Philly Front Office

Lemon is 21 years old and won the Biletnikoff award as the best receiver in the country for USC this past last season. His counting stats (79 catches, 1,156 yards, 11 receiving TDs (2 more rushing, 1 more passing)) were all Top-10 in the country albeit with only 12 games played.

He grew up in Los Alamitos, CA in Orange County, not too far from Los Angeles. He was a 2-way player coming out of high school moonlighting as a defensive back and was ESPNs #13 recruit nationally. Early on in his USC career, he played defense and special teams just to see the field before breaking out as a sophomore and thriving as a true junior in 2025.

He profiles as a Puca Nacua type who won’t burn and won’t destroy, just constantly find himself where defenders are not and come down with the ball. I saw a review where he was called “more of a BMW than a Lamborghini — built for control, balance, and torque rather than straight-line flash.”¹ Essentially, he is a smart football player who understands that being a receiver is a lot more than just running fast and catching the ball. You will not be wowed by his measurables:

Since he was a little kid, USC was always the school he wanted to go to and even had the chance to go for a year with his childhood friend and #1 overall recruit Malachi Nelson. Lemon comes from an athletic family as well. His father was a running back for UNLV while one uncle played college baseball for Fresno State and another was drafted out of high school in the 2nd round by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1998 but never made it to the Show. There is also a great-uncle Chet Lemon who played 15 years in the majors for the White Sox and Tigers. Chet “The Jet” Lemon was pretty damn good.

Stowers is a 23-year-old former QB who flipped to tight end 2 years ago and promptly won the John Mackey Award as the best TE in the nation. That’s a pretty quick learning curve. His deal is his ABSURD athleticism. What in the world was he doing trying to be a QB with testing like this:

There is some debate over whether he is a tight end or a big receiver going forward because of his laissez faire approach to blocking but he essentially just needs to be willing. Non-issue right now. He finally gives the Eagles their heir apparent at Tight End which has been a good 3 years in the making at this point.

Off the field, Stowers graduated 2 years ago, then received his Masters Degree in Finance, and is now pursuing another degree in legal studies. In fact, he even won the William V. Campbell award as the top scholar athlete in the country.² He is no football dummy. Athleticism runs in the family too as his parents played and coach football and volleyball. His sister plays volleyball at Texas A&M and was the #16 recruit in the country coming out of high school. When I said played, I really meant dominates as she was just named Most Outstanding Player for the NCAA Tournament in leading the Aggies to the National Championship.³

He may be the largest human being in sports and that is not an exaggeration:

Sweet mercy that’s a large man. Despite always being enormous, he was a ZERO recruit out of high school and ended up starting in JUCO. Within 2 years, he was on everyone’s radar and his choice of blue blood schools choosing University of Miami. After getting 5 starts in 2024, he was the full-time starting LT this past season (16 starts), didn’t allow a sack, and helped take the Hurricanes all the way to the National Championship Game.

The good and bad of Bell is that he is still very much learning the position. He has essentially only been learning how to play offensive line for 4 seasons now as he was just in the way back in high school. The pass protection is apparently very far along where as the run blocking is very far away. He came to the perfect place to learn what needs to be done.

This is the Lane Johnson replacement pick. Whether Lane has 1 or 2 more seasons in the NFL, the goal is to have Bell be that guy if he can. Last year the Eagles took some late round flyers on enormous men like Cameron Williams, but Bell is somehow bigger and has more upside than them. Being a 3rd round pick of his size, he has the floor of a swing tackle, but the Eagles will be hoping for much more. If after this year they realize he can’t make it, OT becomes the top priority in 2027.

Finally, lest anyone think he went the JUCO route for academic reasons, Bell was an Academic All American 2nd team this year with a 3.78 GPA in American Studies.

Well, well, well…if it isn’t a ginger QB from North Dakota State University again. Cole Payton just finished up his 5th season at NDSU, finally getting his chance under center. Yup, despite 5 seasons, he only has 13 starts under his belt, but made the most of it. He is a true dual threat QB who matched 16 passing TDs with 13 more on the ground.

