Birds’ first pick should have them jumping
PHILADELPHIA >> With the NFL Draft an affordable cab ride from Eagles headquarters, the front office is sensitive to the passion of the diehard fans who will be lining the Benjamin Franklin Parkway next Thursday.
The Eagles are ready for just about anything, including the crowd chanting the name of a popular prospect still on the board at No. 14. Overtly, there’s no concern an unpopular pick could send thousands storming the company gates.
Or so supposedly thick-skinned Eagles football operations chief Howie Roseman says.
“You’ve got to have armadillo skin in this city,” Roseman said
Thursday. “We’re going to do what’s best for the team.”
Without naming names, Roseman waxed poetic about other teams making draft picks that were so popular they were “anointed kings of the draft.” Implied but not stated was that those undisclosed choices failed.
“What really matters is what happens once we get into the regular season,” Roseman said. “So we’re going to do what we think is right with this team going forward. We’re going to stick to our board. We’re not going to raise a guy up because we’ll get a standing ovation. We love our fans to be excited. But one thing I know is when we make the pick at 14 with the way our board looks right now, we’re going to be all high-fiving and very excited about that pick.”
That doesn’t necessarily mean the Eagles will stay at 14, although it certainly sounds that way.
The Eagles could move down in the draft, which wouldn’t be popular with their faithful fans, yet sounded like a possibility based on the draft depth at such positions of need as cornerbacks, running backs and pass rushers.
Joe Mixon Oklahoma, whose off-the-field file includes hitting a woman, is on the Birds’ list of draftable running backs, per an NBC report. The Eagles and the Bengals, among other teams, reportedly have the permission of ownership to take Mixon off the board.
Mixon’s slashing running style makes him look like a perfect fit for the Eagles’ offense. Picture Correll Buckhalter, only faster.
Roseman and vice president of player personnel Joe Douglas, who has set up the Eagles’ draft board, didn’t address off-the-field concerns with Mixon.
Douglas said Mixon is considered one of the best backs in the draft physically. And it’s a talented class with Leonard Fournette (LSU), Christian McCaffrey (Stanford), and Dalvin Cook (Florida State) the cream of the crop. Cook also has off-the-field issues.
“A lot of people feel that he is one of the top picks in the draft,” Douglas said of Mixon. “So if you take the character outofit…”
Douglas also said the draftable cornerback crop was deeper than it’s been the past three or four years. He cautioned that corner might be the toughest position for a rookie to step into other than quarterback.
Gareon Conley (Ohio State) is the only first-round prospect Douglas mentioned. He likes everything about Conley, including his speed.
While Roseman said the Eagles like Zach Ertz, that wouldn’t necessarily preclude them from drafting another tight end, another position important to the West Coast offense. O.J. Howard of Alabama has first-round pedigree.
If the top prospects on the Eagles’ board slip, they’ll be ready to go up, back or wherever, according to Roseman, who has helped orchestrate several trades. The high-profile ones that worked include moving up to snag Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox and Carson Wentz. The Birds wound up with Marcus Smith after trading back in the first round.
“You get in these situations and it’s pretty clear cut,” Roseman said. “You have a draft board, you’re picking at 14. You have a list of guys that you have graded that are worth going at 14. If you have a bunch of those guys available when you pick, you entertain trade-down offers far enough that you can still get one of those top guys. If you don’t have 14 guys you see if there’s an opportunity to move up. And I think it goes that way for every round in the draft. If you have guys that are really highly graded and you think they’re worthy of moving up, you have those conversations. If you have guys that fit where you are, you stay. If you have a group of those guys you look to go back and get additional picks.”
And if you’re the Eagles and the lottery is being held outside the Art Museum, a healthy jog away from team headquarters, you don’t take the temperature of Philly fans before you draft.