Eagles paying heavy attention to WR, CB, and OLB: Five more pre-draft visits to analyze

As we noted last month, if the Eagles bring in a prospect for a pre-draft visit, their chances of being drafted by Chip Kelly go up drastically. Six of the seven Eagles draft picks a year ago were among the Eagles' 30 allotted pre-draft visits, which means that it is absolutely worthwhile paying attention to who stops by the NovaCare Complex this time of year.

There have been 17 reported visits (and soon to be visits) so far (You can click on each name for detailed analysis and how they might fit with the Eagles):

• Jaelen Strong, WR, Arizona State

• Nelson Agholor, WR, USC

• Chris Conley, WR, Georgia

• Rashad Greene, WR, Florida State

• Breshad Perriman, WR, UCF

• Randall Telfer, TE, USC

• Terry Poole, OG, San Diego State

• Benardrick McKinney, ILB, Mississippi State

• Owamagbe Odighizuwa, Edge rusher, UCLA

• Shane Ray, Edge rusher, Missouri

• Kevin Johnson, CB, Wake Forest

• Damarious Randall, S, Arizona State

• Joe Cardona, LS, Navy

Today we'll look at the five latest reported visitors:

• Eric Rowe, CB/S, Utah

• Danielle Hunter, Edge rusher, LSU

• Jalen Collins, CB, LSU

• Byron Jones, CB, UConn

• Obum Gwachum, Edge rusher, Oregon State

H/t to BleedingGreenNation.com for finding many of the above visits reported on Twitter. 

If you're doing the math at home, that's five WRs, four CBs, four edge rushers, one TE, one OG, one ILB, one safety, and a long snapper.

Eric Rowe, CB/S, Utah, 6'1, 205 (via Tony Pauline)

Rowe is a player who has been on my radar since September, for fairly obvious reasons. He's big (6'1, 205), physical, and he played both corner and safety at Utah. That's pretty much everything the Eagles seemingly value in their defensive backs these days. In watching him during the season, I though Rowe was solid but unspectacular. At the Senior Bowl, I came away somewhat disappointed. At the Combine, he put up tremendous numbers.

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There are varying opinions on Rowe. Some think he's a first round pick. I had him as the Eagles' fourth round selection in my mock draft 2.0. After having re-thought it, Rowe is probably closer to a first round pick than a fourth, but I don't think he'll be either.

If the Eagles see Rowe as a CB at the next level, he has the long frame at 6’1, 205 and physical nature against the run that they have prioritized. If they view him as a safety in the NFL, he has versatility to cover receivers, which enables them to stay in their base defense against three WR sets. Initially, I thought Rowe would be a better fit for the Eagles at safety, but after an impressive showing at the Combine, he proved he has the athleticism to be a CB in the NFL, which makes him more valuable:

Projected Round: 2

Danielle Hunter, OLB, LSU, 6'5, 252 (via Sirius XM Radio)

Hunter was my second round selection for the Eagles in my Eagles only mock draft 3.0. I covered him fairly thoroughly there, and don't really have much to add, so here's what I wrote then...

Normally I wouldn't expect an athletic freak of nature like Hunter to last to 52nd overall, where the Eagles will be selecting in the second round. However, the top of the draft is loaded with quality edge rushers. Here are the consensus top 9, sort by sack total (not any sort of ranking):

Are nine edge rushers going to be taken in the first 51 picks? Considering pass rushers are a valuable commodity in the NFL, it's certainly possible, but it would mean that an edge rusher was taken every 5.7 picks.

The Eagles re-signed Brandon Graham to a long term deal to pair with Connor Barwin, so they have their starters in place, but have almost no depth behind them. And it's not the worst idea to load up on players who can get to the QB.

Hunter is drawing comparisons for his size, athleticism, and lack of college production (in terms of sacks) to the Giants' Jason Pierre-Paul. Hunter is 6'5, and he ran a freaking 4.57 40:

He also has added length because of his 34 inch arms and huge 10 1/2 inch hands. Seeing how Marcus Smith produced (or didn't produce) his rookie season, Eagles fans may not be in the mood to draft another edge rusher "project" early, but can you pass on specimen like Hunter if he's still there in the second round?

Projected Round: 2

Jalen Collins, CB, LSU, 6'1, 203 (via Geoff Mosher, CSN Philly)

Collins has excellent combination of size and speed, but only had 10 career starts at LSU. He is thought of as a raw player who could be a bust in the NFL if he doesn't improve the finer points of the position, but could be a star if he does. Here's a video that highlights Collins' technique deficiencies:

Collins has appeared as the Eagles' first round pick in some mock drafts this offseason, which makes some sense, but in my opinion there will be better players available when the Eagles are picking at 20. If the Eagles are overwhelmingly enamored with Collins' high ceiling, they could just go ahead and pull the trigger, but personally, I think the more appropriate value for Collins would be if the Eagles traded back a bit.

Projected round: 2

Byron Jones, CB, UConn, 6'1, 199 (via Geoff Mosher, CSN)

We profiled Byron Jones before the Combine, where he shattered the broad jump record. And later he was one of the picks in my Eagles mock draft 2.0, although waaaaay lower than where he'll realistically end up. As you can see in the following gif, Jones has incredible raw explosiveness. This is nuts, and watch the other Combine participants' reaction in the background:

Personally, when we initially previewed Jones, I had no idea he had that kind of explosion. What stood out to me was his impressive size, at 6'1, 199, and his reputation for having good character, via NFL.com:

STRENGTHS: Extremely smart and instinctive on the field. Shows above-average anticipation of routes. Is able to sniff out rub routes and works to avoid them. Flashes recovery speed downfield and gets head around to find ball and make a play on it. Uses instincts and adequate closing burst to disrupt the catch. Generally reliable tackler. Team captain and leader on the field and in the locker room. Scouts say he's willing to play hurt and inspires his teammates.

Chip Kelly previously skipped Florida State's pro day to check out Jones at UConn's pro day, and now he's having him in for a visit. That is a whole hell of a lot of attention being paid to one prospect.

Projected round: 1

Obum Gwachum, OLB, Oregon State, 6'5, 246 (via Gina Mizell, The Oregonian)

We've been on Gwachum for a while now:

And like Jones, Hunter and Rowe above, Gwachum was a pick in one of my three Eagles-only mock drafts this offseason. Translation: Jimmy's on fire. (Self-congratulatory pat on back). Here's what we said then:

Gwachum played WR at Oregon State, but moved to DE his senior year. At 6'5, 246, with 34 1/2 arms, Gwachum has the size and athleticism that Chip Kelly loves. Gwachum is also thought of as a high character guy, via NFL.com: 

SOURCES TELL US "This guy is going to blow some people away with his explosion numbers and teams will love him in interviews because he's a genuinely good guy. As a player, he still needs a lot of time to develop and you better set aside time for that and have a plan for him." -- NFC South area scout.

This is a player the Eagles would have to develop. When you're drafting in the later rounds, you can either go after players who can contribute quickly on special teams, or you can target guys who have a lot of upside, but need a lot of work. Since the Eagles already have more than their share of quality special teamers, why not take a long term chance on a size-athleticism freak?

Projected Round: 6 or 7

Follow Jimmy on Twitter: @JimmyKempski