While he might not have the experience we’d all like, he does have the size and the speed. At the combine, the lefty he managed a 4.56 40 yard dash at 6’3″ tall and 230 pounds. This was enough to vault him up draft boards. Granted this was not the best of QB classes, but ESPN had him ranked as the 7th best QB in the draft and was the 6th taken.

The good and bad news about Payton is that he does not really know how to throw a football. His mechanics are apparently shit in that he just slings the ball with his arm and with little input from his legs. IF the Eagles can fix that, there is a lot to unlock here.

The drafting of Payton is to be the 3rd QB this season regardless of whether Tanner McKee is traded. I’ve beaten this horse dead, but if McKee stays then Andy Dalton won’t make the team. If McKee is traded then Dalton is our #2. Payton is here to be the backup of the future.

Morris does not make much sense. He started every game for the Bulldogs this season and did not allow a sack. He is an academic elite taking AP classes in high school and scoring a 5+ GPA in route to being the 11th ranked tackle in the class of 2021. That means he has 2 championship rings on his hand and knows Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter. Finally, and most importantly, he’s an athletic beat of a man at 6’5″ and 334 pounds. Known as the strongest guy on the Bulldogs being able to bench 420 pounds and multiple squat reps at 505, he also boasted these combine numbers:

So, what’s the problem? Why the hell did he not get drafted until the 6th round? Well, he didn’t start starting until his 4th year, and wasn’t full time until his 5th. Granted Georgia has a ton of talent, but still, that’s not great. Compare him to Makai Lemon who won the Biletnikoff Award as a true junior. 5th year starter vs 3rd year exceller…that’s a big difference.

There’s a real hope that a guy with his size and athleticism could be the second coming of Mekhi Becton for the Eagles and is definitely a possible future starter.

They tried to sneak a Bison in Red Raiders clothing past us, but we found out. Wisniewski played 5 seasons at North Dakota State before transferring to Texas Tech this past season. He’s already 24. How did this happen? Well, he missed all of the 2024 season which was to be his final one in Fargo then decided to transfer. efore the injury, Cole had been an FCS 1st team All American as a junior.

While not overly impressive athletically, Cole is a 6’4″ 220 pound converted linebacker so you figure he will be able to lay some wood on special teams at the very least. Would we have liked to see the Eagles get a little more depth at safety? Yes. The draft wasn’t the place though apparently.

Bernard is the one everyone wants to talk about. The 21-year-old out of Nigeria has never played football before, but was discovered last season by NFL Africa after putting on an athletic supershow. The video of this is eye popping, but check out these numbers:

6 foot 4 inches tall, 300 pounds running a 4.63, jumping nearly 11 feet far and 39 inches high while benching 225 31 times!!! The BP would have been 4th highest at this year’s combine at any position while the broad jump, vertical, and 40 would be the highest for DTs by a good amount. A graphic was shown at the draft that his numbers are similar to Myles Garrett, except Bernard is 30 pounds heavier.

Does that mean he is Myles Garrett? God no! Bernard literally has no idea how to play football and will likely not make the Eagles roster this season. That being said, the Eagles would get a special exemption to keep him on the practice squad all season. The plan would be to teach this raw athlete how to play the game at the highest level to see if he can pick it up. The odds are very much against him, but they were against fellow international pupil Jordan Mailata as well. The Eagles are hoping lightning will strike twice.

Bernard didn’t play any kind of organized sport until he was 16 years old and that was basketball. Still, why not take a shot on the most athletic human to ever attempt to play football? I profiled him during my Day 3 coverage because I was bored and then realized he was perfect for the Eagles and Howie Roseman to take a chance on. They agreed.

KJN is small for an EDGE but that means he is also very athletic for an EDGE, running a 4.53 40 but only measuring 6’2″ and 238 pounds. That speed helped him to 9 sacks and 15 tackles for a loss this past season for New Mexico. Before that, he was lighting up the Big Sky conference with 10.5 sacks after coming from JUCO.

KJN will be 24 by training camp and will have to make his bones on special teams, but the Eagles liked his pass rush abilities enough to see if he can provide some juice. Seeing him get some snaps in second halves with a quick first step and relentless motor might be a pretty good change of pace to get some cheep pressure on an offensive lineman.

He’s a kid from Idaho who grew up in Montana, so he should have no problem with late December games in Philadelphia. It gets nasty up there.