Surprisingly, Eagles go on offensive in draft

WIDE RECEIVER, running back, and tight end.

Going into the 2009 NFL draft, if you'd told someone those were the positions where the Eagles would make their first three selections, no one would have been surprised. Maybe a little intrigued that running back wasn't No. 1, but far from shocked.

Yet, like most Eagles drafts, by the time the sun set yesterday it somehow felt surprising. Maybe because almost no one - including the Eagles themselves - thought the wideout was going to be Missouri's heralded Jeremy Maclin, whom the Eagles traded up to draft 19th overall. Maybe because no one anticipated yesterday's trade for starting New England corner Ellis Hobbs, which suddenly made Sheldon Brown trade scenarios much less unthinkable. (Never mind that the Birds didn't trade Brown over the weekend, as he had hoped - if anybody needs a corner, between now and the season, assuming Hobbs comes in and plays well, you have to assume Brown is much more available than he was when Joselio Hanson was the only other experienced corner on the roster.)

Maybe it all seemed surprising just because the Eagles actually did a lot of the stuff the fans have been venting about in despair, for years.

Maclin represented only the second time in Andy Reid's last five drafts the Eagles have gone for an offensive player with their initial pick. The other time was backup quarterback Kevin Kolb, 2 years ago. Maclin would be the highest-drafted Eagles "skill" position player since Donovan McNabb. Never before had Reid's first three selections all been offensive. Only once before, in 2004, did Reid get through an entire draft without selecting a defensive lineman.

The Eagles drafted eight players, a total that of course does not include Hobbs or offensive tackle Jason Peters, for whom they traded the 28th overall pick in the first round, plus a fourth-rounder this year (and a sixth next year).

There were two wideouts, Maclin and sixth-rounder Brandon Gibson, from Washington State. Fifth-round tight end Cornelius Ingram, from Florida. Second-round running back LeSean McCoy, from Pitt. Fifth-round corner/safety Victor "Macho" Harris, from Virginia Tech. A fifth-round offensive tackle, Fenuki Tupou, from Oregon, and a seventh-round guard, Paul Fanaika, from Arizona State. Finally, a seventh-round linebacker from Maryland, Moise Fokou. That's six out of eight for the offense.