Mock drafts are hard to do in general. They’re even harder to do when you’re trying to mock who is going to get picked at the end of every round. They’re even, even harder when the general manager who owns that pick is addicted to moving around in the draft. That’s Howie Roseman and the Philadelphia Eagles.
Trying to predict what happens during Howie SZN is like trying to predict the weather in February at Thanksgiving dinner. You know it’ll be cold, and there might be snow, but you have no idea when, where, or how much. You know Howie Roseman is going to draft well, but you don’t know when he’ll pick, who it’ll be, or where they’ll be from.
Experts have different thoughts on who the Eagles will draft
The Eagles have some holes in their roster right now, but that doesn’t mean all is lost. They’re probably going to be looking for a defensive tackle, an edge rusher or two, a linebacker, an offensive tackle to eventually replace Lane Johnson, and maybe some skill players.
I went through and looked at a bunch of draft experts’ mock drafts and picked some of the interesting ones. I left out the ones that have the Eagles trading up or back because it seems more likely that the Eagles would sit-and-pick than it is for someone to accurately judge where the Eagles would trade to.
Charles Davis, NFL.com
Charles Davis’ mock draft 1.0 seems unlikely in a couple of ways. With the 32nd pick, he has the Eagles taking Jihaad Campbell, the linebacker from Alabama. He says:
“Recent history has shown that no matter where the Eagles pick in the draft, they find great prospects, continue to develop them and ultimately unleash them on the NFL to great effect. Yes, I know Philadelphia just re-upped LB Zack Baun. But the value here for Campbell -- a tremendous player with a versatile game -- is just too good. He'll flourish under defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.”
One problem is exactly what Davis pointed out: The Eagles just spent a whole bunch of resources (money) on Zack Baun. That’s the first time in a very long time that the Eagles paid a linebacker. It seems like that happening means the chances of Howie using a first-round draft pick on a linebacker have plummeted.
That being said, Davis is right. Jihaad Campbell is an awesome player, and if he’s on the board when the Eagles pick, it would be awesome if they grabbed him — especially since he can also be an edge rusher. That’s needed now that Josh Sweat left in free agency.
For what it’s worth, ESPN’s Field Yates also had Campbell going to the Eagles, but that mock draft came out before the combine.
Jordan Reid, ESPN
Jordan Reid released a mock draft after the combine, and he went two rounds deep. He had the Eagles going EDGE in the first round and offensive tackle in the second, which is cool.
For the first round, he has the Eagles pick James Pearce Jr. out of Tennessee. He writes, “Pending free agents Josh Sweat and Milton Williams are due to cash in, via extensions or on the open market. If the Eagles can't bring back Sweat, Pearce would be a great replacement and addition to an already deep and tenacious defensive front. His 19.0% pressure rate was the second best in the FBS, resulting in 7.5 sacks. The Eagles can let the board fall to them and take the best player available, which ends up being Pearce here.”
That’s great. Pearce is a freak of nature, and I have no problem if Howie Roseman drafts the best player available, especially if it’s at a position where he needs help.
In the second round, Reid has the Eagles picking Charles Grant, the tackle out of William and Mary. He says, “Grant is another prospect who fits that mold and could succeed right tackle Lane Johnson, who will be 34 at the start of next season. Even though Grant didn't test at the combine, his tape shows a talented player at 6-foot-5, 311 pounds with 34¾-inch arms. He needs to gain more strength and improve his hand placement, but his development would be another Jeff Stoutland special.”
The average tackle in the NFL is six feet and four inches tall and weighs 310 pounds. Grant is right on the verge of being too small. I know firsthand that it’s easy to gain weight, but the only height-increasing thing that I’ve heard of is the one where they break your femurs and stretch them out (or something like that; I’m not a doctor).
Other than his size, he sounds good. The Eagles are great at getting their offensive linemen before they need them, which gives them that much-needed developmental time. A (relatively) short king with tools could be good.
Trevor Sikkema, Pro Football Focus
Trevor Sikkema also had a post-combine mock draft, and he went a little unorthodox for the Eagles' first-round pick. He chose Luther Burden III, the wide receiver from Missouri. He writes,
“Is this a need for the Eagles, who have A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Jahan Dotson, Johnny Wilson and Ainias Smith? No. But would it be exactly the train of team-building thought we have seen from general manager Howie Roseman over the past few years, just with a skill player instead of a trench player? Yes.
Burden’s 4.41-second 40-yard dash time was ideal, but he was also one of the slower receivers during the receiving drills (the slowest in two). I think he can still be a first-rounder, but I didn’t hear many unanimous thoughts about that while I was in Indianapolis. The late first round to the early second round seems like the right range.”
To be fair, Sikkema wrote this before the Eagles lost a whole bunch of defensive players in free agency, but even so… a first-round wide receiver seems like a reach.
Hell, the Eagles traded a third-round pick for Jahan Dotson last offseason, and it took until the Super Bowl for him to actually get the ball and be productive with it in meaningful playing time. It just doesn’t seem like the Eagles are going to take a swing with a premium pick at a position they don’t need.
It would make sense for them to grab a wide receiver in the later rounds but not with a first-round pick, regardless of how good Luther Burden might be.
Robert Lorge, Rotoballer
Robert Lorge made a two-round mock draft, and it seems reasonable. In the first round, he has the Eagles taking Donovan Ezeiruaku, the edge rusher from Boston College.
He wrote, “Milton Williams and Josh Sweat are both free agents, and they’ll be lucky if they can re-sign one of them. If they lose both, Philadelphia should focus on reloading their pass rush and front seven on defense. Ezeiruaku had 16.5 sacks last year and could immediately contribute to Philadelphia’s defense.”
I don’t necessarily agree with the player, but I like the idea: A ready-to-play edge rusher who isn’t a big name like Pearce or Campbell because those guys probably won’t be on the board. I’ve seen a handful of people grade Ezeiruaku as a third-round pick, and it seems like a lot of that is due to his size.
He’s a smaller guy at six feet and two inches tall and 250-ish pounds. When it comes to an edge rusher in this specific situation, I’d prefer someone bigger. For reference, Josh Sweat is six feet and five inches tall and 265 pounds. It’d be cool to get another guy who pops as a hoss rather than someone who looks relatively slight.
In the second round, Lorge has the Eagles taking Jaylin Noel, the wide receiver from Iowa State. He didn’t do a write-up, but I’d assume he has the Eagles taking Noel because he looked awesome at the combine (he had the best broad jump and high jump numbers of all the wide receivers).
If the Eagles don’t take an offensive tackle or a tight end in the second round, Noel would be a cool guy to get. At five feet and ten inches tall and 195 pounds, he’s not the biggest guy in the world, but he plays with more physicality than it looks like he would.
He’s a slot receiver who was used as a running back as well. Those kinds of guys can be pretty solid weapons on NFL teams, and it’d be cool if the Eagles had one.