For the second time in three days, the Eagles have traded DT Brodrick Bunkley. Initially, they sent him to Cleveland for a 5th round pick, but when he never showed at Browns camp, the Eagles turned around and dealt him to Denver for an undisclosed pick in 2013. Now I guess we wait to see whether he shows up there…
Since I pretty much did this same thing on Saturday for Browns fans I’ll give you the scoop on Bunkley. When he was drafted, the Eagles expected him to develop into a penetrating type pass rusher and disruptive force in the middle. That never happened. He provides almost nothing in the way of pass rush and doesn’t get himself into the backfield on run plays either.
That said, it doesn’t mean he’s a bad player and he started something like 50 games here. He generally holds his spot well and is good at the point of attack. He doesn’t collect lots of tackles or anything, but he is able to stick himself in a spot and eat up a blocker. He doesn’t get pushed around, but he doesn’t push anyone around either. I’ve always called him an average NFL defensive tackle. If he is your 2nd DT, you are average, if he is your 3rd or 4th, I’d say you’re doing pretty well.
You’ll hear a lot of Eagles fans call him a bust and I suppose that is something you can say given that he never lived up to expectations, but it’s not like the guy doesn’t belong in the NFL or stinks or something. If he’d been a 4th or 5th round pick, everyone would have thought it was great… but when you get picked as high as he was people expect you to be a difference maker and he just isn’t.