After a 7-9 regular season, the Philadelphia Eagles must have an excellent draft in 2017 to compete for a playoff spot next season. Thanks to Minnesota, the Eagles first round pick will come from former Eagle Sam Bradford and the Vikings who finished with an 8-8 record.
This would then secure the Eagles either the 14th or 15th pick in this year’s draft that will be held in their own, city of brotherly love.
Coming into the draft, the Eagles plan is very simple, surround the franchise quarterback Carson Wentz with talent. This of course, is something the Eagles lack at skill positions such as wide receiver and cornerback.
When asked about addressing the wide receiver position in the draft, Howie Roseman, President of Football operations said, “the draft depends on what options there are.” Howie continuously referenced free agency as a key place where the Birds will look to add to their receiving core that highly underachieved this past year with no receiver reaching over 1,000 receiving yards.
After selecting Nelson Agoholor in the first round of the 2015 draft, the Eagles might be apprehensive at spending more resources at that position. But, several standouts this year that include Mike Williams of Clemson, Corey Davis out of Western Michigan, as well as John Ross from Washington University, will all make compelling cases for the Eagles first round pick.
Cornerback Leodis McKelvin was also released on February 8th resulting in an even bigger need at the cornerback position. Unlike most years, the 2017 draft class is hyped to be very deep at the cornerback position, as Howie Roseman even admits, “there is a really strong group of DB’s this year.” Some of the names that are highly sought after include Marshon Lattimore of Ohio State, Sidney Jones of Washington University, Jalen Tabor out of Florida, as well as Tre’Davious White from LSU.
But, thinking that the Eagles may be able to trade back into the draft to be able to add more depth might be a mistake. Roseman said, “years where there is positions of strength where you think you can get guys later, typically what happens is there is a run on those guys.” This of course happened last year to a very deep class of defensive lineman that went much sooner than most around the league expected.
After many lackluster drafts throughout the past, Howie Roseman may be on the hot seat more than ever in 2017. When talking about what approach the Eagles use to analyzing the athletes in the draft, Howie said, “We get background information, and get to know them very well.” This may be overlooked but is a crucial step in the process of evaluating college athletes. Howie goes on to say, “Sometimes there aren’t measurables to determine heart.”
After you get past the mental make-up of a player, then the rest of the evaluation process is much simpler. Howie says, “The next step is, how does the tape look?” This of course is what all the fans can see and may determine why NFL teams have more talented players buried on their draft boards.
Eagles fans should be pleased with their team picking either 14 or 15 in the 2017 draft. Howie Roseman states, “We have had success when we pick 20 or higher.” Lane Johnson, Fletcher Cox, and Brandon Graham are all examples of core Eagles picked 20 or higher in round one under Howie’s control.
Howie Roseman also says, “There is a line where you don’t get a difference maker.” He also emphasized that the line in the 2017 draft is around that 20th selection and should grant the Eagles a chance at one of those difference-making players.
When asked what he learned over previous drafts, Howie simply stated, “One thing I learned is that you’re not trying to win the draft, we just need to get good players for the Philadelphia Eagles.”