How Ja’Marr Chase influenced the Philadelphia Eagles to trade down

For many fans in the City of Brotherly Love, landing Ja’Marr Chase in the first round was the absolute best-case scenario for the Philadelphia Eagles.

As it turns out, Howie Roseman had a similar belief, which is why he made a trade with the Miami Dolphins in a move that effectively removed his team from contention for Chase’s services.

I know, that sounds kind of counterintuitive, right? Why would you trade down when the player you like most could very well still be on the board at the sixth overall pick but will be long gone by the time the 12th selection goes on the clock?

Well, if Monday Morning Quarterback’s Albert Breer‘s recent reporting is on point, the chances of Chase still being there at six may not be as good as many overly optimistic fans in Philly may have hoped, leaving Roseman to prioritize landing future assets over selecting a player he feels isn’t of the same caliber of LSU’s 1,780-yard man.

Did the Cincinnati Bengals thwart a Philadelphia Eagles-Ja’Marr Chase union?

More from Section 215

• 4 Eagles on the Bubble Who Have Clinched Their 53-Man Roster Spots
• Best Pennsylvania Sportsbook Promos: Win $650 GUARANTEED Bonus PLUS $100 off NFL Sunday Ticket
• 3 Punters the Eagles Must Target to Replace Arryn Siposs
• Cowboys Trey Lance Trade Proves How Screwed They Are With Dak Prescott
• Devon Allen Took Britain Covey’s Job on Eagles

Ja’Marr Chase is different, man.

He’s young, ran a 4.40 at LSU last summer – two years removed from running a 4.66 in high school, take with that what you will – and has an uncanny ability to make plays on the football field that very few others can. Though Chase only played one year of note in Baton Rouge, he clearly outplayed future first-round pick Justin Jefferson, who then went on to take the league by storm with one of the best rookie seasons we’ve seen from a rookie in some time.

If Chase can simply match Jefferson’s production when he joins the NFL ranks in 2021, few will call the 21-year-old rookie anything other than a glowing success, but there’s a generally held consensus that the Harvey, Louisiana native has the potential to become one of the NFL’s premier pass-catchers; joining the ranks of Julio Jones, Michael Thomas, and Odell Beckham.

While many a team picking in the top-six would surely love to land a player of that caliber, especially when you consider that most teams in that range are pretty darn bad, the chances of Chase going to a team like the Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Jets, San Francisco 49ers and even Atlanta Falcons felt fairly low, considering their respective needs to land quarterbacks of the future.

For a minute following the 49ers’ decision to trade up with the Miami Dolphins, things were looking pretty good for the Philadelphia Eagles, as they’d only have to weather one team ahead of them to have a chance to select Chase sixth overall, but alas, that just wasn’t meant to be. No, it would appear the Cincinnati Bengals also consider Chase a “can’t miss” blue chip player and are all-in on giving Joe Burrow his favorite college target with the fifth overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Having the sixth overall pick is nice, but if your blue chip, can’t-miss, number one player is gone, and there isn’t another player in that tier available to be had one pick later, why not move down six picks, procure a future first, and land one of the many tier-two players who will still be there a little later down the line?

Is that a cynical reading of what just went down? Maybe so, but it feels pretty consistent with how Roseman has drafted in the past.

You see, in 2014 and 2018, the Eagles decided to trade down from their first-round pick because they felt there were similarly talented players who would still be available a few picks later. The Eagles ultimately traded back four spots to net an additional third-round pick in 2014 because the Cleveland Browns really wanted Johnny Manziel and were similarly able to land a pair of seconds to move down from 32 to 52 because the Baltimore Ravens really wanted to secure Lamar Jackson’s fifth-year option four years later.

Did those deals ultimately work out in Philly’s favor? Eh, sort of. Dallas Goedert and Miles Sanders certainly look like better Eagles than Marcus Smith, Jaylen Watkins, and Taylor Hart, but as a general rule, neither deal was wholeheartedly bad, considering the Eagles weren’t looking to draft a QB at either spot.

Now granted, Roseman has also shown a willingness to trade up for specific players he feels were good fits or wholly undervalued, like when he traded up in the first to land Carson Wentz and Andre Dillard, or Dallas Godert and Jordan Matthews in the second, but those cases are fewer and further between. Even if there were rumblings about the Eagles trading up with the Dolphins with the third overall pick, that ultimately didn’t happen because the chances of Zach Wilson, the player they reportedly preferred, falling past the New York Jets felt incredibly unlikely and thus, surrendering the sort of assets to get a deal done would be a poor allocation of resources.

Thinking about the decision to trade down through that lens, it makes sense why Roseman would be willing to wager that a player selected at 12 plus a future first would give the Eagles net better results than simply selecting a player at six who his scouts felt weren’t in the same vein of Chase or Wilson.

Is that a knock against Kyle Pitts and Penei Sewell? Or is it more a vote of confidence for players like DeVonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle? Either way, it’s clear the Philadelphia Eagles didn’t have six players they felt were worthy of being picked in the top-six but did believe there were over 12 worthy of being selected in the top-12. If that is, in fact, the case, the decision to trade down was the correct one, even if it upsets some who feel otherwise.