There really shouldn’t be a question as to whether the Eagles would have been better off with running back Bijan Robinson in the first round of the draft instead of trading for D’Andre Swift.
Robinson is considered a generational talent, and by drafting him in the first round, the Eagles could have six years of salary control − five years of a rookie contract, plus the franchise tag.
Robinson and quarterback Jalen Hurts together as running threats for six years would be something. Those six years of Robinson would include the entirety of Hurts’ five-year extension worth as much as $255 million. That is close to $200 million more than what the Eagles would have paid Robinson over that time.
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In that sense, it would have made sense for the Eagles to break their 37-year drought of not picking a running back in the first round.
But it made more sense to trade for Swift, and the Eagles didn’t have the chance for Robinson anyway after he was taken No. 8 by Atlanta, two spots ahead of the Eagles. The Eagles then moved up a spot to take Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter.
We’ll never know what would have happened if Carter had been taken earlier and Robinson had been available for the Eagles.
And once Detroit surprisingly took Alabama running back Jahmyr Gibbs at No. 12, that eliminated the possibility of the Eagles getting a running back with their other first-round pick at No. 30. It also made Swift available via trade. So the Eagles exchanged seventh-round picks with Detroit, going from No. 219 to No. 249. They also gave the Lions a fourth-round pick in 2025.
It’s not that Swift will outperform Robinson. He most likely won’t. After all, Swift has never had more than 617 yards rushing in any of his previous three seasons after the Lions made him their second-round pick in 2020.
That’s why the Robinson-Swift debate is the wrong one.
Swift doesn’t have to outperform Robinson. That’s because he’s joining a deep Eagles running back rotation that also includes free agent signee Rashaad Penny in addition to Kenny Gainwell, Boston Scott and Trey Sermon.
The wildcard, of course, is Hurts, who rushed for 760 yards last season, and changes everything about the Eagles’ need for a dominant three-down running back.
“I haven’t had too much experience with a quarterback exactly like Jalen Hurts,” Swift said Wednesday in a videoconference with reporters. “But the things Jalen does in the passing game, the running game, just from the outside looking in, how he commands the offense, the leadership, everything he brings to the team, to the organization, I look forward to the opportunity to sit beside him and play.”
He’ll get that opportunity. But so will Penny and Gainwell, and possibly even Scott and Sermon.
But how long that opportunity lasts depends on Swift’s production. Just like with Miles Sanders last season, if Swift is too good, he’ll likely price himself out of returning. Sanders rushed for a career-high 1,269 yards last season, then left as a free agent, signing a four-year deal worth as much as $25 million with the Carolina Panthers.
The Eagles don’t pay that for a running back, especially now that Hurts’ contract extension starts kicking in next season. So there’s a good chance the Eagles will be looking for a new rotation next year. Only Gainwell and Sermon are signed beyond this season.
In all, the Eagles are devoting about $6.3 million in salary cap space to the entire running back rotation this season, or pretty much what Sanders is getting by himself in average annual salary with the Panthers. Robinson’s salary cap number for 2023, based on the NFL’s rookie pay scale, is $4 million.
So yes, by all expectations, Robinson should be better than Swift. And instead of having a chance at Gibbs, or perhaps trading back into the second round for UCLA running back Zach Charbonnet, the Eagles picked Georgia edge rusher Nolan Smith.
“When (the Lions) took Gibbs 12th, we thought maybe it was an opportunity,” Roseman said about a trade for Swift. “We knew (Swift) was in the last year of his deal, and we went into this draft feeling really good about our running back room … It wasn’t, in our mind, a position that we were actively looking to upgrade. But at the same time, we’re always looking for opportunities to improve the team.”
Swift was the best opportunity for the Eagles, something the Eagles found out first-hand in the season opener last season when he ran for 144 yards on 15 carries in the Eagles’ 38-35 win over the Lions. And Swift knew that returning to Philadelphia, where he grew up and starred at St. Joseph’s Prep, was the best opportunity for him, too.
“I’m so focused on just coming in here and just working every single day and earning my keep,” Swift said. “Whatever role they see fit for me off the way I come in and work every day will be something I earn.”
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
