Rookies to watch: 2 Eagles draft picks who can shine Week 1, 2 who will struggle

The Philadelphia Eagles didn’t exactly have the sexiest draft in 2024. From 2021 to 2023 they largely drafted big-name players from powerhouse SEC Schools and it felt awesome. In 2024, Howie Roseman switched it up; In the first round, he drafted Quinyon Mitchell, a cornerback from the University of Toledo.

Rounds two through six brought Cooper DeJean (DB, Iowa), Jalyx Hunt (Edge, Houston Christian), Will Shipley (RB, Clemson), Aniais Smith (WR, TAMU) Jeremiah Trotter Jr. (LB, Clemson),  Trevor Keegan (OL, Michigan), Johnny Wilson (WR, Florida State), and Dylan McMahon (OL, NC State). It was a good draft. The Eagles added a lot of talent and depth to positions that desperately needed it. That means some rookies will have meaningful playing time right off the bat.

Some new guys will take advantage of that time and make us dunk on everyone with ‘Howie SZN’ tweets. Unfortunately, some guys will have some issues and we’ll have to say, ‘I’m not worried about it. He’s just a rookie. I’m really not worried about it. He needs time to develop. I promise I’m not worried about it. Quit asking. Honestly, I’m kind of worried about it a little bit. He’s a bust.’

The Eagles are playing the Green Bay Packers in Week 1, and that’s going to make for a great early-season proving ground for the rookies that play.

The brains and brawn of Johnny Wilson could help him pop

With the recent addition of Jahan Dotson at WR3, the Eagles' starting receivers are the best trio in the NFL. A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Jahan can, should, and will be on the field for the vast majority of offensive snaps. That being said, Johnny Wilson is a huge piece of man meat.

Dotson is 5’ 11”, whereas Wilson is the tallest player in the Eagles’ wide receiver room (fourth tallest on the entire team) at 6’ 6” and 228 pounds. Yes, Dotson is going to be better down-to-down, but when it comes to giving Jalen Hurts another big endzone target, Wilson could be important. That aspect might be a recurring theme all season, but in Week 1, there is something that could make Wilson have a mondo-sized role at WR3.

Jahan was traded to the Eagles on August 22, 2024. That means there are only two full weeks for him to learn and understand the playbook as opposed to Wilson’s entire spring and summer. If it’s a situation where the broadcast says something like, ‘This is where you run the play that you practice 1000 times,’ it wouldn’t be crazy if we saw Wilson on the field.

This would be the specific week for Johnny to show up because moving forward, Jahan’s only going to get more and more comfortable with the offense every single day.

Quinyon Mitchell is game-ready right off the bat

In his press conference on Monday, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio was asked, “Do you see Quinyon as being a guy who’s going to be on the field just about every play? Is he ready to handle that responsibility beginning Friday?” Fangio answered, “Yes, and yes.” His bluntness is delightfully refreshing.

That same bluntness lets us know Fangio has been skeptical of some players' readiness throughout the offseason, but he seems very forthright and sure about Quinyon. Getting a vote of confidence from a curmudgeonly old football guy like Fangio goes a long way in making fans feel good.

Quinyon is going to be tested in Week 1 by the Packers’ wide receivers Jayden Reed, Christian Watson, Dontayvion Wicks, and Romeo Doubs. All four of those guys range from ‘good’ to ‘almost really good.’ 

It helps that Quinyon spent training camp covering elite guys like A.J. and DeVonta, and it sounded like he held his own decently well. He’s going into his first playing time well-prepared because he didn’t spend the summer covering scrubs. 

Quinyon is set up to show up from the jump, and if he can, it’s going to be a huge burst of confidence for him, the team, and us as fans. 

Is a short training camp enough for Cooper DeJean?

Cooper DeJean is in an almost entirely different situation than Quinyon Mitchell. His training camp was almost nonexistent because of an injury that he had in the spring and he might not be No. 1 on the depth chart. 

He took his snaps in the Eagles’ third preseason game at nickel corner, and the starter there could be Quinyon, Avonte Maddox (who Fangio said could still play nickel), or  DeJean. If it’s Quinyon, then cool. We’re good. If it’s Avonte, he’s probably going to have a short leash given the depth at the position. If DeJean gets thrust in, he’ll be fine against the run, but in coverage, he could have a tough go.

Not only has he not had as many reps against Brown, Smith, and Dotson as you would like, but the Fangio defense is complicated and the nickel corner has a lot of responsibilities. There would probably be an acclimation period that would hurt the rookie’s efficiency, and on top of that, there’s the Jordan Love of it all.

Love is smart enough as a quarterback to pick on players who are non-starters. If he sees DeJean come in cold, Love could make a milk check that could get really ugly, really quick.

Jalyx Hunt-ing for playing time and a spot on the gameday roster

Jalyx Hunt is kind of a weird one. He’s a safety who converted to a defensive lineman, so he’s a developmental player and it seems like he’s ahead of schedule. That’s great news, but there's a huge difference between being ahead of schedule and being an effective player in the NFL, especially when you play the most important position on defense.

Fangio is preparing to play a good amount of nickel in this game, which means there would be two tackles and two edge rushers or defensive ends. Edge rusher is/should be a very rotatable position if you have depth and the Eagles have depth. There are six edge rushers on their 53-man roster: Bryce Huff, Brandon Graham, Josh Sweat, Nolan Smith, Patrick Johnson, and Jalyx Hunt.

Realistically, the Eagles won’t have all six of those guys active on the 48-man gameday roster. That means if Hunt got the nod, he would probably take Johnson’s place and Johnson is a key special teams guy. If (and that’s a big ‘if’) Jalyx takes his place, it’s a pretty good-sized gamble that the team is taking by subbing in a relatively unknown player, for a player we know can play at a high level.

All of this means the expectations for Jalyx Hunt would be higher than they should be for someone in his spot. It would be hard for him to reach those expectations and it would more than likely lower his metaphorical stock. 

Aside from Quinyon, these guys probably aren't starters, which is really good. We would have a whole different tune if this was about a rookie who is supposed to save the entire franchise, except he’s a gangly quarterback who was drafted second overall, and the franchise has a terrible recent history with quarterbacks drafted in that exact same spot. So, yeah... it could be worse.