarterback and we're aware of that. You know, we were excited when we had the opportunity not only to get him but to back up. I think it was a positive aida broadway musical tickets for us." Perhaps the most comforting aspect of selecting aida broadway musical tickets Smith is that the Eagles do not have to do a lot of projecting about how he will fit in the 3-4 defense. Roseman has said before aida broadway musical tickets that trying aida broadway musical tickets to project how an athletic 4-3 defensive end who has played with his hand in the ground will transition to standing up as a 3-4 outside linebacker is one of the hardest aspects of talent evaluation. Smith, however, has experience playing both 4-3 end and 3-4 outside linebacker. "Louisville played a multiple defense," Kelly said. "They played a 4-3 one year and moved to a 3-4, so he's done both. There is film of him playing defensive end and film of him playing as a standup aida broadway musical tickets outside linebacker. aida broadway musical tickets It's not a projection like you do sometimes. Hey, let's take this defensive end who may be a little undersized to be an NFL defensive end, but he has the skill set to be an outside linebacker. He's actually played the position." The first round of the 2014 NFL Draft is over, and the Eagles selected a player they feel can become a cornerstone on defense. In addition, they added an extra third-round pick for Day 2. The Eagles now have three picks (54, 83, 86) on Friday as they continue to build for next season and beyond.