Philly Front Office

Like most drafts, some of the most important aspects of the 2021 edition happened well before the weekend of April 29th. About a month before the big night in Cleveland, the San Francisco 49ers traded for the #3 pick. The Dolphins would receive the #12 pick along with multiple future firsts from SF. That pick belonged to the Dolphins from the Leramy Tunsil trade to Houston the year before. Stockpiling picks isn’t a bad move by any means, but the Dolphins decided to get cute. That same day the Dolphins moved back up the draft into the #6 spot, sending a future first round pick and the #12 to Philadelphia. They had someone in mind.

Ja’Marr Chase and Jaylen Waddle

In my hundreds of wasted mock drafts that offseason, I was trying to envision a future of LSU star receiver Ja’Marr Chase dropping to #6. It made sense on paper. Trevor Lawrence was always going #1 to Jacksonville. He was seen as a generational QB talent. The Jets were sitting at #2 and also needed a QB. There were four possible QB selections with the pick, all graded about the same including Trey Lance, Mac Jones, and Justin Fields, but NY was probably going with Zack Wilson. Next up was SF, followed by Atlanta and Cincinatti. QB was on the table for the 49ers and Falcons, while the Bengals desperately needed an offensive lineman for Joe Burrow. Burrow was best friends with his old teammate Chase, but Penei Sewell just made too much sense. The odds of Chase being there at 6 seemed legitimate. Then we moved out. It wasn’t nearly as fun having the 12th pick. The dream of Chase was dead.

Well, the WR starved Eagles were much more aware of the draft board than both me and the Dolphins apparently. While Chase was by far the #1 WR, #2 was a toss-up between Jaylen Waddle and DeVonta Smith, followed by a huge talent gap before #4. The Dolphins thought they would get cute a month before the draft by trading out of #3 (where they would certainly get Chase) and get to #6 (where they would only possibly get Chase). This was a huge risk considering waiting until Draft Day wasn’t a legitimate option. If Chase was available, the Eagles would certainly draft him. If he wasn’t, then they wouldn’t want the selection. Apparently, Howie Roseman was pretty sure that the Bengals would take Chase, and ultimately, they did. In the end, the Dolphins traded an extra first round pick for Jaylen Waddle. The Eagles received an extra first round pick (Jordan Davis) for drafting Smith.

Back to SF and the QBs

At #3, the 49ers had a month to figure out who they wanted to select, knowing that only one of their targets wouldn’t be there. They settled on…Trey Lance. It’s pretty amazing that SF could be so competitive over the years considering how bad their first round choices have been. Any other round and they are phenomenal, but Solomon Thomas, Mike McGlinchey, Javon Kinlaw, and Trey Lance are all top 15 picks that didn’t pan out at all. Of course you can miss on a trade up to #3 when Mr. Irrelevant becomes an MVP candidate.

This QB class boasted an outrageous 5 first round picks, all in the top 15, and 8 in the top 67. None of them have been worth their selection. Lawrence is the only one of those who should be starting at this point (no idea what the Jets are doing with Fields). How is that possible? It’s even crazier when you see the amount of non-QB talent in the top 2 rounds. It’s not like there weren’t other options. Micah Parsons and Patrick Surtain have been DPOY; Creed Humphrey and Penei Sewell have been first team All Pros. A slew of other guys just signed huge second contracts across the league. Still, the Jets, 49ers, Bears, and Patriots all whiffed on these guys (plus the Bucs with Kyle Trask, Texans with Davis Mills, and the Vikings with Kellen Mond).

DeVonta Smith and the Giants

Before every Eagles pick, I start thinking a few players ahead hoping there are more guys I want than spots for them to be picked. 7 players on my board with 6 to go? Yes please. Then there is 2014 where you get caught panic trading because Brandon Cooks and Ha-Ha Clinton-Dix are gone and you have to take Marcus Smith. No thank you. Well, with 6 picks to go after Waddle, I only had 5 players I wanted. The Lions picked Sewell, that’s 4 left with 5 to go. I’ll be honest, I wanted Jaycee Horn more than anyone in this quintet. He went next to the Panthers. That’s 3 with 4 to go. Damnit! Patrick Surtain to the Broncos at 9. Now only Micah Parsons and DeVonta Smith left and we are 3 picks away with the Cowboys and Giants ahead of us.

It was no secret that the Giants wanted, nay NEEDED a WR. They were absolutely going to pick DeVonta Smith at 11. Everyone knew it. Everyone including the Eagles and Cowboys. To the shock of everyone, especially this Giants fan (if you are ever feeling down and need a pick me up, just watch this clip on a loop), the Eagles were now on the clock. Howie convinced Jerry Jones that that the Giants were going to be so shocked at a trade between their two clubs that they would panic and the Cowboys would still be able to get their guy Parsons at 12. In exchange for a third round pick, the deal was done. DeVonta Smith to the Eagles and right on cue, the Giants panicked and traded out. They ended up making a solid deal with the Bears who traded up for Justin Fields, but squandered that by taking Kadarius Toney at #20 (and then Evan Neal with the new pick next year). If you were ever wondering why the Eagles traded up one spot with the Bears in 2022 to get Jalen Carter, this is your answer. Howie would never repeat the sins of 2014.

Eagles and the Second Round

The Eagles are not the kind of teams to trade back in to the first round with their second round pick. That is an almost automatic value loss. There was no more anxiety for the rest of Day 1, but we could still hope a few quality positions would slip into Day 2 where we would be picking 5th (37th overall). This was back when we initially started thinking about Jason Kelce’s eventual replacement as well as help all over the defense. Eric Stokes (CB) and Gregory Rousseau went off the board late in Round 1. Back to my personal big board, there were 6 guys with 5 picks to go: Tyson Campbell, Jevon Holland, Christian Barmore, Richie Grant, Trevon Moehrig, and this enormous guy I saw doing cartwheels behind Mac Jones while he was getting interviewed at his pro day. That guy was Landon Dickerson.

After that interview I had to find out who this guy was. Turns out he transferred from Florida State, organized team workouts with rented gym equipment in his front yard during Covid, looked like he could eat a beer as easy as drinking one, and was apparently the best guy in the world. Landon Dickerson was the PERFECT protege for Jason Kelce. Would the Eagles like him on the field as much as I loved him off of it? Ticking them down, Campbell went first, Holland went 4th, and most of my options remained. Landon Dickerson was an Eagle. After not picking anyone from Alabama since 2002 and no one of consequence since Siran Stacey (second round) in 1992, we now had two Crimson Tide with our first two picks.¹

Recap

This is one of the craziest drafts I can remember league wide. From all the QBs in the first round who ended up busting to the amount of first round trades, this draft changed the league. Then there was the unprecedented WWE-style tag team attack the Eagles and Cowboys put on the Giants and a ton of high level late round talent like Amon-Ra St. Brown, Talanoa Hufanga, and Trey Smith. You never know what is going to happen on draft weekend.

1. What is that about? Stacy was just a high pick but wasn’t any good. Before Smith, the Eagles had ZERO impact draft picks from Alabama. ↩︎