If the Philadelphia Eagles end up taking Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey, they’ll be making a mistake. That is the opinion of ESPN analyst and former Eagles running back Brian Westbrook, who believes the player is simply too big a risk to be going 14th overall in the upcoming draft.
Westbrook made the comments during a recent interview with ESPN.com where he talked about understanding the back had plenty of talent but there was just “something missing.” Westbrook started out the phone conversation with ESPN hedging a bit, but he eventually arrived at a definitive statement saying, “Matter of fact, I wouldn’t draft him at 14.”
There’s something missing for former Philadelphia Eagles star
Westbrook had quite the lengthy conversation and said that while he knows the numbers of he and McCaffrey are similar, he wasn’t sure they were comparable.
Among the reasons he has a hard time drawing a line between the two, is because the Stanford star played at a division 1 school while Westbrook played at a lower level.
While the former Eagles running back could never quite put his finger on what he didn’t like about McCaffrey, who ran for over 2,000 yards in his sophomore year and over 1,600 yards last year he’s knows he doesn’t like it. “I think he’s OK. He doesn’t have … there’s something missing. And I guess it’s hard to put a word on to it from my view, but there is a piece that may be missing.” Some believe it could be the size of McCaffrey, who is just 5’11”. That frame is not one that the NFL loves for an every down back. At the same time, Westbrook was undersized as well and he had a very successful career in Philadelphia.
Not everyone agrees with Westbrook’s assumptions
While one former Eagle thinks taking McCaffrey in the first round would be a mistake, one player still in Philadelphia thinks he might be a game changer. Zach Ertz, the Eagles starting tight end believes McCaffrey could be the next Darren Sproles. "The guy is a stud," Ertz said in an interview on Thursday.
The draft, which begins next Thursday and takes place in Philadelphia, has plenty of top of the line running backs ready and waiting to be picked. Ertz seems to believe the Eagles would not be making a mistake if they decided to go with the Stanford star. It should be pointed out, the tight end does not seem to believe McCaffrey is going to be an every down back.
Darren Sproles has never been a back that carried the ball 25-30 times. He was a kind of change of pace back. Philadelphia is going to have to decide whether or not that’s the kind of player the Eagles need at the 14th pick in the draft.
