Philadelphia Eagles Dumpster Dive: Biggest Defensive Draft Busts in Franchise History

The Philadelphia Eagles have had their fair share of busts on the defensive side of the ball. Here's a closer look.

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Davante Adams (17) pulls down a long reception against Philadelphia / Dan Powers, Dan Powers/USA TODAY

This is part two of a series examining the Philadelphia Eagles’ busts in previous drafts.

The first part focused on the offensive side of the ball. Now, we shift to the defensive side and special teams.

Before beginning, please note that current Eagles – Nakobe Dean, Nolan Smith and Jordan Davis – are getting a reprieve. Also, believe it or not, Brandom Graham was once about to be labeled a bust by fans before turning it on.

DEFENSIVE LINE

Dec 22, 2019; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Sidney Jones (22) / James Lang-USA TODAY Sports

This is almost as pitiful as offensive line, and the history might be part of the reason general manager Howie Roseman doubles down in the trenches.

Mike Mamula: We will dispatch with the obvious right away, although it might not be fair to label the Boston College product an outright bust. He falls more into the “disappointment” category, as he became a cautionary tale for players – “Workout Warriors” – who specifically train for the draft combine and get overdrafted.

Mamula was originally rated as a third- or fourth-round pick who would be a pass-rushing specialist in the NFL. In that role, his 31.5 career sacks in five seasons would have been acceptable.

However, the Eagles were desperate to fill the Reggie White void and traded up from No. 12 with Tampa Bay to draft him seventh overall in 1995 with high expectations. As fate would have it, Mamula would be out of football by the 2002 season.

Leonard Renfro: Two years before the Mamula debacle, this run-stuffer who couldn’t stuff the run was drafted 24th overall out of Colorado. By 1994, with two starts to his name, Renfro was gone.

If the Birds were looking for a pillar on the interior of the defensive line, Dana Stubblefield went two picks later. He was the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in 1995 (but is currently serving 15 years in prison for rape).

Jon Harris: This pick – 25th overall in 1997 – marred the legacy of Ray Rhodes, who had done no wrong up that point. The selection of the Virginia product, despite his size (6-7, 300 pounds), seemed like an immediate headscratcher. Rhodes quickly took the talk radio airwaves to try and sell Harris as a multi-dimensional late-bloomer but he was selling a lemon. Harris only lasted two seasons (eight starts in 24 games, with two career sacks).

Defensive linemen the Eagles could have had instead include Trevor Pryce and Marcellus Wiley, both Pro Bowlers.

Jerome McDougle: A bit undersized for a defensive end (6-2, 264 pounds), the Eagles were likely more enamored by McDougle’s pedigree after he helped to lead the Miami Hurricanes to a national title. After two ineffective seasons, in which he started zero games and had three sacks, he was gone from the nest (one year as a spare part with the Giants).

Meanwhile, the Steelers grabbed Troy Polamalu with the next pick, meaning he could have played alongside Brian Dawkins in what might have been the best safety pairing in NFL history.

Marcus Smith: Taken 26th overall out of Louisville in 2014, this almost felt like a mistake right out of the gate, and a bad compromise between then-coach Chip Kelly and Roseman. Smith was waived by 2017 with making little to no impact. Drafted as a linebacker but listed as a defensive end, Smith was barely on the field enough to know what he was – other than a mistake.

LINEBACKER

Roseman takes a lot of criticism for undervaluing this position. However, a snapshot of the team’s draft history reveals it was never really valued (other than Chuck Bednarik going first overall in 1949).

The last pure linebacker taken in the first round was Jerry Robinson in 1979, and he was a Pro Bowler and All-Pro choice by 1981.

Nonetheless, there are still some that sting.

Barry Gardner: Considering he was taken in the early second round (35th overall) in 1999, more was expected from this Illinois product than what he gave. Gardner started 18 games in four seasons here, with 13 coming in 2000 while warming a place for then-rookie Jeremiah Trotter.

Casey Matthews: Yes, he was picked in the fourth round out of Oregon in 2011, but fans and experts alike considered him a draft steal and a lot was immediately asked of the younger brother of Clay Matthews III.

Juan Castillo, who had been curiously moved from offensive line coach to defensive coordinator by Andy Reid, was quick to trumpet the rookie’s smarts and skill set and put him at the epicenter of a dysfunctional defense (Wide-9 anyone?) and he only started three games (and 15 for his four-year career).

Whit Marshall: It’s hard to label a fifth-round pick a bust, but this was a colossal mistake by the Birds.

