The story of the 2022 NFL draft starts where so many good Eagles stories start, in the lead up to the 2021 Draft. No GM is better at playing the long game than Howie Roseman and he put on a master class beginning with Carson Wentz and continuing through the selection of Cooper DeJean in 2024. Let’s go back in time a bit to see how he leveraged four overly optimistic GMs into two Super Bowl appearances.
2021 Trades
After the 2020 season, Carson Wentz was leaving the Eagles one way or another. Simply, he couldn’t stay after getting benched for Jalen Hurts. Several teams were in need of a QB, but Chicago and Indianapolis seemed like the best suitors for the services of the former Ginger Jesus. Publicly though, both Ryan Poles and Chris Ballard (the Bears and Colts GMs) were adamant that they would basically take him for nothing if the Eagles didn’t want him. Ballard even went out of his way to say he wouldn’t make a bad deal for Carson Wentz. He did. On February 18th, the Eagles agreed to trade Wentz to the Colts for a conditional first and 3rd round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. With those conditions met despite a less than mediocre year by Wentz, the Eagles were now picking 16th overall.
The Eagles were picking 6th in the 2021 Draft and needed a WR. The prize was Ja’Marr Chase. In theory there was a good chance that he would be available at that spot considering the Falcons were idiots at #4 and the Bengals desperately needed protection for Joe Burrow (in the form of available OT Penei Sewell). Howie rightly figured the Bengals were idiots though and would take Burrow’s friend Chase instead. The Miami Dolphins took the chance and swapped #12 and a 2022 1st for #6. Chase went to the Bengals, Jalen Waddle went to the Dolphins, and DeVonta Smith went to the Eagles along with the #15 pick in 2022.
For those tracking at home, the Eagles now had #15 (Dolphins), #16 (Colts), and their own pick at #18 heading into the 2022 Draft.
One More Trade
Y’all thought he was finished? Despite fans having several thousand mock drafts under their belt with 3 first rounders in tow, Howie figured that was too many. About 3 weeks before the draft, the New Orleans Saints agreed to trade their own #18 pick along with #101 and #237 AND a 2023 1st AND a 2024 2nd to the Eagles for #16, #19, and #194. Essentially, two first now for one now, one later, and more. The Eagles were betting on the Saints screwing up.
The Eagles were now at #15, #18, #51, #83, and #101 in the first 3 rounds.
Draft Night Day 1
The 2022 Draft was the first graduation of the National Champion Georgia Bulldogs to the NFL. The group was headlined by Travon Walker but had the potential to score up to six first round selections. Other 1st round stories included the NY teams each picking twice in the Top 10, possibly no QBs worth picking at all, and where would the Ohio State receiving duo of Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave end up?
Walker went first overall in what was anything but a foregone conclusion. Serious talents Aiden Hutchinson, Derek Stingley, and Sauce Gardner followed right after. The Giants took Kayvon Thibodeaux and Evan Neal in what seemed like grounded and wise selections at the time (time has not been kind). Wilson went to the Jets at #10. The Eagles were 5 picks away when things got screwy.
With Washington on the clock, New Orleans took one of their Eagles picks and moved up to take Chris Olave. The Lions then traded with the Vikings to take Jameson Williams at #12. Houston was now on the clock with the Ravens on deck and the Eagles to follow. Baltimore always finds a way to draft impactful guys in the middle rounds who always just seem to fall to them. The guy this year would be Jordan Davis.
Personally, I had been promoting Davis to my friends all Draft season. He crushed the Combine, was in contention for the best player on the best team in college, and would be perfect on our team. Those damn Ravens though would surely take him. Then the on-screen graphic changed from a steer to an Eagle. In exchange for a 4th and two 5ths, the Eagles moved up 2 spots to leapfrog the Ravens and take Davis. Of course, the Ravens ended up with Kyle Hamilton because of course they did. We still had #18 coming up in a few minutes.
