"Very often in the NFL, there is a debate in the war room right up until the minute the ultimate decision is made on a draft pick, particularly in the first round.

That was not the case in April for the Eagles, who failed to do as expected by both staying at their original position (No. 23) in the first round and then pulling the trigger on 26-year-old but relatively inexperienced Baylor tackle Danny Watkins, a Canadian native who only began playing the sport four years earlier.

Head coach Andy Reid, offensive line coach Howard Mudd and general manager Howie Roseman all were on the same page from the moment they were on the clock.

More incredible is their plan to make him a guard, a position he's never played, and a starter in his first season.

And yet, it makes all the sense in the world, considering how far Watkins has come in such a short time in college and how far so many others project him to go in the NFL.

"He didn't even know what a kill play was in junior college," Mudd said, shaking his head in disbelief. "That tells you his football experience. He doesn't know anything, except when you say, 'Go block that guy.' He was one of the better players they had there, so they didn't spend a whole lot of time. They spent more of their time with the guys who couldn't play."

That will be different, obviously, at this level, where Mudd and the Eagles' staff believe they can mold him into one of the league's finest linemen.

"He clearly, in our opinion, was the best offensive lineman in the Senior Bowl, both sides," Mudd said. "And he jumped right out like 'holy cow!'

"When he got here [for a pre-draft interview with the organization], we only had him for a short period of time. We sat him down. I took every one-on-one that he had at the Senior Bowl. ... His memory and projection was like, 'OK, I got that.' He's a big, strong guy. Tough, smart, got a mind of his own, has a lot of life experiences."

Not a lot of them include football. Heck, Watkins didn't even really know what the American version of the sport was coming out of high school in British Columbia."