INDIANAPOLIS – If there is an established formula for building a Super Bowl championship team, well, every team would follow it, and nobody would lose a game.
Of course, it doesn’t work that way.
The Los Angeles Rams traded away all of their first-round picks from 2016 through 2024, and they won a Super Bowl.
The Cincinnati Bengals drafted their franchise quarterback and two stud receivers in the first round in the 2020 and 2021 drafts. They went from 4 victories in 2020 to a mere 90 seconds away from winning the Super Bowl.
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The common denominator is that both teams took chances and succeeded.
The Eagles took chances, too, through the trades, free agent signings and draft decisions of general manager Howie Roseman.
They tried the Bengals method by drafting wide receivers in the first round in consecutive drafts in 2020 and 2021.
But they missed badly with Jalen Reagor, choosing a perceived speed receiver on the outside over the sure thing in Justin Jefferson. Jefferson, of course, set an NFL rookie receiving record that was surpassed by Bengals rookie Ja’Marr Chase this season.
The Eagles succeeded with DeVonta Smith last spring as Smith proved that he’s a legitimate No. 1 receiver.
So Roseman, as he often seems to do, said he’s learning from past mistakes. It was something he mentioned more than a few times Wednesday at the NFL Scouting Combine.
In 2017, Roseman called the draft “an historic draft” for running backs. He drafted Donnel Pumphrey in the fourth round, and he never played an NFL down.
So Roseman wasn’t about to go there again when asked about the strength of the defensive linemen in the draft. Answer: It’s tremendous.
And the Eagles could conceivably take one or two defensive ends with their three first-round picks at No. 15, 16 and 19.
“I have to learn from some of my mistakes I’ve made in the past,” Roseman said. “So in terms of talking about strengths of a draft class, I don’t know that I want to go there. There are good players at every position in this draft.”
As strange as it seems, the only way to learn from mistakes is by having more chances to make mistakes.
The Eagles are set up better than they have been in years heading into the start of the new league year on March 16.
Much of that has to do with quarterback Jalen Hurts.
In addition to the three first-round picks, the Eagles have money to spend in free agency. They also have at least one player in left tackle Andre Dillard who should be in demand by other teams in a trade, perhaps for a star-caliber wide receiver such as Atlanta’s Calvin Ridley.
If anything, the Rams and Bengals showed that building a Super Bowl team isn’t linear. Roseman knows this, too. So the more avenues that you have to do that, the better your chances.
The Eagles haven’t had as many as two first-round picks in the same draft since 1993, let alone three. For the record, the Eagles took guard Lester Holmes and defensive tackle Leonard Renfroe at No. 19 and 24, respectively, that year.
No, those weren’t franchise-altering picks.
The Eagles also haven’t been this far under the salary cap heading into free agency since 2016, when they spent lavishly on right guard Brandon Brooks and safety Rodney McLeod. They also drafted quarterback Carson Wentz second overall.
One year later, the Eagles won the Super Bowl.
That’s because Wentz blossomed in his second season, and Roseman signed Alshon Jeffery on a one-year, prove-it deal; added low-cost free agent running back LeGarrette Blount; traded for cornerback Ronald Darby; and added running back Jay Ajayi in a midseason trade.
But it’s not that easy. Roseman hasn’t duplicated that success since. You know the list of draft misses in Sidney Jones, Rasul Douglas, J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, Pumphrey, Mack Hollins, Shelton Gibson and Reagor.
The Eagles couldn’t do much in free agency because they were up against the salary cap. The players they signed on prove-it deals mostly didn’t prove it.
“I think if we’re sitting here saying everything is perfect and everything works, that would be disingenuous,” Roseman said. “We have to constantly evolve … figure out what we’ve done right, what we’ve done wrong, and what the rest of the league has done right, what the rest of the league has done wrong.”
All of this depends on Hurts.
The Eagles do have the capital to trade for a star-caliber quarterback such as Seattle’s Russell Wilson. But that would require at least two of those first-round picks, and drain most, if not all, of their salary cap space.
So Hurts, who’s 23 years old, has to take a big leap from last season, when he completed just 61.3% of his passes and struggled with his decision making at times.
“We’re not by any means a finished product,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “I know how the quarterbacks played and got their teams to the … Super Bowl. We know that that’s what we have to do to get ourselves there.
“I think Jalen is the type of guy that’s going to maximize his potential because of who he is as a football player.”
Sure, Sirianni can rave about Hurts’ dynamic running ability, work ethic, leadership ability and so on. And it’s very possible that Hurts will improve organically with better players around him.
The Eagles have to get those players, obviously.
“Basically, every team has the same salary cap number,” Roseman said. “And basically, every team has a number of draft picks. If you can get an edge, either by creating cap room or by getting more draft picks, now you have more shots to take.”
The Eagles have the shots, as long as Hurts is the answer at quarterback.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
