Philadelphia Eagles Draft Grade | PFF

foreign Philadelphia Eagles are up on the clock speaking of a pluses they start with a couple Georgia guys Jalen Carter at number nine the defensive tackle they he falls to nine in the the Eagles trade up from ten to nine to secure him they let Nolan Smith the edge of edge Defender out of Georgia Falls of them at pick 30. they go Tyler Steen tackle slash guard out of Alabama in round three they had another and then the back-to-back picks there second pick there was safety Sydney Brown out of Illinois go back to Georgia with Keeley Ringo in the fourth round the fourth round of cornerback who people thought could go in the first to get the great Tanner McKee round six pick 88 quarterback out of Stanford and then Moro ojomo the defensive tackle out of Texas I thought he was more of a third or fourth round player and he goes all the way in round seven so look our process right or wrong when players go lower than expected and you draft all of them that feels good yeah coming out of draft day and when we put the draft grades together that's what the Eagles feel like right here they got a bunch of players lower than expected yeah and it is this is where um there isn't evidence to say that that's good right there there is evidence to say if you reach relative to the consensus board that's bad generally speaking trying to be smarter than the board is is a bad thing there is not evidence to say however that if you go in the reverse if you grow if you consistently grab guys that are falling um and essentially you're like oh look we got great value these guys are ranked higher on the consensus board there's not evidence to say that that consistently works out better than just drafting whoever the consensus says uh essentially I think the logic is that if a guy is falling it's probably for a reason um and it's a reason that the consensus board doesn't have access to you know injuries a lot of the time so there will be injuries or off-field or whatever it is character there will be a bunch of reasons that are legitimate for a guy to fall that the consensus uh rankers never have access to the questions in the question would be though does that taint that data or that analysis that conclusion like if a guy is falling for reasons that aren't clearly explained by a medical red flag or like a character concern we don't know about or whatever it is like something legitimate that means you would rank him higher based off the tape than you would if you knew all this stuff is that actually swaying the analysis to say well if a guy's just falling and there isn't an explanation for that you do get good value by by stopping that fall and grabbing that guy that I think is probably a little bit up in the air but you look at Philadelphia's Hall I mean the Jalen Carter thing we lost the bet off the back of that our uh our podcast bets our final tally by the way we won 28 of them we lost nine of them I think uh from the ones we accepted we want to go through those maybe on Friday I think it'd be Friday maybe and World draft we'll fire out the emails and the free PFF Plus subscription to all those people eventually but the the Jalen Carter one was one we lost because somebody said somehow how he's going to work his magic and the Eagles are coming going to come out of this draft with Jalen Carter and this was back when you know everyone's like he's going five he's going six he's not making that the top ten and he didn't he started to slide and the Eagles went we'll jump up one spot and we'll grab Jalen Carter who is arguably the most talented player in this entire draft and couple of things number one gets to go to a defensive rotation that's not going to need him to play a ton of extra snaps you know one of the concerns or question marks about him and anybody coming out of that Georgia defense is they rotate so heavily up front they only play 350 snaps in a year what happens if you ask him to play 700 do you get the same thing uh what we doesn't need to like the eagles rotate as well he doesn't need to play more than 350 snaps in a year number two he goes to a defense that is already stuffed full of Georgia defensive players and and leaders in that team like nicobi Dean was the leader on that defense in in 2021 he's now there starting linebacker in Philadelphia they already had Jordan Davis he's been there for a year they bring in Nolan Smith uh around or a bunch of picks later they bring in Keely Ringo a bunch of picks later like they are assembling guys that he already knows that might have some kind of influence in terms of keeping him together and on the straight and narrow and whatever and avoiding any potential maturity concerns that other teams might have had so man Jalen Carter going to Philadelphia insane then then sitting there at 30 and having Nolan Smith drop into their laps also insane yeah that was one of the more common questions for Howie Roseman Nick siriani at their press conference was you know how how nice is it to have him with for a bunch of former Georgia Bulldogs it's like yeah of course you'd want to be in a new job with uh friends with friends from college who wouldn't you know who wouldn't help who wouldn't that help you know as far as transitioning to to the NFL Nolan Smith I thought he could have gone top 15 you know very good pass rusher 238 pounds still powerful in the Run game and look this