Who the Eagles drafted (and didn’t) says a lot about what’s next

During pre-draft and pre-free agency press conferences, coaches and general managers will say a whole bunch of things. The only time you find out what’s true is when they actually do things. During the draft, we found out how Howie Roseman and the Philadelphia Eagles really felt about their roster.

The Eagles drafted six defensive players and four offensive players. That was pretty much to be expected, but it’s the positions those guys play, and when they were picked, that’s a little surprising.  

Jordan Davis and Dallas Goedert had a good weekend

It’s been a long, long time since the Eagles drafted a linebacker in the first round. When the Eagles drafted Jihaad Campbell with the 31st pick, they picked him over a whole bunch of offensive linemen, defensive tackles and tight ends that many suspected they would pursue. 

In his press conference after the draft, Howie Roseman was very clear that he’s not done building the Eagles roster, which is very on brand. If you look at the last couple of years, we saw him add C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Mekhi Becton and Jahan Dotson after the draft. The offseason is far from over, but most of the big additions have already been made. 

The future of Jordan Davis

The next big event on the NFL calendar is the deadline for teams to pick up the fifth-year option for the guys who were drafted in the first round of the 2022 draft. Right now, the Eagles have four of these guys: Lewis Cine, Jahan Dotson, Kenyon Green and Jordan Davis. Davis is the only one of those players who might have their option picked up.

It seems like that option, or maybe some kind of extension, might be in the cards because the Eagles only drafted one defensive lineman, Ty Robinson. At six feet and five inches tall and 288 pounds, Robinson is more of a Milton Williams-type of guy than he is a chonko-sized run-stopper like Jordan Davis. 

There were some of those big guys available in this draft, but the Eagles didn’t go for them. That could be because Howie Roseman wasn’t able to trade up to get them, that he didn’t like them, or that he’s totally fine with paying Davis. Hell, it could mean a bunch of other things as well, but the fact of the matter is they didn’t add a defensive tackle like Davis, and now he’s likely their guy.

It sure feels like Davis is going to get some money thrown his way soon, purely because of the lack of comparable players that the Eagles added.

Justin Simmons probably won’t be reunited with Vic Fangio

Before the draft, the Eagles had some pretty limited options for the safety who will play alongside Reed Blankenship. We were looking at Sydney Brown, Lewis Cine and Tristin McCollum. 

It would’ve been great if Sydney Brown took a step forward last year, but he either straight-up didn’t or he couldn’t because he was still nursing/recovering from a torn ACL. Regardless, those aren’t three guys who have shown they’re super dependable. 

Then, in the second round of the draft, the Eagles picked Andrew Mukuba, the safety out of Texas. He’s not the biggest dude in the world, but he plays like he is, and it’s fun to watch.

I thought that if the Eagles weren’t able to/didn’t draft a safety, there was a really good chance that Justin Simmons would be an Eagle by Wednesday. Under Fangio, Simmons was an All-Pro, albeit that was way back in 2019 when they were both in Denver. 

Now, that seems like that’s not the case. If the Eagles spent a second-round pick on a safety, which is a super important position in the Fangio defense, you have to imagine that Fangio himself was heavily involved in the decision.

If the Eagles do pick up Simmons, it seems like that might happen much later in the offseason. But at that point, who knows if he’ll even be available anymore?

Dallas Goedert might be staying

For the entire offseason, Nick Sirianni, Howie Roseman, and even Jeffrey Lurie have been talking about Dallas Goedert like he’s already off the team. 

The 30-year-old tight end is in one of those situations where the team would save some future money by trading him or cutting him after June 1st. The problem is that Goedert absolutely rocks, and getting rid of him makes the offense worse. 

On top of that, this draft class had a decent number of tight ends who are starting caliber or could quickly become starters. If the Eagles picked up one of these guys in the draft, it would be even more proof that they had already moved on from their tight end. 

And then three days and 10 picks went by, and a whopping zero tight ends were drafted by the Eagles. It almost seemed unfathomable. In one weekend, it went from ‘Dallas Goedert is as good as gone’ to ‘Dallas Goedert is here to stay.’

That’s both crazy and awesome. I imagine that the Goedert discussion is far from over, but this is a step in the right direction for keeping the Eagles' most productive pass catcher in last year's postseason. That’s a good feeling.