SDOGO

By Dan Pompei
Sporting News

If the Eagles plan to choose a running back with their first pick in the draft -- say, Florida's Ciatrick Fason -- the Philadelphia riot squad should be notified several picks in advance. Or at the very least, the team's community relations staff should head to the team's draft day party armed with ballistic shields, stun guns and mace, as well as balloons, banners and party mix.

The combustible residents of the City of Brotherly Love might not think it wise to choose someone who plays the same position as Pro Bowl selection Brian Westbrook. But picking a running back would make perfect sense -- if the Eagles believe Westbrook will be difficult to sign to a long-term contract. Westbrook, you see, will be an unrestricted free agent after the coming season.

The immediate reaction often is to judge a draft based on a team's current needs. The smartest teams aren't drafting for need. They are filling their holes with free agents, which allows them to draft the best available players -- or draft for the future.

The Eagles have drafted for the future as well as any team in football. Before the 2002 draft, the team had negotiated with cornerbacks Troy Vincent and Bobby Taylor, whose contracts were up after the 2003 season, about signing contract extensions. The Eagles got the impression that neither would be easy to sign. So the team chose to draft cornerbacks Lito Sheppard and Sheldon Brown in the first and second rounds. Vincent and Taylor left the team as free agents after the 2003 season, and Sheppard and Brown became solid starters last season.

Last year, the Eagles picked Shawn Andrews in the first round. They played him at guard in 2004 before he broke his leg, but the grand plan is for him to succeed Jon Runyan at right tackle, probably after this season, when Runyan's contract expires.

The Eagles have been positioned well to draft for future needs because they don't have many immediate ones each year. It will make sense for them to draft for 2006 in 2005. It also made sense for the Titans to trade out of the first round last year to acquire extra picks and take four defensive linemen and two cornerbacks in the first four rounds. They knew the chances were good they would lose defensive tackle Kevin Carter and cornerbacks Samari Rolle and Andre Dyson this year and that there was an outside chance they could lose defensive end Carlos Hall, a restricted free agent this year.

Drafting for the future doesn't always make sense, however. You wouldn't worry about skipping a deposit for your retirement account if you needed that money to pay your mortgage. Sometimes, the present has to take precedence.

It was puzzling, for instance, when the Bills used their 2003 first-round pick on running back Willis McGahee, who wouldn't be ready to play until 2004 because of a knee injury. They already had a 1,000-yard back in Travis Henry. They were coming off an 8-8 season and had numerous pressing needs. And their coach at the time, Gregg Williams, was heading into a make-or-break season. The Bills were prioritizing the future over the present when they didn't have the luxury of doing so.

One of the benefits of drafting for the future is it takes heat off the rookie and allows him to develop at a more natural pace as the coaching staff learns how to best use his skills. The pressure to get high draft picks to produce immediately contributes to many of them swerving off the road. Coming in behind an established veteran, as Sheppard did, can help a player develop.

"It's tough for rookies to step in and play in the National Football League," Eagles coach Andy Reid says. "If you can buy them a year to learn, that's great."

"A year" is the key phrase. "A player should start contributing by the second year," one AFC executive says. "The risk is that you are only going to have a player four or five years due to free agency, so the window of development is shortened to one year."

Drafting for the future has to be part of a big-picture concept that flows with player development, salary cap decisions and self-scouting. Like saying your prayers, it's an investment made today that could get you where you want to go tomorrow.

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