March 10, 2016
In the 2014 NFL Draft, it was widely reported that the Eagles had six players targeted with whom they had heavy interest -- WR Odell Beckham Jr., LB Anthony Barr, CB Kyle Fuller, LB C.J. Mosley, WR Brandin Cooks, and S Ha Ha Clinton-Dix.
The Eagles owned pick number 22 that year, and when the Arizona Cardinals were on the clock at pick number 20, Cooks and Clinton-Dix were still on the board.
With the Eagles sweating it out in the war room, the Saints traded up to 20 to select Cooks, the Packers took Clinton-Dix, and yada yada yada, Marcus Smith has seven career tackles.
It would appear that Howie Roseman learned a lesson that night. When the Eagles made the deal to send Byron Maxwell, Kiko Alonso, and the Eagles' first round pick (13th overall) to Miami for the eighth overall pick, they did so knowing that they wanted to be in the top 10.
"They way we looked at it, we felt like there were 10 players that really stood out to us," said Roseman. "Picking 13th, we felt like if we were in a position to get one of those top 10 guys, there was tremendous value in that. To be able to do it before draft day and spend more time vetting all those guys would really help us. So doing it before the draft, before draft day, as we've seen here over the last four years that it's not always easy to move up on draft day. So being able to get that and have it in our pocket as we got started here would help us in our direction of our offseason."
In other words, don't expect the Eagles to trade back on draft night.
"We're very comfortable picking at eight," said Roseman. "For us, we know we're going to get a really good player. We're just going to go into it (and get) the best available player. We know that whoever falls to that spot has a chance to be Pro Bowl caliber, which is real exciting for us. But again, we're open to anything that we think improves our football team."