is the Eagles staying true to form right because they don't have a defense it's not just a defensive line rotation it's a team that builds through the offensive and defensive line they're always good in those areas and the two bulldogs Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter get to sit there right next to Fletcher Cox yes he you know rides off into the sunset probably in his career for the Eagles learn from Fletcher Cox Nolan Smith gets to be right next to Hassan Reddick you've made that point a a ton right similar body type similar player so the Eagles it's not a it's not a cheat code but it's like they they were equipped to take both of these players right it is a very good fit and they did a really nice job of just letting it come to them they did trade up one spot to go get Jalen Carter but also how are the Eagles I gotta look back at uh how they got to the spot I did like a very loose well this is why so much value sometimes in playing that game of trading into the future and picking up future first round picks and all that kind of stuff because the Eagles who were a couple of plays away from winning the Super Bowl have just come out of this draft with arguably the best player from it that's that should not be possible like the entire structure is literally set up to prevent that happening it's like no the rich shouldn't get richer we make the worst teams get the best players that's how the whole draft is set up to work and yet Philadelphia is able to come out of this draft with Jalen Carter who was arguably the best player because they played this game of you know trading some picks into the future getting an extra future first rounder and now they were picking in the top 10 anyway when they were you know the best team in the NFC they earned that though I mean so I'm gonna go back really quick just to recap kind of how we got here by the way there's also some quote was it uh Florio that posted it that Executives or maybe a Schrager Executives around the league are you know getting a little upset at all the credit Howie roseman's getting I mean stop giving him the opportunity to make good things happen yeah no kidding I mean this I'm going to really paraphrase the the work that got them here because there's other picks and there's other stuff in there but basically when they tanked week 17 yeah in 2020 that moved them up six spots in the draft which started a chain reaction of events the contrast is just mind-blowing you got two teams that had the Eagles pulled their start literally pulled their starters in a game they were gonna they were potentially winning to lose a game deliberately and move up in the draft and start this whole thing going and on the other hand you have Houston who what was it a like essentially a Hail Mary attempt to win the game and a two-point conversion to win it to steal a win that took them away from what sounded like the one quarterback that they really wanted and put them in the number two spot like the difference in those two things is ridiculous it is amazing how much impact that has but I oversimplified here the Eagles turn that week 17 lost from 2020 and then Carson it's who they were going to already move on from turn those guys into AJ Brown Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter now I don't know how good Jordan Davis is going to be I feel much better about Jalen Carter becoming a star in this league as long as everything checks out they may have found two stars there AJ Brown I think has as big of an impact as any player in the NFL last year going to a new team and again it's oversimplified but the people that are criticizing Howie you could say hey you know what Howie Roseman drafted Jalen rager over Justin Jefferson yeah what an idiot right but that is literally every single evaluator that is what the Eagles have done well is the process part of it last year before the draft maneuvering picks with the Saints the Saints got the extra pick last year so the Eagles could have the first round pick this year that's how they got pick number nine is because last year they said we're going to keep pushing to the Future push into the future but they still had enough picks last year to trade for AJ Brown in the first round so accumulate all these assets maneuver them around and you're going to win over time it's the process that the Eagles are winning not so much the player selection it's the process that they're winning to put themselves in position so they can let Jaylen Carter fall to them so they can let Nolan Smith fall to them and even the process like when they get it wrong the process is usually sound like drafting Jalen rager over Justin Jefferson was obviously a mistake but bringing in a first round wide receiver at that point was a good thing it was a necessity it was a thing they needed to do they didn't get it done they weren't gun shy the next year they went back and got Devonte Smith at the top of the draft and Devonte Smith has become a good player but even after year one it's like is he gonna become the Superstar not really sure all right fine let's send a first round pick to Tennessee and let's get AJ Brown who was already a superstar and that makes everything better so they they didn't like get spooked by goofing one time in a first round pick they doubled down and then tripled down over the next two years and that's why all of us now they have