Marshall had impressive size (6-2, 247), but he wasn’t even a full-time starter at Georgia and was considered fodder to maybe be an undrafted signee when his name was seemingly plucked out of a hat at No. 147 in 1996.

He lasted one whole game as an Eagle and, after playing for the Frankfurt Galaxy, was able to land a one-year gig as a deep reserve on a bad Atlanta team in 1999.

Here is where it hurts: Seven picks later, the Eagles could have struck gold at the same middle linebacker position with Zach Thomas out of Texas Tech. Thomas, who spent almost his entire career in Miami, was a five-time first-team All-Pro and was named to the 2000s All-Decade Team and enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Quinton Caver: Selected in the second round (55th overall) in 2001, Caver played in 11 games and amassed a grand total of 11 tackles. By the third week of October the following year, the Arkansas product was on the street to begin a journeyman’s journey that ended in the CFL.

While the Eagles were able to nail their other second-round pick, Derrick Burgess, they could have conceivably drafted Burgess where they took Caver and then drafted standout receiver Steve Smith, who went in the early third round to Carolina, where they took Burgess (this was during the James Thrash-Todd Pinkston era).

Matt McCoy: Picked in the second round of the 2005 draft out of San Diego State, McCoy never really gained much traction in Jim Johnson’s defense and bounced around the league from New Orleans to Tampa Bay to Seattle. He was drafted 63rd overall; Justin Tuck went 74th.

SECONDARY

It is always a gamble drafting a defensive back and throwing him to the wolves as a rookie, as it may mean lost confidence that is hard to regain.

The Eagles have gambled, and lost, several times (much to the delight of the wolves feasting on double fakes, lost jockstraps and busted coverages).

Sidney Jones: While you can sometimes blame the player for simply not rising to the challenge, this one was more on the team.

A two-time first-team All-Pac 12 choice at Washington, Jones was generally considered a first-rounder in the 2017 draft before he tore his Achilles (requiring surgery a little more than a month before the draft) during the final positional drill of his pro day.

The Eagles still selected him in the second round (43rd overall). He was inactive for all but the final meaningless game of the regular season (although he still got a Super Bowl ring).

Jones was the nickel corner for six games the following season before developing a recurring hamstring injury.

In and out of the lineup in 2020, Jones was released in September of 2021 without really making much of a consistent impact.

Eric Rowe: This is a wacky one, and it’s difficult to label a two-time Super Bowl champion a bust, but Rowe was just that in his one season as an Eagle.

In 2015, the Eagles moved up a few slots – from 52nd overall to 47th – to select the Utah product, who began his rookie year in 2015 as the third corner behind Byron Maxwell and Nolan Carroll and became a started later in the ill-fated season when Carroll was injured.

After the Coach/GM Chip Kelly experiment failed, Rowe was dispatched for a fourth-round pick to New England, where he won two rings that were sandwiched around Super Bowl LII won by the Eagles, 41-33.

In that win over the New England Patriots, Rowe was badly abused by Eagle receiver Alshon Jeffery in the first half before a defensive coordinator named Matt Patricia made the brilliant deduction that he needed to change coverage assignments.

So, in a way, Rowe did play a role in the Eagles finally winning it all. Perhaps they should give him a third ring.

Jesse Campbell: The Eagles took this North Carolina State product in the second round (48th overall) in 1991 and, by 1992, he was beginning a hitch as a spare part with the rival Giants.

Jaiquawn Jarrett: Compounding the disastrous choice of offensive lineman/firefighter Danny Watkins in the first round, the Eagles appeared to make another PR blunder taking this Temple product in the second (54th overall, one pick ahead of Pro Bowl guard Rodney Hudson) when he was generally rated as mid-round pick. No longer an Eagle after training camp in 2012, Jarrett resurfaced with the Jets and played better than he did here but was still waived/injured by 2015.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Kicking specialists haven’t always worked out here, but it hurts more when draft picks are burned on them.

James Patrick “Happy” Feller: Selected in the fourth round of the 1971 draft, the Texas product made very few people happy, going a dismal 6-for-20 in one season here (he wasn’t much better during a two-year hitch in New Orleans).

Making matters worse, the Eagles cut Mark Mosely, who went on to a long and celebrated career in Washington, to make room for Feller.

Mitch Berger: This one only hurts because Berger, taken in the sixth round in 1994, was a complete bust here and a boom elsewhere (Super Bowl ring with Pittsburgh, All-Pro twice with Minnesota, etc.).