Pro Football Weekly and Riddell present ...
2002 NFL draft
Eagles nail down future corner
Sheppard to learn in one of the best secondaries in the league
By Andy Hanacek, Associate editor
April 20, 2002
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| The Eagles are one of the few teams in the league who don’t seem to
have many glaring weaknesses or areas in which they absolutely must improve. So the Eagles
were basically free at No. 26 to take the best available athlete, and they tried to add
some depth in the secondary, adding Florida CB Lito Sheppard. Sheppard is a good cover
corner who can also return kicks, something that may have earned him a spot with the
Eagles, who could be looking for a return man and cornerback to groom. Kick returner Brian
Mitchell isn’t getting any younger (though you couldn’t tell from his
performance last season) and the two top-flight corners the Eagles have aren’t spring
chickens either.
Sheppard also gives the Eagles a quality third option if they square off against the
Rams’ amazingly deep WR corps. Sheppard isn’t the biggest cornerback out there,
but he did a solid job in coverage with the Gators and should be able to refine his skills
big-time, learning from CBs Troy Vincent and Bobby Taylor and even garnering some
knowledge from free-agent addition SS Blaine Bishop.
The Eagles probably could use a bolstering of depth at linebacker since the stunning
loss of Jeremiah Trotter to division rival Washington this past week, but there was no way
they should have taken a ’backer at this point, unless Northwestern LB Napoleon
Harris had dropped to them. After Harris, the LB class drops off considerably. |
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