The Eagles had a bit of a first day at the NFL combine. First, the team announced the promotion of Brian Johnson to Offensive Coordinator. Then Howie Roseman and Nick Sirianni met with reporters where they went ahead and confirmed the hiring of Sean Desai as their new defensive coordinator.
But during all the chaos there was a moment where Howie may have shown a glimpse into his plan for the draft or more so his hope for how it turns out. The first question to Howie was about the top QBs in this draft class and how much movement he would expect to happen in the top 10 because of those QBs.
Howie’s response to Mike Kaye’s question was interesting as he answered by saying, “I think there are a lot of good quarterbacks. It’s a quarterback league, and so our assumption is these talented guys — we’re not in that market, so hopefully, they all go, to be honest with you. But they’re talented enough to go.”
The last time that the NFL had a rush for quarterbacks in the top 10 was back in the 2018 Draft. That year, Baker Mayfield was taken first, followed by Sam Darnold, Josh Allen, and Josh Rosen. Wow, the Jets were that close to having a franchise QB huh…
The Hurts & Eagles effect
We all know it’s a quarterback-driven league. You truly can’t win without a good QB as the 49ers witnessed for themselves during the NFC Championship game. Now, how does this affect the Eagles?
Well, first you have to look at how the Eagles are directly influencing this draft. When they selected Jalen Hurts in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft, he was considered to be a raw prospect who wasn’t ready. Many analysts considered him to be the second coming of Taysom Hill. A gadget QB and nothing more than a backup for the Eagles.
Fast forward to three seasons later and you have yourself one of the premier QBs in the league today. Hurts was an MVP candidate and also performed like a top 5 quarterback during the season and played like the top QB in the league during the Super Bowl.
His performance this season will have ripple effects on how teams draft QBs now. To them, anyone could be the next Hurts if the teams are patient and focused on the young player’s development. This is why Howie is expecting the top QBs to go within the top 10 picks of this year’s draft.
Roseman knows how his team’s success this season has changed the mindset of most front offices in the NFL. Not to mention, most of those front offices are a product of the Eagles’ brass.
So what happens if Stroud, Young, Levis, and Richardson all go within the top 10? Chaos. Teams will begin to scramble due to the unexpected shakeup with the first several picks which leads to how the Eagles can use this to their advantage.
If a player like Jalen Carter is available around the 5th or 6th pick then how could the Eagles not trade up? Philadelphia has two first-round picks from this year along with two second-round picks for next year. They have enough ammo to control their destiny in the draft.
Now is this all guaranteed to happen? Absolutely not. But the thought of it is intriguing enough to wonder what Howie is plotting ahead of draft night. Now in return, for all we know, Howie may continue his pattern and try to move one of those picks for more draft capital.
But this draft feels different. The Eagles are coming off a spectacular season which resulted in a Super Bowl loss. The goal is to get back and to get better. Trading for more picks for 2024 doesn’t seem to fit the bill this time. Even Roseman said this about the draft, “I think for right now, all we can do right now is take this process, which is meeting these players. We have two first round picks. Make sure that we just make good decisions after good decisions, we stack those together, and we’ll end up having a really good team, and we’ll get to camp and try to bring them all together.”
Photo by John Jones/Icon Sportswire
