Inside the Philadelphia Eagles’ triple-down draft strategy

The Philadelphia Eagles valued quantity in the 2020 NFL Draft.

The Philadelphia Eagles went into draft weekend with a few glaring holes on their depth chart and a desperate need for an infusion of young talent.

Historically speaking, those two facets of player evaluation process have been close to mutually exclusive for the Eagles.

From 2016-19, Howie Roseman and the Eagles have selected an average of 6.5 players, eight in 2016 and 2017, and five players in 2018 and 2019. Of those players, only 16 are still on the Eagles’ roster, three from 2016, four from 2017, all five from 2018, and four from 2019.

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What does that say about the player evaluation? Well, for one, the Eagles haven’t been particularly good at evaluating Day 3 prospects, as only seven of their 17 selections are currently with the team, but it’s also a classic example of just how inexact this whole process can be.

I mean seriously, who would have thought that Jalen Mills, the 233rd pick in the 2016 NFL Draft would outlast the likes of Wendell Smallwood, Donnell Pumphrey, Mack Hollins, and worst pick ever, Clayton Thorson? If that doesn’t scream ‘crapshoot’, I don’t know what does.

By going light on drafting young, talented players from 2018-19, the Eagles were left with a rapidly aging roster without a ton of cheap, ascending talents to serve as mid-season replacements, and it showed. It took less than a month for the Eagles to be forced to rely on players like Craig James, Akeem Spence, and Ryan Lewis to play serious roles, and that’s not even mentioning the team’s disastrous collection of wide receiver callups like Robert Davis, Deontay Burnett, and Jordan Matthews.

This was a mistake Roseman had to remedy.

So instead of moving up and down the board to select the ‘right guy’ at every position who will surely start for the team over the next decade, the Eagles opted to address their positions of need with quantity over quality; a genius strategy if I’ve ever heard one.

First and foremost, if the Eagles needed to leave draft weekend with one thing and one thing only, it was an explosive wide receiver. Roseman accomplished that feat in the first round with TCU mega athlete Jalen Reagor. Could one argue that there were ‘better’ wide receivers on the board like Brandon Aiyuk, Denzel Mims, Tee Higgins, and many people’s fourth wide receiver, Justin Jefferson? Roseman didn’t go BPA at the position; he picked the guy he best felt fit his team’s scheme and pulled the trigger.

Could that move ultimately prove to be a mistake? Could Reagor be more Nelson Agholor than Jeremy Maclin? Maybe so, but Roseman insured himself on the matter by drafting two more speedy inside-out options in John Hightower and Quez Watkins in the fifth and sixth round respectfully and even traded for a veteran option in Olympic-level long jumper Marquise Goodwin.

The same can be said for the Eagles’ other most pressing position, linebacker. Many wanted the Eagles to select a player like Patrick Queen in the first round and be done with it, but Roseman opted against using a first-round pick on an over-valued position (weakside linebacker). Roseman instead selected Davion Taylor – the Boulder Patrick Queen – and Temple’s Shaun Bradley in the sixth round. Both players are former safeties who tested incredibly well at the 2020 Draft Combine and should be able to challenge a player like Jatavis Brown for a starting spot on Jim Schwartz’s defense as a sideline-to-sideline zone defender.

Could Taylor’s inexperience and/or Bradley’s bad tape prevent either player from being an every-down starter in both base and defensive sub-packages? Maybe so, but two chances – three if you count Brown – are better than one.

Heck, the Eagles even doubled down on potential options at tackle to replace Jason Peters despite trading up in the first round to select Andre Dillard in 2019. While he should be on the short track to win the spot regardless of how the offseason turns out, having Jack Driscoll and Prince Tega Wanogho under contract through 2023 is good insurance should something go wrong, or fantastic developmental options if everything remains copasetic.

If Tega Wanogho ends up being the Philadelphia Eagles’ next All-Pro left tackle for the next decade, would anyone really be mad about selecting Dillard in the first round? Results matter so much more than where a player played their college ball or how they ended up on the team.

From Jalen Reagor to Jack Driscoll, John Hightower, and even Jalen Hurts, the Philadelphia Eagles didn’t select a single player in the 2020 NFL Draft who has to start as a rookie. On the contrary, Howie Roseman’s decision to double and even tripe-up on players with similar skillsets at positions of need gave his team a far better chance of finding the guy down the line, regardless of where said player was selected. That sort of asset accumulation has worked wonders for teams like the New England Patriots and the Baltimore Ravens and is a far sounder strategy than what the team attempted to accomplish over the last two offseasons.