Philadelphia Eagles: The case for double-dipping on defense in the draft

The Philadelphia Eagles need a number one wide receiver in the worst way.

Now granted, it’s a bit of a misnomer that Philly hasn’t been bereft of receiving talent over the last half-decade, as Zach Ertz cracked 1,000 yards in 2018 and both Alshon Jeffery and DeSean Jackson turned in solid efforts when healthy. But when you consider the team hasn’t had a wide receiver crack the century mark since Jeremy Maclin in 2014, it’s pretty hard not to feel somewhat discouraged.

While Howie Roseman surely limited the team’s ability to land a marquee, blue-chip pass catcher at the top of the 2021 NFL Draft by trading down from six to 12, there is still a solid enough chance that one of the two Alabama pass catchers could still be on the board when the Eagles go on the clock in a move that would surely make QB1 Jalen Hurts a whole lot happier.

If that happens, great. While the optics of drafting a wide receiver in three of the last six rounds isn’t ideal, if the Birds walk away with a top target, who really cares?

But, just to be a contrarian, what if drafting a wide receiver early isn’t the best route back to contention? What if the Eagles hold off on selecting a receiver until Round 3, where there will still be plenty of value to he had, and instead turn their attention to the other side of the ball, where a premium talent can be far more impactful? What if the Eagles double down on defense at the top of the 2021 NFL Draft?

Defense wins championships for the Philadelphia Eagles.

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The Philadelphia Eagles wouldn’t have won the Super Bowl in February of 2018 without Carson Wentz.

That should not be argued, and anyone who tells you otherwise is more or less wrong. Without the former second overall pick performing at a near MVP level, there’s no way the Eagles would have finished out the regular season with a 13-3 record, let alone secure home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

With that being said, Wentz alone can’t be credited with bringing home the ‘chip, if for no other reason than he didn’t play the final six games.

No, what sometimes gets lost in the shuffle of that incredible season is the fact that the Eagles had the fourth-ranked defense in the NFL and were good to great at every position across their depth chart. They had an unstoppable defensive line, great linebackers, even better safeties, and even their weakest position, cornerback, was good enough to keep the team in even the highest scoring of shootouts.

Had that defense remained intact, maybe Doug Pederson would still be the Eagles’ head coach, but with each passing season, more and more of its players left in free agency, leaving the Eagles forced to fill in gaps with players who either weren’t as talented or weren’t quite ready for prime time. As a result, the Eagles have gotten worse and worse with each season and have fewer players at every position that could be considered elite, let alone Pro Bowl worthy.

Sure, offense wins games, but defense wins championships.

Sporting 11 picks to play with, the Eagles will surely select multiple defensive players in the 2021 NFL Draft. Heck, they may even take more defensive players than offensive players, but as we saw last season, it’s not about the quantity of players selected, but rather their quality and ability to impact games when they actually see the field.

While the Eagles were able to walk away from the 2020 NFL Draft with four defensive players, the quartet were only able to amass four starts and 332 total defensive snaps in midnight green. Davion Taylor, the team’s lone Day 2 defensive draft pick, was largely relegated to special teams during a developmental rookie season, as was his fellow linebacker Shaun Bradley. K’Von Wallace was the shining star of the Eagles’ defensive draft class in terms of both starts (three) and defensive snaps (202), but he was reluctantly used by Jim Schwartz and was often leapfrogged for playing time by Marcus Epps, a former sixth-round pick out of Wyoming who was claimed off waivers midway through the previous season.

And as for Casey Toohill? Well, the team’s seventh-round selection finished out the season with Washington after being waived by Roseman and company midway through the regular season for no real reason in particular. He finished out the season with two tackles and a pressure, in case you were wondering.

Could Taylor, Wallace, or even Bradley come back better than ever and force their way onto the field this fall? Sure, but even if all three hit, that doesn’t help answer the Eagles’ question marks at defensive end or cornerback.

No, if the Eagles are serious about reloading their defense and making a play at fielding a top-5 unit once more, the only real way to guarantee that happening is to invest premium, premier picks on players like Kwity Pay, Jaycee Horn, Greg Newsome II, and Joe Tryon, all of whom could be in play in the first or second round.

With no clear answer across from Darius Slay at outside cornerback (more on that here) and a collection of defensive ends who are old, unproven, and/or on an expiring contract, the idea of finally shoring up those positions with young, ascending performers locked into cheap, long-term contracts is the easiest way for the Eagles to reload their roster and prepare for the new Nick Sirianni/Jonathan Gannon-era.

Ranking the Philadelphia Eagles’ top 5 draft day needs. dark. Next

Look, I’ve become numb to the concept of predicting what the Philadelphia Eagles will do in the NFL Draft, even after calling the Jalen Reagor pick last spring. The team is going to do what they are going to do, and we, as fans/critics/outside observers, are going to have to take that information and fold it into our analysis moving forward. All I’m suggesting is that after largely avoiding investing in premium picks on the defensive side of the ball – and picking poorly when they actually used said picks on defensive players – it wouldn’t be the worst idea to really hone in on a few blue-chip defenders from which to rebuild the unit around both now and moving forward. It might just be the fastest way back to playoff contention.

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