This is the second part of reviewing the Philadelphia Eagles’ 2021 draft class. It will look at how each player produced during their first season in the NFL. This edition will cover rounds 4-7.
Click here to read part one of this series : Reviewing the Philadelphia Eagles’ 2021 Draft Class: Rounds 1-3
Round 4
No. 123 overall: Zech McPhearson, CB
McPherson played college ball at Texas Tech, where he had monster seasons in his junior and senior years. In his senior season, McPherson, led Texas Tech’s defense with four interceptions. He also had six pass deflections, which bested his junior year where he had five.
McPherson did not get a lot of playing time with the Eagles during his rookie year. He was behind one of the NFL’s elite cornerbacks Darius Slay on the depth chart. Being behind Slay is not a bad thing for McPhearson because he probably learned a lot from Slay. The former Texas Tech cornerback had seven tackles and one pass deflection in his first season as a Philadelphia Eagle. He has a lot of upside and expect him to get more playing time next season.
Round 5
No. 150 overall: Kenneth Gainwell, RB
Gainwell was one of the more impressive players to come out of the later rounds of this Philadelphia Eagles’ 2021 draft class. He played college football at Memphis, where he ran all over the AAC. The former Memphis running back fell just shy of a 1,500-yard rushing season during his junior year at Memphis. He also had 13 rushing touchdowns during that season. Gainwell also shined receiving the ball where he had 610 receiving yards.
This great play in college translated well in the NFL. Gainwell was behind a lot of good players in the depth chart this year at running back as he did not get as much playing time. The playing time he did get with the Eagles showed glimpses of greatness. Gainwell is speedy, great at finding holes at the line of scrimmage and he has great hands when being a pass catcher. He had 291 yards and five touchdowns rushing for the Eagles this year. He also had 252 yards receiving yards and one touchdown catch. With Boston Scott possibly going into free agency, Gainwell could very well move up the depth chart next season behind Miles Sanders.
Round 6
No. 189 overall: Marlon Tuipulotu, DT
Tuipulotu is a defensive tackle that came out of USC. He is big as he is 6-foot-2 and weighs 305 pounds. In his last year in college, Tuipulotu had 22 tackles with three and a half of them being for a loss. He also had two sacks and one forced fumble.
This is another player who did not get to see a lot of playing time. Tuipulotu had 55 defensive snaps over the season and had five tackles. He is behind two great left defensive tackles on the depth chart with Javon Hargrave and Hassan Ridgeway in front of him. He will need to be on his game to move up that depth chart when training camp begins.
No. 191 overall: Tarron Jackson, DE
Jackson had a fantastic career at Coastal Carolina. He had 54 total tackles and 14 of those tackles were for a loss. He also had eight and a half sacks in his final season as a Chanticleer.
As for his first season in the NFL, Jackson gave the Eagles some production as he played at least one snap in all 17 games. Jackson is strong off the line scrimmage and is great at getting to the quarterback. He had 18 total tackles with two of those being for a loss. He also had one sack during his first NFL season. Jackson has a high ceiling in the NFL and will only get better with experience. He is behind Derek Barnett and Josh Sweat on the Eagles depth chart.
No. 224 overall: JaCoby Stevens, LB/S
Former LSU product JaCoby Stevens was a beast during his senior season in college. He was the team leader in tackles in 2020 as he had 63. Six of those tackles for a loss. He also had two sacks and two forced fumbles.
Stevens only played in two games this year with the Eagles. These games were the two last games of the season, where he got the most playing time during the Cowboys game in Week 18. He had three total tackles in those two games. He was on the Eagles’ practice squad for most of the season and has just signed a futures contract with the Eagles. A futures contract is for players who were not on the 53-man roster at the end of the season. This contract allows the Eagles to keep Stevens without the possibility of him going to another team if he was on the practice squad. His contract does not go against the Salary cap for the 53-man roster. Stevens has the talent to be a name we could hear in the next couple of years.
Round 7
No. 234 overall: Patrick Johnson, LB
Johnson had an impressive career at Tulane. As a linebacker during his senior year, he had 36 total tackles and 11.5 tackles for a loss. He was also great at getting to the quarterback as he had seven sacks in his final season with the Green Wave.
Johnson got a considerable amount of playing time for Philadelphia in his rookie year. He was on the Eagles’ 53-man roster for a lot of the year and even got a post-season snap. He had 11 total tackles on the season. Johnson will get more playing time in the next couple of seasons as he is still adjusting to the NFL. Johnson was great at rushing the quarterback in college and hopefully, he can do the same thing for the Eagles in the NFL. It will be interesting to see how Johnson progresses in the NFL
This concludes the review of how all the rookies did this season within the Philadelphia Eagles’ 2021 Draft Class.
You can like The Game Haus on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles from great TGH writers along with Matthew!