Sirianni seeks to rock draft rather than put Eagles in Jeopardy

No one the Eagles figured to be available six picks into the approaching NFL Draft was worth a first-round pick this year and another in 2022.

That’s why they sent that sixth selection to Miami, securing the 12th overall pick in this draft and the Dolphins’ first-rounder next spring in return.

Eagles general manager Howie Roseman went into a long-winded explanation about the trade and how “flexibility creates opportunity” during the Eagles’ virtual pre-draft news conference Wednesday. Needs across the board at almost every position exist for an Eagles team coming off a 4-11-1 season, which makes it easier to follow that Roseman formula as opposed to a team that would be, say, one player away.

“When you go back and look at things that are hard to acquire, that’s one of the hardest things to acquire, is a team’s first-round pick in the following year,” Roseman said. “What we really had to do is sit there and go, ‘who are the 12 players in this draft that we would feel really good about? Are there 12 players in this draft that we feel really good about?’ If you move back, it’s because you feel like you have a bunch of guys that are the same value and you’d be really happy getting one and getting the extra volume from that pick. If you move up it’s because your board kind of drops off at that point. And if you select, it’s because you feel like it’s the last player in that sort of range.

“When you’re moving back early you have to feel like you’re getting a premium. And we felt like we were getting a premium to do that.”

When Roseman found out the San Francisco 49ers were about to trade the 12th pick to the Dolphins, who previously had the third pick, he realized the first three picks would be quarterbacks. The Niners are supposedly sweet on Mac Jones of Alabama.

Though Roseman said no position is “off the table” with the Eagles, the player they were most interested in drafting had they stayed at No. 6, according to sources, was LSU wide receiver Ja’Mar Chase. He likely will be off the board no later than fifth overall, to the Cincinnati Bengals.

Roseman also said the Eagles are talking to teams ahead of and behind them in the draft, with trade proposals based on a specific player they expect to be there.

That said, it would be shocking if the Eagles moved back up the board to select a quarterback who fell. Justin Fields, who reportedly is managing epilepsy, could be a quarterback who slides down the board.

The Eagles’ policy now is to avoid all mention of a starter, which leaves Jalen Hurts and newly signed veteran Joe Flacco battling for No. 1 throughout the offseason.

“To name any starter at this particular time,” head coach Nick Sirianni said before stopping himself. “We’ve been working with these guys for two days, right? My biggest thing is competition. It’s my second core value. Competition is a huge thing. And we’re going to have competition at every position.”

Speaking of competition, Roseman was impressed with the “unique” way Sirianni and the coaching staff interviewed prospects for the draft virtually. The Zoom meetings were interactive, and then some. In some cases, Sirianni and his staff challenged the prospects to games.

“We didn’t go earth-shattering on these games,” Sirianni said. “I played a couple of them at rock, paper, scissors. It was as easy as that. Rock, paper, scissors. Let’s see how competitive you are. I’m going to be talking trash to them. Did you talk trash back to me? Jeopardy. There’s different ways to do it. Our coaches got so creative with this.”

While Roseman suggested the jury is out on the previous draft, explaining the “The book hasn’t been written,” he conceded the Eagles took some lumps in the virtual process leading up to it. The virtual expertise and enthusiasm Sirianni brought with him from the Indianapolis Colts has the Eagles trending in a more comfortable direction.

This year the Eagles’ player personnel staff and coaching staff have been in the same building, lessening the need for virtual information exchanges. The scouts come in next week and the Eagles have every reason to believe it will strengthen their collaboration.

The biggest obstacle right now is finding fits for the new coaching staff and their unspecified schemes on both sides of the ball. For Sirianni, that means fitting players suiting his criteria on offense and defense. His past draft involvements were limited to offense.

Through this process, Sirianni has criteria critical to the culture he hopes to build.

“When you’re competitive, when you’re tough, when you have high football IQ and when you love football you’re going to take your skill, your talent, everything that God blessed you with talentwise and you’re going to maximize that,” Sirianni said. “That’s what we’ve seen with the players that we’ve coached. Sometimes those guys aren’t the most talented, but they maximize it and they pass guys’ talent levels.”

Inevitably there are going to be bumps in the road as the Eagles enter their first draft with the new regime. The temptation is to overthink picks.

Cautioned Andy Weidl, Eagles vice president of player personnel: “It comes back to knowing what you’re looking at and know what you’re looking for.”

Not as simple as rock, paper, scissors, but it’s a start.