Eagles fans want wide receiver; will Birds take one anyway?

Adding an impact tight end would not play to the public as well as a wideout, but tight ends catch passes, as well, especially in the red zone, an Eagles bugaboo the past two seasons. Some observers feel first-round tight end is a more likely route for the Eagles, in the wake of L.J. Smith's departure. The guy slated to start at tight end, Brent Celek, isn't one of those people - Celek did a mock draft for The Sporting News, and like many pundits, he had the Eagles getting Georgia running back Knowshon Moreno at 21. Celek also noted: "We don't need a tight end."

Before the trade deadline last season, the Birds were involved in trade talks with Kansas City over tight end Tony Gonzalez, a 12-year veteran who nonetheless caught 96 passes in 2008. SI.com's Don Banks posited yesterday that Gonzalez is again on the block and that the Eagles might be leading contenders to acquire him, for a third-round pick.

If that doesn't happen, the Birds are expected to draft a tight end, probably somewhere in the first three rounds. Oklahoma State's Brandon Pettigrew is the only prospect widely considered a true first-rounder, and the only real proven blocking and catching tight end available. The other top prospects all will probably be available when the Eagles pick in the second round, 53rd overall. That group includes Florida's Cornelius Ingram, South Carolina's Jared Cook, North Carolina's Richard Quinn and Missouri's Chase Coffman. Quinn is the only one in the bunch who has shown he can block.

"It's a very interesting group," Heckert said. "Now in college football, with all the spread stuff, there's a couple guys that are going to go fairly early that you never see on the line of scrimmage, ever. When you talk to some of the [college] coaches, they tell you that they only get these guys for 17 hours a week and they don't have enough time to teach 'em all the stuff in an offense, so they go to a spread offense where they only have a limited amount of plays . . . you're seeing a lot of big receivers [at tight end], is what you're looking at. You don't see 'em block . . . you're just guessing on that part of it. But there are a lot of skilled athletes at tight end in this draft."

Of course, he isn't a wideout or a tight end, but Knowshon Moreno caught 53 passes over the past two seasons. Just sayin'. *