Philly Front Office

Let’s talk about the Eagles goals during the draft including strategy and needs.

Strategy

To me, the Eagles have been fairly straight forward in that they value 3 virtues over all else. You don’t need all 3 to be an Eagle, but it sure as hell helps. Anyway:

• Athleticism – the higher the RAS score, the better. For anyone out of the loop, Relative Athletic Score takes the raw combine numbers and combines them with the player’s size measurements to come up with a 1-10 score. There were two 10s this year, but it really isn’t that common.
• Pedigree – These are the highest recruits going to the biggest schools. Howie discovering the SEC (specifically Alabama and Georgia) was kind of like a kid hitting puberty. That’s just a part of his life now and he’s better for it. It doesn’t just mean that the player is talented, it means that he has been practicing in the most competitive atmosphere and playing in the most competitive games with the highest levels of talent. All the Georgia and Alabama guys on the Super Bowl team had played for the National Championship once or twice before. That’s not nothing.
• Leadership/Personality – This is harder to quantify than the other two, but the Eagles send teams of scouts and researchers to figure it out: Does the player love football and do people love him? These are the types of guys who want to be out there, want to learn, and people want to be around. This is how you build a cohesive unit of a team. If you are someone who lets your teammates down because of making the same mistakes, not giving effort, or because you are simply an a-hole, the Eagles don’t want you.

In this draft, Jihaad Campbell, Ty Robinson, Smael Mondon, Drew Kendall, and Antwuan Powell-Ryland (and several UDFAs) all RAS tested off the charts, receiving grades in the 9s. Campbell and Robinson had such high scores that they are in the 99th percentile all time. The idea is that guys like this have an elite talent as a backbone to being good pros. If a hyper athletic guy can learn techniques and play smart, they can do things that less athletic talents simply can’t. The old adage is that you can’t teach speed. This combined with the other virtues the Eagles look for creates less room for error in evaluation and performance.

An offshoot of this category is physical tools. Cameron Williams and UDFA Hollin Pierce are gargantuan human beings who simply haven’t played enough football. Even if they are not the most athletic giants, they are still giants nonetheless who can be taught (in theory) to become great linemen. Speed is one thing, but you also can’t teach being 6’7″ and 330 pounds.

The Eagles drafted from 4 SEC schools with two from Texas, one from Alabama, and one from Georgia. Smael Mondon was a teammate of our Georgia boys on their two National Championship teams. Texas went to the national semi-final this year. APR went to Virginia Tech the last two seasons, but started his college career with the Florida Gators. Kyle McCord finished with Syracuse but had played 3 years at Ohio State including going undefeated before running into buzzsaw Michigan to end his junior season. Myles Hinton was on that National Championship winning Wolverines team 2 years ago (even though he was benched) but was also a top recruit coming out of high school.

The Eagles didn’t make any small school reaches this year. While that used to be much more fertile ground for talent, the advent of the transfer portal and NIL deals means that smaller schools are simply not keeping the kind of talent that was formerly possible. The filter of big talent going to big schools is not something the Eagles ignore.

Red star players are designations the Eagles give to those that show something extra as young men. These are the leaders and the good people that the team knows can be trusted right away. This is not something easy to earn, but scouts are encouraged to speak up about these players in particular, because they are simply the kinds of players you want in your organization. I don’t know who earned this designation, but I can tell you that Andrew Mukuba almost had to be one. Every evaluator, coach, and teammate gushes about him as a human being first and football player second, and they simply must tell you about him. There’s pride in it. He is not the most athletic player, but we shouldn’t have any worries. Evaluations on Campbell and Mac McWilliams are similar as well.

Needs and Wants

Desperate teams draft for need while good teams want the best players available. The trick is to have depth so you don’t find yourself desperate for a certain position. This is something the Eagles do very well. That doesn’t mean you don’t have an interest in creating that depth in certain positions and end up leaning in a certain direction. Just because a QB or WR is the best available, doesn’t mean you are going to take a QB or WR just because.

In the off season, the Eagles lost depth at safety, defensive end, defensive tackle, and cornerback. They also expect to have a need at tight end and need to think about the right tackle of the future with Lane Johnson playing at age 35. I really thought DT, TE, and S would be at the top of their draft list.

In true Howie Roseman form though, he didn’t reach. Could he have picked safety Nick Emmanwori at 32? Yes, but Jihaad Campbell represented the best value possible at that selection. We didn’t NEED a LB, but with Nakobe Dean coming back from injury and Campbell’s versatility to also play EDGE, the pick was too good to pass up. The position might not be a need now, but it certainly helps the team.

We did NEED a safety though after losing CJGJ. Again, instead of missing out on Campbell by drafting Emmanwori, the Eagles waited. They didn’t waste future picks by trading up and instead selected Andrew Mukuba at #64. Mukuba is a guy from a big school who fits their leadership profile. Is he as athletic as Emmanwori? Nope…but Campbell is. We ended up with two guys we wanted instead of one.

The media made a big deal about losing starters at DE, DT, OG and CB. The lost context in these complaints was that none of those positions lost their best player. We also had backups ready to step in and fill these roles specifically. So, what did we do in the draft? We replenished the backups.

• At DE, we lost Josh Sweat, but Nolan Smith is our best pass rusher. Jalyx Hunt is ready to step in and was balling out in the Super Bowl. Still, we drafted Jihaad Campbell and APR.
• At DT, we lost Milton Williams, but Jalen Carter is one of the best in the league. Moro Ojomo is ready to step in and was getting a ton of snaps last year already. Still, we drafted Ty Robinson.
• At OG, we lost Mekhi Becton, but Landon Dickerson is a pro bowler. Tyler Steen was already in competition for the starter role last year. Still, we drafted Drew Kendall, one of the top centers in the draft.
• At CB, we lost Darius Slay, but Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean were two of the best CBs in the league last year. Kelee Ringo is still only 22 and checks all of the Eagles boxes. Still, we drafted Mac McWilliams.

As for TE, this was the only spot that might be troubling people. Dallas Goedert and the team are in a bit of a standoff over money and he has one year left on his deal. With the recent evolution of the TE market, they are wary of paying any more big money to him. This seemed like a perfect position to draft…except they didn’t. There were two top TEs that were gone early. The next level featured 3 more guys, but they all went early in the second round as well. There just wasn’t surplus value in the position this year. The Eagles refused to panic draft. Instead, look for them to either work out a one year deal with Goedert, or look to make a trade. What they did do, was sign lower level tight ends in the off season, competent guys who provide professional depth in the chance that they lose Goedert and get shut out. Since they didn’t draft someone this year, this becomes a much bigger priority next season. I still think Michael Mayer just makes too much sense though. Look for a move to happen after June 1.

Simply, the Eagles had themselves a pretty uneventful but smart draft that will benefit the team for years to come. They are set up to continue lacking needs and allowing them to draft who they want. We had a very good weekend.