this amazing receiving group you could say though too the Jalen hurts pick was actually the first thing that said everything into motion because he was a process pick like let's just get this backup quarterback with starting potential in round two and that allowed them to eventually trade Carson Wentz which became a first round pick and put a lot of this stuff into motion too so I think it's the process not so much I love the Eagles actual picks it is their multiple year process that they have implemented and stuck with that I think has put them into such a great position yeah I also had a point in the draft where they took two sevens and flipped it for a five next year yeah they flipped two sevens for a five for next year I mean you have the ability to do that the um Keeley Ringo pick is is a fascinating one as well so that was at the top of the draft they traded they traded a third round pick next year to get Keeley Ringo this year um and he had he was a guy who pretty high in the fourth too so I mean that's only like it's probably only 10 to 15 picks yes right of difference um Keeley Ringo 38 overall on the consensus board ends up getting picked by Philadelphia pick 105 by the time they trade it up for that and the okay Ringo's got some problems to his game which is why he slit that far like he's got some real stiffness lateral movement change of Direction isn't necessarily great but at six two 207 pounds with speed you don't generally see players that have that kind of build slip that far particularly when you consider how old he is and the the comedy stat that was thrown out there over the weekend is that by the time kilo Ringo is finished his rookie career his rookie contract he will still be younger than Hendon hooker is right now I think that's wow he's seriously young with a six foot two 207 pound frame I mean this is the stuff of dreams from a cornerback scenario okay the change Direction stuff is concerning but they can now bring him in behind those two like legitimate Superstar starters that they have Darius Slay James Bradbury and kind of work out what he can be long term and maybe coach him up and maybe get him better at that kind of stuff like that's a great process pick I I think it was too Ringo at that point the other pick that I just want to highlight really quick uh so ajomo in the in the seventh again I thought he was a guy that could Rush from the interior play The Run Rush from Edge as a as a change of pace so I think he could be good value in the seventh I don't know if he'll fit into this rotation but really really productive player I don't know why he went that low I don't think it's just because he's a tweener body those guys the NFL's figured out how to Value those guys at least by round four and then the other player was Sydney Brown the safety out of Illinois the grades weren't always great he missed a ton of tackles but listening to I know Trevor loved him the the Howie Roseman talked about him they call him a red star player they have Scouts go through and put like red stars across like eight or ten players every single draft that they just love and want to go to bat for he was one of those guys for them and he was really a box safety who just flies around Headhunter misses a ton of tackles but makes a lot of explosive plays but they were citing his ability to play free safety at the Senior Bowl and at least see that different look that said hey maybe he can be a more versatile safety it's what the eagles need he's got a chance to compete for playing time right away because read Blankenship and Kayvon Wallace are competing at free safety or at least in one of the safety spots opposite Terrell Edmonds so Sydney Brown has a chance to be a starter I think he's got to clean up a lot of his game but he is that like firecracker fly around the field type of player that so many coaches love and I'm interested because the production data is different from that scouting data but at safety it could work so they may have had another they may have added another starter with pix 66 in round three yeah in Sydney Brown so we're going a plus for the Eagles I think it's I think a lot of people are probably gonna land somewhat close to uh to that conclusion exact's being like butt hurt over how he Roseman getting a ton of credit by the way is one of the most pathetic things I've ever heard I mean you can't look at what he's done over the last several years and think that he's not deserving of praise like he's done he's done an incredible job I mean okay everybody has misses everybody also has random hits out of nowhere but generally from start to finish the process and building this whole thing has been pretty much Flawless they've played this game to Perfection they haven't always just gambled the way some teams have and gone well if this works we're great if it doesn't work we stink they've hedged they didn't commit to Jalen hurts as the starter right away they specifically played the game of let's trade for future first round picks so that if he doesn't get any better we can pivot and go get a quarterback at the top of the draft like they have played this thing masterfully he deserves the credit foreign 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Channel: Pro Football Focus

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Id: 0GYdaa5FAIM

Length: 15min 14sec (914 seconds)

Published: Tue May 02 2023