The Birds went with the guy who beat Reggie White's sack record at the University of Tennessee. That's a lot to live up to.
Philadelphia Eagles fans showed up in droves to the first round off the NFL draft on Thursday night in front of the Art Museum and you simply knew they would have a vocal reaction to the organizations first pick -- no matter what it was.
It truly was an impressive effort all night from Birds fans. You couldn't go a couple of minutes anywhere on the Parkway without hearing an E-A-G-L-E-S chant.
So it's no surprise they expressed some emotion when the Birds' first selection came around at No. 14.
Things didn't exactly go as predicted in front of them. There was a run on offensive players, so that left plenty of talent left on the defensive end for the Birds to pick from. There were plenty of options that Eagles fans would have been excited about.
But the Birds went with Derek Barnett from the University of Tennessee and Eagles fans weren't necessarily feeling it. You can read our pre-draft profile on Barnett right here.
The Eagles fans shown on ESPN reacted pretty lukewarm to Derek Barenett pic.twitter.com/ZpVXmww9ZS— Enrico (@The700Level) April 28, 2017
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But did Birds' fans love it? The fans that were shown on the ESPN broadcast showed a rather lackluster response -- almost disappointment. Cook, Allen, and Foster were certainly names that popped up as guys the Birds opted against.
Danny Pommell's described the reaction on the Parkway: "whether this is what they wanted or not remains to be seen."
It was certainly not universally praised.
You can watch the fan reaction from Xfinity Live at the sports complex in South Philly above and they didn't really seem pleased.
Moments before the world knew...#EaglesDraft pic.twitter.com/s9dhpEYknw— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) April 28, 2017
I heard better boos when the Pope was in town.— John Finger (@jrfinger) April 28, 2017
Eagles lose out on offensive weapons but no one could've anticipated this much talent on defense available at 14.— Kevin Negandhi (@KNegandhiESPN) April 28, 2017
Eagles fans really showed up today. Heck of a job. Danny Pommells will tell ya.
Hey, @DPommellsCSN, can you hear us?
Wild scene at the draft. Philly fans are absolutely bringing it tonight. pic.twitter.com/wIa0GD7c4e— CSN Philly (@CSNPhilly) April 28, 2017
Look at that crowd.
Three picks away. You ready, Philly? #EaglesDraft pic.twitter.com/gsYiBh82N9— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) April 28, 2017
