Taylor
Hart seems quiet and unassuming off the field.
On the field, it's a completely different story.
The Philadelphia Eagles will have another chance to monitor how their
fifth-round draft pick is doing when organized team activities (OTAs) begin
Tuesday.
Hart, who played for Eagles coach Chip Kelly at the University of Oregon, is a 6-foot-6, 280-pound defensive end with tremendous upside.
Hart, who played for Eagles coach Chip Kelly at the University of Oregon, is a 6-foot-6, 280-pound defensive end with tremendous upside.
And the Eagles believe they took a player in the fifth round who could have
been nabbed in the third round.
“I mean, we had a third-round grade on Taylor,”
Eagles general manager Howie Roseman told reporters at the conclusion of the
NFL draft. “Because when you look at it, it’s interesting because really the
last two years of the -- first two years in my career that I've been part of
looking for 3-4 defensive ends, and when you really get down to it, there’s not
a lot of guys in the draft that kind of fit the description you’re looking for,
and so, again, Taylor, it’s easy to see what he does. His production really is
off the charts. [Defensive line coach Jerry Azzinaro] likes to talk about
contacts with the ball, and his ability to make contacts with the ball is
extremely impressive.
“He can run, he’s got instincts. Obviously he’s big, he’s long, and so we did
have that third-round grade, and because you know half the teams don't run a
3-4, when we study other teams that run a 3-4, they sometimes look for
different -- there is variation on the 3-4 scheme, so we just kind of looked at
it," Roseman continued. "You also kind of look at top 30 visits and
who's worked them out privately. I felt like we had a good handle on Taylor and
the teams that are interested in him, of the teams that are interested in him
had they addressed that pick with a different player at that time. Were they
going to go back in the first four rounds and get the second guy?"