Grocery shopping: Five college prospects who could interest the Eagles in the 2021 NFL Draft

As long as you're taking in some college football action this Saturday, here are some players who could make sense for the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Sage Surratt, WR, Wake Forest (6'3, 215): Florida State at Wake Forest, 12:00 p.m. (since cancelled)

Surratt is a big, physical receiver with good hands, body control, and contested catch ability, along the same lines as Alshon Jeffery and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside (college version). He does not possess impressive speed.

Also like Arcega-Whiteside, Surratt has an impressive off-the-field resume, as he was once committed to Harvard, before deciding he could get a similar education at Wake Forest while playing football in the ACC. In high school, he was a star basketball player, and the Valedictorian of his senior class.

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Jeffery won't be on the team in 2021, Arcega-Whiteside is a bust, and the team doesn't like Travis Fulgham as much as you or me, seeing as he's getting substantially fewer snaps than a cooked Jeffery.

After watching Arcega-Whiteside's skill set fail to translate to the pro level, it's understandable if this type of receiver will not appeal to fans, but all indications are that it still appeals to the Eagles.

(To note, Surratt opted out of the 2020 season to prepare for the 2021 NFL Draft, so he won't actually play in this game.)

Update: Oh, and this game was cancelled, too. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Josh Myers, C, Ohio State (6'5, 312): (14) Northwestern at (4) Ohio State, 12:00 p.m.

If Jason Kelce retires, the Eagles can either slide Isaac Seumalo to C from LG, or they can just draft a C to fill in directly for Kelce. This would be an option if they go the latter route.

Myers is the next Ohio State center who is likely to start in the NFL, following good players like Nick Mangold and Corey Linsley, and more recently, less impressive guys like Pat Elflein and Billy Price. 

Unlike Kelce, Myers is a bigger center, at 6'5, 312, who anchors well against bigger interior defensive linemen, which is something Kelce struggled with at times during his career, but overcame. Myers does not have Kelce's athleticism (nobody does), but he'll get good athleticism grades relative to other center prospects, as he's nimble in open spaces for such a big center.

Here's his game vs. Clemson last season:

One thing that NFL evaluators will have to determine is how much Myers benefited from playing in between two outstanding guards in junior RG Wyatt Davis (a likely first-round pick in 2021) and sophomore LG Harry Miller. Still, he is a fringe first-round prospect who would make sense for the Eagles early in Round 2 if Kelce walks away.

Charlie Kolar, TE, Iowa State (6'6, 257): (10) Oklahoma at (6) Iowa State, 12:00 p.m.

Kolar reminds me a little bit of a poor man's Zach Ertz in that he has great hands, he wins on contested catches against smaller safeties, he uses his body well to shield defenders from the football against man coverage, and he is savvy in finding holes in the defense against zone coverage. Also like Ertz, he's not going to wow anyone with his athleticism, and he's not exactly a scary runner after the catch.

They even have similar college production:

A look:

If the Eagles plan to move on from Ertz this offseason or next, I would not advocate that they try fill that void with a premium resource on another tight end, to continue to run their offense around a 2-TE set. But, if they want to sprinkle in the occasional 2-TE set, Kolar is a player who can potentially give you some of the same attributes at Ertz, and could complement Dallas Goedert. Early Day 3 guy, if he comes out.

Ronnie Perkins, DE, Oklahoma (6'3, 247): (10) Oklahoma at (6) Iowa State, 12:00 p.m.

Perkins has been reasonably productive in his 3 seasons at OU. In 4 games in 2020, he has 4 sacks and 8 tackles for loss. In 12 games in 2019, he had 6 sacks and 13.5 tackles for loss. As a freshman in 2018, he had 5 sacks and 8 tackles for loss.

He has some juice, he plays hard, and he's good against the run, despite his listed playing weight of 247 pounds (he's likely heavier than that):

He'd be a good fit playing behind Brandon Graham at LDE, with the combination of Derek Barnett and Josh Sweat at RDE.

Perkins does have some potential flags. He was suspended for a positive drug test, which caused him to miss five games this season (it did get lifted on an appeal), and then he complained when he wasn't named to the All-Conference team. Teams will be interested in learning more about Perkins as a person than Perkins as a player during the scouting process. If you can get him Day 3, that's probably where the value is.

Bobby Brown III, DT, Texas A&M (6'4, 325): (5) Texas A&M at Tennessee, 12:00 p.m.

