On Thursday we solicited questions for an Eagles mailbag via Twitter or whatever it's called now. Thank you as always for doing half the work for me. This is Part II (Part I here). Let's just get right to it.

Question from Thomas (via email): How often do the Eagles draft players that they have had hosted on "top 30" visits?

Their first-round picks usually come in for visits. 

• In 2023, they hosted Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith. They also hosted Kelee Ringo. 

• In 2022, Jordan Davis was their first reported visit.

• In 2021, there were no visits at all as a result of COVID.

• In 2020, they hosted Jalen Reagor, Davion Taylor, K'Von Wallace, and Shaun Bradley, Raequan Williams (UDFA) and Luke Juriga (UDFA). They also hosted Jeremy Chinn, who they would have selected if they hadn't drafted Jalen Hurts instead.

I have also found that the Eagles will later acquire players that they had in for "top 30" visits in previous years. Some examples include A.J. Brown, Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, Matt Hennessy, Terrell Lewis, Rashaad Penny, and Darius Leonard.

Going back to 2016 the Eagles have brought in their first-round pick for a pre-draft visit every year except for one (pandemic year not included). That list includes Carter, Smith, Davis, Reagor, Derek Barnett, and Carson Wentz. The one time they didn't? Andre Dillard. Why? For most of the draft process that year Dillard was thought to be a potential top 10 pick, but late in the process when it appeared that he could slide further than expected, the Eagles haphazardly had Jeff Stoutland conduct of video call with him, which likely didn't give the team the insights into Dillard's passive personality that an in-person visit might have exposed.

It's not hard for teams around the league to look at the Eagles' roster, figure out their roster holes, and take an educated guess on who they will be interested in. Having a player in for a pre-draft visit to get a better feel for their personality and love (or lack thereof) of the game is more valuable than overthinking smokescreens. As for 2024, we know of 26 of the Eagles' 30 visits. A chart of those players, by position:

It should be no surprise that more than half of their visits were offensive linemen (8) cornerbacks (7). I'm a little surprised that there have been no reported visits for CB Quinyon Mitchell, as well as offensive tackles Amarius Mims (Georgia) and JC Latham (Alabama).

Question from @Boston_Sucks: If the Eagles were to choose between two OL profiles, which do you think they’d pick: (A) Guy who plays both G/T, so can play immediately at RG, but they grade him better as a guard.... or (B) Guy who only plays OT, so he wouldn’t play unless Lane got hurt, but they grade him as a good tackle?

I think the guy who most resembles (A) is Troy Fautanu. The guys who most resemble (B) are Amarius Mims, Olu Fashanu, and Tyler Guyton.

I would probably say that they'd prefer Fautanu, but only because he's the best player of the bunch. If one of the pure offensive tackles were as good as Fautanu, I'd probably lean that way instead, if that makes sense. 

Question from @Fly_EaglesBets: Howie has traded for a vet in back-to-back drafts in A.J. Brown and D'Andre Swift. What vet targets (or positions) could you see him trading for on draft weekend?

It's cornerback. I'd just be throwing darts blind if I were to pick out some specific names. 

If the Eagles take an offensive lineman in the first round, I'd be looking at the teams that drafted corners in Round 1. They're probably the most likely to trade one of their vets. When the Titans traded Brown, they selected Treylon Burks with the pick. When the Lions drafted Jahmyr Gibbs, they then were willing to deal Swift. 

Question from @KeithFo74392733: Do the Eagles have anyone on their roster that you think could be traded on draft night?

I squinted hard at Eagles' depth chart for like 10 minutes, trying to come up with any trade candidate that would make sense, and I got nothing. The only scenario I could come up with is if Brock Bowers fell to 22 (not happening), the Eagles took him (might not happen even if he fell that far), and then traded Dallas Goedert.

Maybe some team out there really likes an Eagles depth guy for some reason, like a Brett Toth or a Josh Jobe or an Eli Ricks or something, but I just can't see a player of real note getting dealt. 

Question from @jph_GSG: We focus a lot on early round picks, and for good reason, but what do the Eagles look for in day three picks and what do their successful past day three guys have in common?

