On Friday, former Philadelphia Eagles scout and current NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah spent a couple hours answering questions from reporters about the NFL Combine and the 2022 NFL Draft. Many of those questions were about the Eagles. I was interested to read through his thoughts on the Birds, so maybe you are too? 🤷♂️
Here's what Jeremiah said, and I'll throw in my two cents as well.
Question: The Eagles have drafted receivers in the first round in back-to-back drafts. Is it a realistic possibility that they do it again? And if you're looking at this crop, would it make sense for them to try to draft someone that would complement DeVonta Smith?
Jeremiah: Yeah, when you've got three ones I think all options are on the table. When you study Howie and how he operates and how that personnel department operates, you know there's going to be at least one, if not two bigs if they keep all three of those picks. I would imagine you're going to see at least one defensive lineman, maybe two, or maybe it's one defensive line, one offensive line.
But yeah, I think there's a strong case to be made for one of those wide receivers. I would love Garrett Wilson in there. I think he's the best receiver in the draft in my opinion, and he can do everything. He is a complete wide receiver. We talk about the speed guys in this draft and we talk about the physical play-above-the-rim guys, I think he gives you a little bit of both of that with what he can do after the catch, as well.
I think he'd be a really nice complement. From just a pure size skillset standpoint, you'd say Drake London would be kind of the power forward that they don't necessarily have there opposite of Devonta. I think he's exceptional. Again, watching the Chargers and seeing what Mike Williams does, I think Drake London can do that stuff. He can play inside. He can play outside. He's got outstanding hands. He's got outstanding feel and instincts.
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A lot of contested catches, which you talk to some people around the league and they celebrate it, and you talk to other people around the league and they say, oh, it's because he can't separate. I don't know. I know the guy is big, and when the ball goes up in the air, he comes down with it. He's a really intriguing player, and everything that I've been told about him from a character, competitiveness, makeup stuff, it's just completely off the charts.
#JimmySays: To me, it doesn't even matter what the Eagles did in previous drafts. Wide receiver remains a significant need, and if the the best player on the Eagles' board happens to be a wide receiver when they're on the clock with one of their first round picks, take him. It'd be silly to pass on a great player because they took wide receivers the last two years. I don't get why that matters. Passing on a receiver this year isn't going to make Jalen Reagor a good receiver.
As for the receivers Jeremiah mentioned, we prefer different players. If there's one receiver that I think the Eagles have to take if he's there, it's Arkansas' Treylon Burks. He's a big, nasty slot receiver in the same mold of Deebo Samuel. He might be my favorite player in this draft, from a pure entertainment perspective.
Question: Also interested in the Eagles, and if you start looking at edge rushers specifically in that mid-range (of the first round), what do you think Howie might be looking for and what kind of differentiates those guys?
Jeremiah: Yeah, we talked about Travon Walker already. I think he's going to be long gone by then. I think the guys that you're probably going to be looking at, it's probably going to be like a George Karlaftis, David Ojabo. I think Jermaine Johnson is probably going to be gone by then from Florida State. He's taken off from having a really good season and having a great week of practice down there in Mobile at the Senior Bowl. He's just — he probably moved himself right out of the Eagles' range there.
But Karlaftis is a legitimate one. I know it's polarizing, I guess, but just about everybody I talk to in the NFL feels like this is a real high-floor player. I wrote down that he reminded me of Ryan Kerrigan, and then you find out they're both Purdue guys and him and Kerrigan talk and they've got a good relationship, which would be an interesting connection to the Eagles. But to give you an idea on Karlaftis, when the scouts went in there they said this guy is — they had to kick him out of the facility, he bought an apartment right next to the facility so he could get there all the time and literally he's just a football junkie. He's a big time power rusher. He plays extremely hard.
I know some people think of that as a knock on somebody when you say he's got a real big motor and plays really hard. It's like you're trying to cover up for something else. But no, this guy has got some quickness. He's got some power. He's just not real loose or bendy at the top, but I think he'll be in that mix about where they're picking.
Then Ojabo is a fascinating one at Michigan who's just really started to come on, on the other side of Aidan Hutchinson. He's got a big-time get-off. He can bend better once he gets to the top of his rush than Karlaftis. He just needs to be a little stronger, more consistent, and kind of earn more reps to play the run, which he didn't get a ton of there at Michigan.
I would say those are probably the names you're looking at. And then maybe if you slid back a little bit, which Howie loves to move around, so now if you slide back you get into a new set of names when you start talking about Boye Mafe from Minnesota who can end up going. He's an interesting one, and there are some other intriguing names that are a little bit undersized but are really, really good players who could play kind of a SAM for them, who could drop a little bit. A guy like Nik Bonitto could do some of those things from Oklahoma, who I think is probably going to end up going in the second round.
