For Eagles, let there be draft movement

EAGLES general manager Tom Heckert spent more than an hour yesterday telling reporters everything and nothing.

Unlike his boss, Andy Reid, who has dramatically increased his use of the phrase "I'm not going to get into that," Heckert answered every question thrown at him during his annual predraft Q & A that didn't include mention of Tony Hunt or Ryan Moats.

That's the good news. The bad news is none of his answers really provided any insight into what the Eagles want to do with their two first-round draft picks.

He said the Eagles, who own 12 picks in the April 25-26 draft, including the 21st and 28th overall selections, might trade up in the first round or they might not. Said they might take a running back in the first round or they might not. Said they might take an offensive tackle in the first round or might not.

* On trading up: "Obviously, we have the ammunition to go pretty high up if we want to. We can move up. But if we stay there at 21 and 28, we think there are going to be guys there that will be just fine. Not the caliber of top 10 [players], maybe. But we'll see what happens."

* On taking a running back in the first round: "It's still not at a point where we're going to say we have to come out of the first two rounds with a running back. We think that there are good running backs in the third and fourth rounds. There always are. We think there are some guys [in those rounds] that can play and help us. It's not like we're in a panic mode by any stretch."

* On the Eagles' left-tackle situation and whether they need to draft a tackle in the first round: "That has not been determined yet. Right now, if nothing else happens [via trade or the draft], it's probably going to be Todd [Herremans] or Shawn [Andrews]. But nothing's etched in stone."

Hope that clears everything up.

This was the second time in 2 1/2 weeks that Heckert has boasted that the Eagles have the ammo to move up near the top of the draft. What was interesting about his comments yesterday was that he said they probably could accomplish that feat without giving up both of their first-round picks.

"I would assume it wouldn't [take both first-round picks]," he said, suggesting the Eagles could throw in multiple picks in later rounds along with one of their No. 1s, and move into the top 10. "But I don't know the answer to that right now."