I looked back, and most of their biggest Day 3 hits have been offensive linemen:

• 2005, 4th round: Todd Herremans
• 2008, 7th round: King Dunlap
• 2011, 6th round: Jason Kelce
• 2012, 5th round: Dennis Kelly
• 2016, 5th round: Halapoulivaati Vaitai
• 2018, 7th round: Jordan Mailata

Kelce and Mailata were two of the best picks in Eagles history. The other four guys were (or in the case of Big V, are on their way toward being) starters for the bulk of their respective careers.

When you have master developer as your OL coach, maybe draft an offensive lineman or two on Day 3 even if you take one early?

Question from @StarForceManuel: Considering the high possibility that Howie tries to draft a Lane replacement, which are the players more similar to him in athleticism across the different rounds?

Athletically, there's nobody like Lane Johnson, like, ever in the NFL.

The guy whose draft profile most closely resembles Johnson's, in my opinion, is Amarius Mims. Johnson was the third tackle taken in the 2013 draft because he wasn't thought to be as polished as Eric Fisher or Luke Joeckel, but there were folks back then who were saying that Lane had the highest upside.

Mims isn't as polished as the other offensive tackles in this draft, but he may have the highest ceiling because of his size/athletic traits. When we look back at this draft in five years he has a chance to be the best one of the group even if he's the fourth or fifth one taken.

Question from @DanzMike: Isaiah Rodgers? Give us some speculation. Bonus points if you think the answer makes the Eagles more CB hungry running up to, and including the draft.

When Jeffrey Lurie spoke at the owners meetings in March, he seemed confident that Rodgers would be reinstated from suspension soon.

On Thursday, the NFL reinstated a bunch of guys who got pinched for gambling, and Rodgers wasn't among them.

I could give you some baseless speculation, but my thinking that Rodgers would be reinstated was based on Lurie's confidence that he would. I don't have any further information on if/when that will happen. 

I don't think Rodgers' continued stay on suspension makes corner an even bigger need. Spoiler: Whether Rodgers ever plays a down of football for the Eagles or not, they're going to take a corner with a high pick.

Question from @KingDro: Where do you rank this year's WR class in terms of talent compared to years past?  Who are your top 7 WRs this year? I know it's everywhere online to read, but I want to know where you rank them and how good you are at identifying which WRs will make it in the pros. I'm curious.

I think the last time I ranked receivers was in 2020, when I knew that the Eagles were almost certainly going to draft one in the first round. I wathced them all closely and had informed opinions. I'm proud to say that I had Jalen Reagor ranked ninth, and only a target at pick 53. 

But if I'm being honest, my receiver rankings would be worthless this year. I profiled some of them throughout the football season, but I simply haven't watched a ton of guys expected to go in the mid-to-late first round, like Malik Nabors, Brian Thomas, etc. I've watched some guys expected to be Day 2 picks a little more closely. Here are the guys I like on Day 2, who may not be flawless, but each have exceptional traits:

• Ladd McConkey (Georgia): Route running nightmare for opposing corners.

• Ja'Lynn Polk (Washington): Catches everything.

• Roman Wilson (Michigan): Speed / YAC.

• Malachi Corley (Western Kentucky): YAC beast.

Question from @skeletorpeafunk: Not a draft question, but any update on the podcast? Or a new podcast? In short I want you to do a podcast.

I don't have any updates on the podcast as it once existed. SB Nation basically just killed all their podcasts en masse, including BGN Radio, a decision that on the surface didn't really make a lot of sense to me, but whatever. 🤷‍♂️

Thank you to anyone who reached out about the podcast, whether it was just to say that you liked it and are bummed it's gone, or those of you who were worried for me and my personal livelihood.

My livelihood is fine. I didn't work for them. That's just something I did on the side because I could post the podcast content here at PhillyVoice, and they were fun to do. A lot of full-time employees lost their primary source of income when the podcasts got cut. They're the ones who were really affected.

We had a pretty strong following, mainly because of Brandon Gowton, who did a phenomenal job growing it over the years. It really sucks for him that he essentially had it taken away from him as a result of a macro-level company decision, despite our particular podcast objectively being a success.

I was on vacation after the podcast got cut, and I'm now of course busy with draft season, so anything podcast-related is probably on the back burner for now. When some time frees up, I'll likely look into starting a new feed, and if Brandon is allowed to partner up with me again, that's what we'll do.

MORE: The pros and cons of drafting Lane Johnson's successor

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