#JimmySays: Last year, after the Eagles traded back to pick No. 12, one of the exercises we undertook was trying to figure out how many teams picking ahead of the Eagles needed wide receivers, and which of Kyle Pitts, Ja'Marr Chase, Jaylen Waddle, DeVonta Smith could maybe fall that far.
I think it will maybe make sense to do that same exercise for edge rushers this year. Jeremiah has Travon Walker and Jermaine Johnson gone by the time the Eagles pick. On the assumption that Aidan Hutchinson and Kayvon Thibodeaux will be gone as well, that's a lot of edge rushers to go top 14.
I guess I'll add that to my "story ideas" list.
Question: Just regarding the Eagles, I know they're mentioned with all these veteran quarterbacks that they could possibly trade for, but I suspect they're going to draft one. Do you foresee maybe because they have the luxury of three round picks, they could surprise and maybe take a quarterback or even a linebacker there? Or if not, as far as the quarterbacks go, who do you think would you evaluate in that third round, fourth round area they could try to target?
Jeremiah: You know, the interesting one, I'm excited to do a little bit more work on him, but Jack Coan. I've watched a little bit from the fall, but the other day I went and watched the All-Star Game stuff at the East-West, and he was intriguing to me. He was not somebody on a lot of teams' radar, but he's 6'3, 217 pounds. He makes good decisions. He's really, really comfortable and poised inside the pocket. He was accurate, especially in that game. He's one of those guys I have kind of on my list highlighted to go back, and I want to watch some more from him because he looked like one of those intriguing mid-round type guys. Obviously he's a transfer from Wisconsin. He's played a lot of ball. That was one that was interesting to me as kind of a mid-round guy.
I said last year in my absolute statement that the Giants would never trade back because Dave Gettleman has never done it, he'll never do it, I'm going to stop talking about it because it will never happen, and lo and behold it happened. I will say this year I have changed now to my absolute statement being that the Philadelphia Eagles will never draft a linebacker in the first round, because every year we talk about it, every year we talk about do we mock draft this guy here or there, and they're not doing it. They never do it. It's up to Howie to prove us wrong.
#JimmySays: No thank you on Coan in the middle rounds.
As for linebacker, if there's a year where I would say it's a legitimate possibility, it's this year, for two reasons:
- As Jeremiah mentioned earlier about the wide receivers, they have three first-round picks, so everything is on the table, assuming they actually use all three picks.
- It's a strong linebacker class at the top of the draft this year.
- The Eagles badly need linebacker help, as always.
But he's probably right that it won't happen.
Question: The Eagles right now, they have Miles Sanders going into his last year of his contract, and they also have Jordan Howard who's had a lot of injury concerns. What running backs do you see either like say Day 2 or especially Day 3 who would primarily fit on this team?
Jeremiah: I'm stoked that we got that question, because I don't think we've said one thing about running backs here. I love this running back group. Again, I don't think there's going to be one that goes in the first round. I think this is a really deep group. I was talking with a personnel director the other day and said, Let's just circle the fourth round.
You're going to get a great back in the fourth round, especially if you want a bigger back. This draft — to me Spiller from A&M is my top guy, but you've got Breece Hall right there that's really, really close. I'm anxious to see him in person. I haven't seen what they look like or how they move in person, so I'm curious to see that. Those guys are legit. Tyler Allgeier is a big power back.
The power backs I really like, you've got Bryan Robinson from 'Bama; Kenneth Walker runs much bigger than his 212 pounds. He's a really good player. Snoop Conner from Ole Miss is somebody I think is going to be a fourth round pick. He's got speed and wiggle. He's a really, really fun player to watch.
And then Ty Davis-Price, I'm a sucker for any LSU running back. It's something about that uniform and how they fit it and how they run. This guy is 232 pounds and he's just a bowling ball, just running over everybody. He killed Florida this year. Ran for a zillion yards. I think they're still picking up the Texas A&M safety off the turf from that game, too.
You've got Hassan Haskins. There are going to be running backs in the fourth and fifth year this year that are 215, 220 plus guys that can play, and then if you want kind of the change up which I think the Eagles would probably be looking for one of those bigger guys, but James Cook is just the ultimate toy. Dalvin Cook's little brother. He jet sweeps, screens, draws, split him out wide, let him run away from corners. He's a fun weapon. I think you probably see somebody do that probably in the third round, but he's a fun one.
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