Matt Barkley waited until the third day of the NFL Draft before he was finally selected, and he won’t forget that for a while. The former USC quarterback also says he plans to make the teams that passed on him multiple times remember their mistake.
Barkley was believed to be a likely first-round pick had he left school following his junior season. Instead, he decided to stay for his senior season, had a mediocre year, and he fell to the fourth round of the draft after going through the scouting process. A shoulder injury suffered against UCLA likely didn’t help his cause. Still, the Philadelphia Eagles took him 98th overall.
“I’m going to remember this weekend for a long time and so are the teams that didn’t draft me,” Barkley said Saturday per Scott Wolf of the LA Daily News.
Barkley is the latest player who will enter the league with something to prove.
“I had tough skin to start with and it’s even thicker,” Barkley said, via Wolf.
Though Barkley knows he will forever be considered a fourth-round pick, he pointed out that it won’t say Matt Barkley, fourth-round pick on the back of his jersey in the NFL.
One thing that is notable about Barkley going to the Eagles is that Chip Kelly must have been impressed by him if he thought he was worth a draft pick. In fact, Kelly said the Eagles had Barkley ranked in their top 50.
I’m honestly shocked that Kelly took Barkley. Not only do I not see Barkley having a very good pro career, but I also did not think he was the type of player Kelly would want for his offensive system. The same issue that Barkley had in high school and college concerns me the most about him: he throws a lot of interceptions.
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