Lito
Shuffles To Philadelphia - April 20, 2002
By DAVID MURPHY
You can call it the anti-Spurrier approach to the NFL Draft.
Or perhaps anti-Mike Martz would serve as a more appropriate
moniker.
Whatever the case, the Eagles upgraded an already strong secondary
on Saturday afternoon when they selected cornerback Lito Sheppard
with the 26th pick in the NFL Draft.
“We feel very good about the pick,” said head
coach Andy Reid to a pack of media that congregated in the
auditorium of the NovaCare Complex immediately after the selection.
“We are extremely excited to add him to a veteran secondary.”
With the proliferation of pass-heavy spread offenses changing
the face of the league, the Eagles used their first pick of
the 2002 draft to bolster a position that many feel was already
their strongest.
Sheppard will join a cornerbacking corps that includes one
of the top starting tandems in the league in Bobby Taylor
and Troy Vincent, as well as one of the top back-ups in Al
Harris.
“We have a veteran group that has been in the league
awhile and is getting older,” said Reid. “We wanted
to make sure that we had someone that could come in and play
if something happened.”
Reid, in his first draft as executive director of football
operations, and Director of Player Personnel Tom Heckert undoubtedly
entered draft preparations with visions of Steve Spurrier
and Mike Martz in their heads.
Spurrier, the former Florida coach who this off-season signed
with the Redskins, and Martz, the head coach of the Rams,
both employ offenses that feature four and five wide receiver
sets that put pressure on opposing defenses’ pass coverage.
The Eagles, of course, lost to the Rams in the NFC Championship
game last season, and will face the Redskins twice this season.
“It is going to be fun going against him [Spurrier],”
Sheppard told reporters in a conference call after the selection
was announced. “I am familiar with the offense and I
think it helped me going against those receivers.”
Depending on the situation, Sheppard could see a significant
amount of time on the field against Spurrier, as well as other
teams on the Eagles schedule.
At 5-foot-10 he is relatively short for a cornerback, but
is extremely physical. While attending Raines High School,
which fellow Eagles defensive backs Brian Dawkins and Darrel
Crutchfield also attended, Sheppard was an all-state baseball
and basketball player, in addition to football.
“He is a great athlete,” said Reid. “I thought
he played very physical. He is also extremely quick.”
At the NFL combine, Sheppard ran a 4.47-second 40-yard dash.
At Florida, he intercepted six passes in his sophomore season
and picked off two more last year, before declaring eligible
for the draft.
Sheppard was an All-American first-team selection by the
National Sports Bureau in 2001, adding second-team honors
from The Sporting News. He started every game at cornerback
for the Gators and recorded a career-high 42 tackles.
“I was a little shocked that he got down as far as [the
26th pick],” said Reid. “You just never know.”
Reid entered the draft with a list of 26 players whom he
felt, in his own words, “comfortable” taking. By
the time the Eagles picked, three of those players remained.
The team wasted little time in selecting the cornerback,
informing NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue of their decision
with just over eight minutes of their 15-minute allotment
remaining.
“We’ll see what happens,” said Reid. “He’ll
come in and he’ll learn the defense and we will see what
happens from there.”
