Eagles have a reason for passing on defensive backs in NFL draft

PHILADELPHIA – It’s easy to get hung up on the Eagles’ passing on a cornerback and safety in the draft this year.

After all, those were two positions of need. There’s no established starter at cornerback opposite Pro Bowl corner Darius Slay. And the Eagles, as of now, have Anthony Harris and Marcus Epps penciled in as starters at safety.

Certainly, a first-round cornerback like Trent McDuffie could have been a Day 1 starter, just like safety Kyle Hamilton. The Eagles had the chance to draft both. Instead, they went with defensive tackle Jordan Davis and traded for Tennessee Titans star wide receiver A.J. Brown.

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It’s the third time in four years the Eagles haven’t taken a cornerback in the draft. It’s the fifth time in six years they haven’t taken a safety.

“There’s no doubt we sit up here knowing that we still have other things that we want to do going forward,” Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said. “We’re a better football team than we were when we last took the field.”

That is most likely true. But they’re also worse at defensive back after letting veteran starters Steve Nelson and Rodney McLeod leave in free agency without adding one to replace them.

But as Roseman likes to say, players can be added all the way through the trade deadline at the end of October. There are still free agents available, like veteran safeties Tyrann Mathieu and Landon Collins, and Roseman can always swing a trade, too.

It’s not that the Eagles don’t value defensive back. It’s just that they valued the other positions more when they picked.

That’s why it’s more important to judge the Eagles on what they did in the draft, than what they didn’t do at defensive back.

For example, in the first round, it’s possible that the Eagles would have considered trading up for either cornerback Sauce Gardner or Derek Stingley Jr., had one of them fallen to around No. 10.

But Stingley went No. 3 to Houston and Gardner No. 4 to the Jets, so that was out.

After that, Davis was the best player on the Eagles’ board, so they traded up two spots to No. 13 to take the 6-foot-6, 341-pound heir apparent to Fletcher Cox.

It was the same at wide receiver. The Eagles could have taken a wide receiver at No. 18 such as Treylon Burks. Instead, they traded for Brown, who has two 1,000-yard seasons and is still only 24 years old. The Titans got Burks with the pick from the Eagles.

After that, it’s quite possible that the Eagles didn’t value any of the cornerbacks or safeties to be difference-makers in later rounds.

So they went about fortifying other positions.

They drafted Nebraska center Cam Jurgens in the second round who can take over for All-Pro Jason Kelce when he retires, or fill in at guard in case someone gets injured. They took Georgia linebacker Nakobe Dean in the third round. Dean was projected to go in the first round before reports surfaced of a pectoral muscle strain and rumors that Dean turned down shoulder surgery.

For the record, Dean said none of the doctors he saw recommended surgery, and Roseman said he expects Dean to participate fully in rookie minicamp this coming weekend.

If Dean is healthy, he’s a steal in the third round.

Of course, the Eagles were somewhat handicapped by trading away six draft picks to get Davis and Brown. And that could have hurt them in the fourth round when there was a run on cornerbacks.

The Eagles couldn’t do anything about it because they didn’t have a fourth-round pick. And then they traded out of the fifth round.

So they kept going. They drafted another linebacker in the sixth round in Kansas’ Kyron Johnson, and a tight end in Grant Calcaterra who was a teammate of Jalen Hurts’ at Oklahoma in 2019. Calcaterra retired during that season after suffering concussions, only to return last season at SMU.

Speaking of Hurts, this draft was also about giving him more weapons on offense to go along with receiver DeVonta Smith and tight end Dallas Goedert..

Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said “big time!” when asked if the Eagles accomplished that goal.

“(Brown) was definitely something that really is going to help our offense,” Sirianni said. “(Defenses) are not going to be able to just key in on Dallas or key in on DeVonta or key in on Quez (Watkins). Now there’s another guy in the mix that they are going to have to take away.”

In the latter rounds, chances are slim that the Eagles were going to get a starting cornerback or safety.

So yes, the Eagles made themselves better, except for one important area. And here, there are still solutions. They might not be star-caliber, long-term solutions. But Nelson certainly worked out OK after the Eagles signed him days before training camp started last year.

“I think every team is going to have a hole at some spot after this draft,” Roseman said.

The Eagles still have a hole, but not as many as they had when last season ended.

That was evident in one other way. Roseman was asked about reports that wide receiver Jalen Reagor asked for a trade after the Eagles acquired Brown. Reagor was the Eagles’ first-round pick in 2020, but he has been a disappointment through two seasons.

“Jalen Reagor is a Philadelphia Eagle and he’s going to be here,” Roseman said. “He’s worked tremendously hard to get in shape and come into this off-season program, and now he has an opportunity. We don’t anticipate anything changing.”

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Eagles have a reason for passing on defensive backs in NFL draft

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