Grocery shopping: Five college players to watch who could interest the Eagles in the 2018 NFL Draft

We're now into the bowl game part of the college football season, as there are games on TV most nights. As long as you're taking in some of the action over the following week, here are some players who could make some sense for the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2018 NFL Draft.

Mike White, QB, Western Kentucky (6'4, 225): Western Kentucky vs. Georgia State, Saturday, Dec 16, 2:30 p.m.

In recent years, Western Kentucky has been producing NFL talent on offense:

Year	WKU draftees	Team	Round	Overall
2016	OT/OG Forrest Lamp	Chargers	2	38
2016	WR Taywan Taylor	Titans	3	72
2015	TE Tyler Higbee	Rams	4	110
2015	QB Brandon Doughty	Dolphins	7	223

Mike White will be the next WKU player taken in the draft. He's rarely mentioned among the top quarterbacks in the 2018 NFL Draft, but this guy can play. A quick highlight reel:

At 6'4, 225, he fits the mold of bigger Eagles quarterbacks, as Carson Wentz, Nick Foles, and Nate Sudfeld are all at least 6'5 and 235 pounds. As you can see in the above highlight reel, White throws a pretty deep ball and has NFL arm strength. White will compete at the Senior Bowl.

The Eagles have their franchise quarterback in Wentz, their solid backup in Foles, and a developmental guy in Sudfeld. Still, if the value is there, and White slides a bit, I can see the Eagles having interest, especially now with the start of Wentz's 2018 season in question.

Jake Wieneke, WR, South Dakota State (6'4, 215): South Dakota State at James Madison, 4:30 p.m.

Earlier this year, we profiled another SDSU prospect in TE Dallas Goedert. He's not the only dominant player in SDSU's offense. In his college career, Wieneke has put up big numbers in his own right, going over 5000 receiving yards for his career.

Jake Wieneke	Rec	Yards	YPC	TD
2014	73	1404	19.2	16
2015	72	1472	20.4	11
2016	78	1316	16.9	16
2017	58	860	14.8	15
TOTAL	281	5052	18.0	58

Those aren't quite Cooper Kupp college numbers, but they're pretty damn good. Here's Wieneke's game a year ago against a good TCU defense in which he had 8 catches for 196 yards and 2 TDs:

Wieneke should be receiving a Senior Bowl invite.

Richie James, WR, Middle Tennessee (5'9, 176): Middle Tennessee vs. Arkansas State, Saturday, Dec 16, 8:00 p.m.

James is one of my new favorite pro prospects. He likely won't play in this game, and he may not even declare for the draft, but I'm previewing him anyway. In his freshman and sophomore seasons, James was incredibly productive, tallying just under 3,000 receiving yards those two seasons. In his junior season, a broken collarbone derailed his season. His numbers:

Richie James	Rec	Yards	YPC	TD
2015	108	1346	12.5	8
2016	105	1625	15.5	12
2017	31	290	9.4	3

James lines up all over the field for MTSU, including the backfield, and was occasionally even used as a running back. In his college career, James has 60 carries for 542 yards (9.0 YPC) and 5 TDs.

In the pros, he's likely going to be a slot receiver. Though he's only 5'9, 176, he plays much bigger and reminds me a little of Steve Smith (the good one). Here's his game against Hawaii last year:

The Eagles' depth chart at receiver currently looks like this:

X WR	Z WR	Slot
Alshon Jeffery	Torrey Smith	Nelson Agholor
Marcus Johnson	Mack Hollins
	Shelton Gibson

They could use another playmaking slot receiver.

Jaylon Ferguson, DE, Louisiana Tech (6'5, 269): Louisiana Tech vs. SMU, Wednesday, Dec 20, 8:00 p.m.

Ferguson was tied for third in the country in 2016 with 14.5 sacks, but he has cooled off some in 2017, as he has just 6 sacks while being the focus of opposing offensive line schemes.

At 6'5 with long arms, Ferguson has good length for the position, but his college production is perhaps better than his actual ability. Here's his game last year against Western Kentucky, going up against 2017 second round pick (38th overall) Forrest Lamp, who mostly owned him.

Still, this is a draftable player, and the Eagles could use a developmental prospect to groom behind some of their older veteran defensive ends.

Justin Lawler, DE, SMU (6'4, 265): Louisiana Tech vs. SMU, Wednesday, Dec 20, 8:00 p.m.

Like Louisiana Tech, SMU has an edge rusher prospect in this bowl matchup as well in Justin Lawler. This season, Lawler has 74 tackles (a ton for a DE), 15.5 tackles for loss, and 9.5 sacks. Here's a quick film review of his game:

Lawler isn't going to light up the Combine, but he hustles and he plays good run defense. I can see the Eagles having interest in the late rounds.