Then we didn’t. Adam Schefter appeared on the screen shortly after the Davis pick and announced that rather than paying their top receiver, the Tennessee Titans had traded AJ Brown to the Eagles for #18 and a future 3rd round pick and signed him to a 4/$100m contract extension. Presumably Washington could have had the same deal with pick 16, but they chose Jahan Dotson instead. Tennessee figured Arkansas WR Treylon Burks was just as good as Brown and took him at #18. The Saints used their 2nd Eagles pick on Trevor Penning at #19.
In other first round news, Kenny Pickett was the only QB taken (Steelers), the Ravens got another stud in Tyler Linderbaum at #25, and 5 Bulldogs were taken, but none of them were captain LB Nakobe Dean
Day 2 and 3
All anyone wanted to talk about was Dean. No one had impressed more during the season and he was expected to go in the 1st round. When he didn’t, rumors of an injury swirled and that he was simply off many draft boards. How could teams not want someone who was such an obvious winner? I knew he wasn’t going to go to the Eagles though. We needed a center to replace the possibly retiring Jason Kelce. Still, when pick #51 came around my fingers were crossed for Dean. Instead, it was Nebraska center and Kelce-picked successor Cam Jurgens. After some quick digging, we found out he had his own jerky company and seemed perfect to replace the not yet retiring legend. Sadly, Dean would go somewhere else.
Picks went by including George Pickens at #52, Trey McBride at #55, and 7th Georgia guy James Cook at #63. More LBs came off too including Christian Harris from Alabama. Still no Dean. At #83, former Eagle turned magician Jon Dorenbos came to the podium and made the selection in electric fashion…”Nakobe Dean…you are an Eagle and you are going to love every second of it, congratulations my man and welcome to the Birds, FLY EAGLE FLY!”1
I remember watching that championship game, seeing that Georgia defense just crush Alabama, and thinking it was a shame that none of those guys would ever play for the Eagles. A little over 3 months later, two of the best 3 players on the field were coming to Philadelphia along with one of the best WR in football, AJ Brown. Howie also selected Kyron Johnson and Grant Calcaterra that weekend then signed Reed Blankenship and Josh Jobe as undrafted free agents.
Aftermath #1
It was a magical season in Philadelphia. With the exception of the final play of the final game, from beginning to almost the end everything was about as enjoyable as possible. AJ Brown was a huge hit and propelled Jalen Hurts to an MVP level season (he would have won if not for the coldest day ever in Chicago). Everything but the Super Bowl.
The one consolation was that nearly the best team in football was going to be picking 10th in the Draft thanks to a miserable season in New Orleans where Trevor Penning was picking fights with teammates and making the Eagles next draft pick even more valuable every day. The Eagles would select Jalen Carter 9th overall2 and then Georgia teammate Nolan Smith at #30.
Aftermath #2
By 2024, we still weren’t finished with the Saints. The Eagles almost took Cooper DeJean at #22 that year but wisely selected CB Quinyon Mitchell instead. When he hung around in the 2nd round, there was a glimmer of hope that the Eagles could possibly jump the Rams to take him at #38, but the Titans weren’t ready to deal this time. When they selected Braden Fiske instead, Howie jumped on the phone. That 2024 second rounder from the Saints ended up being #50. The Eagles packaged that one with their own #53 pick to move up to #40 to take DeJean.
That year, all the Eagles acquired in the moves above starred. Brown and Smith had incredible years, Jurgens played through incredible pain to replace Kelce at center, Davis, Dean, Carter, and Smith led the Philly bulldog defense, and Blankenship, Mitchell, and DeJean completely turned around the secondary in route to winning Super Bowl 59.
Photo: AP Photo/John Locher
Trade Details and Selections: Wikipedia
- It’s worth watching ↩︎
- One of my favorite parts of this is that we traded a 4th round pick to the Bears for #9 and they took a punter ↩︎
Philly Front Office 
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