At 6'4, 325 pounds, Brown has ideal size at DT, and he is a good run stuffer on the interior. As a pass rusher, Brown only had 0.5 sacks in his first two seasons at Texas A&M, but he has broken out a bit in 2020, as he has 4.5 sacks and 6.5 tackles for loss in 7 games this season. He may be a guy who impresses at the NFL Combine:

Fletcher Cox just turned 30, and Malik Jackson will turn 31 in January. Both players are still productive, but they have bloated contracts that the team would be smart to get out of when they are able to. To do so, however, they would be smart to have some youth in place to take over, and Brown is a physically impressive DT worth grooming.

Side note: Unlike the original Bobby Brown, who does a mean running man, Bobby Brown the football prospect once got hurt celebrating a sack.

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Previously profiled players

• August 9

1. Rashod Bateman, WR, Minnesota
2. Rondale Moore, WR, Purdue
3. Gregory Rousseau, DE, Miami
4. Jaylen Twyman, DL, Pittsburgh
5. Caleb Farley, CB, Virginia Tech

1. Kennedy Brooks, RB, Oklahoma
2. Warren Jackson, WR, Colorado State
3. Micah Parsons, LB, Penn State
4. Jay Tufele, DT, USC
5. Kary Vincent Jr., CB, LSU

1. Rashawn Slater, OT, Northwestern
2. Reed Blankenship, S, Middle Tennessee State
3. Kenneth Gainwell, RB, Memphis
4. T.J. Carter, CB, Memphis
5. Damonte Coxie, WR, Memphis

1. Andre Cisco, S, Syracuse
2. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, LB, Notre Dame
3. Asante Samuel Jr., CB, Florida State
4. Carlos Basham Jr., DE, Wake Forest
5. Jackson Carman, OT, Clemson

1. Paris Ford, S, Pittsburgh
2. Victor Dimukeje, DE, Duke
3. Matt Bushman, TE, BYU
5. Javian Hawkins, RB, Louisville

1. Rashad Weaver, DE, Pittsburgh
2. Creed Humphrey, C, Oklahoma
3. Seth Williams, WR, Auburn
4. Alex Leatherwood, OG/OT, Alabama
5. Marvin Wilson, DT, Florida State

1. Alim McNeill, DT, NC State
2. Najee Harris, RB, Alabama
3. Ja'Marr Chase, WR, LSU
4. Justyn Ross, WR, Clemson
5. Tony Poljan, TE, Virginia

1. Chazz Surratt, LB, North Carolina
2. Marco Wilson, CB, Florida
3. Amari Burney, LB, Florida 
4. Trey Smith, iOL, Tennessee
5. Amari Rodgers, WR, Clemson

1. Patrick Jones II, DE, Pittsburgh
2. Hamsah Nasirildeen, S/LB, Florida State
3. Tamorrion Terry, WR, Florida State
4. Richard LeCounte III, S, Georgia
5. Brian Robinson, RB, Alabama

1. Elijah Moore, WR, Ole Miss
2. Jayson Oweh, DE, Penn State
3. Tylan Wallace, WR, Oklahoma State
4. Cameron McGrone, LB, Michigan
5. Daniel Faalele, OT, Minnesota

1. Trevon Moehrig, S, TCU
2. Wyatt Davis, OG, Ohio State
3. Shaun Wade, DB, Ohio State
4. Master Teague, RB, Ohio State
5. Nick Bolton, LB, Missouri

1. Chase Lucas, CB, Arizona State
2. Brant Kuithe, TE, Utah
3. Mustafa Johnson, DT, Colorado
4. Penei Sewell, OT, Oregon
5. Jevon Holland, S, Oregon

1. Mohamed Ibrahim, RB, Minnesota
2. Dazz Newsome, WR, North Carolina
3. Alijah Vera-Tucker, OG/OT, USC
4. Patrick Surtain II, CB, Alabama
5. Kwity Paye, DE, Michigan

1. Derion Kendrick, CB, Clemson
2. Joshua Kaindoh, DE, Florida State
3. Amari Gainer, LB, Florida State
4. Kadarius Toney, WR, Florida
5. Sadarius Hutcherson, OG/OT, South Carolina

1. Teven Jenkins, OT, Oklahoma State
2. Aidan Hutchinson, DE, Michigan
3. Jaylen Waddle, WR, Alabama
4. Dylan Moses, LB, Alabama
5. Jaycee Horn, CB, South Carolina

1. Patrick Johnson, DE, Tulane
2. Zaven Collins, LB, Tulsa
3. Travis Etienne, RB, Clemson
4. Jabril Cox, LB, LSU
5. Amon-Ra St. Brown, WR, USC

1. Tyson Campbell, CB, Georgia
2. Javonte Williams, RB, North Carolina
3. Terrace Marshall Jr., WR, LSU
4. Zach Wilson, QB, BYU
5. Myjai Sanders, DE, Cincinnati

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