Philadelphia Eagles: Predicting what the team’s “big board” looks like at 12

2. Jaylen Waddle, WR

For all of the same reasons that they liked Jalen Reagor, the Philadelphia Eagles are going to love Alabama’s Jaylen Waddle.

He’s fast, he’s a “YAC” monster, he has positional flexibility, and he’s an elite route runner.

There’s not a whole lot to say about Waddle outside of the fact that most projections have him panning out as an elite wide receiver in the NFL. While the Eagles passed on the opportunity to land Ja’Marr Chase or Kyle Pitts as a casualty of their trade-down, there’s still a very high chance that they end up with a new WR1 by way of Waddle at 12.

There are some minor concerns regarding Waddle’s overall health (he missed most of 2020 due to injury), but the general consensus is that his ceiling outweighs any concerns regarding his ability to stay on the field. It’s not like Waddle is particularly frail either, he’s 5-10 and 182lbs – standard size for a slot/Z receiver.

The only major issue with Waddle being on the Eagles’ big board is that he simply might not be available at pick 12. A team like the Detroit Lions are expected to be heavily interested in drafting wide receivers this year, plus the Giants and Panthers could snag him as well.

However, if Waddle does slide all the way to 12, the Philadelphia Eagles are going to have a pretty tough time debating between him and the top guy on my projected big board.