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Maybe we are looking at it upside down.
Maybe the reason the Eagles went from No.6 to No.12 wasn’t to get the third-best wide receiver with a 2022 1st round pick.
Maybe it was to get the best cornerback in the draft.
The consensus when the Eagles traded with the Dolphins last week was that they had made the move to gain assets while still being able to draft a really good wide receiver to Jaylen Waddle of Alabama.
And there is a lot of logic there. Waddle is considered by just about everyone to be the 4th best offensive weapon in the draft, behind Florida tight end Kyle Pitts, LSU wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase and his teammate, Alabama WR Devonta Smith.
There’s a chance Pitts and / or Chase won’t even be there at # 6 anyway, so why not add a 1st round pick and get a receiver that might not project to be a type weapon. Pitts, Chase or Smith but who is a formidable prospect who was having a monster year this fall through six games before getting injured?
Then you can come back from the corner in the second round and meet your two biggest needs a day and a half after the draft.
But the more I think about it, the more it makes sense to switch those two positions.
For a few reasons.
Unlike the receiver, there is no consensus on who is the best cornerback in the draft. Depending on who you ask, that title could go to Caleb Farley from Virginia Tech, Patrick Surtain II from Alabama, or Jaycee Horn from South Carolina. All three should range from 10 to 20.
You never know what the future holds, but the perception is that there is a bigger drop from the best WR in the draft (Chase) to 3rd best (Waddell) than the best CB in the draft (who knows?) the 3rd best (who knows?). In fact, the top corner of one team could be the third best of another team.
If so, the Eagles would theoretically get better value by taking a corner instead of a wide receiver at 12 and then addressing the wide receiver at 37.
Anything is possible, but there’s a good chance the Cowboys – picking at No.11 – will be the only team to take a corner before the Eagles. If the Eagles feel there are two 12th-place turns – or they prefer a different turn than the Cowboys – it makes a lot of sense to make a turn instead of WR at 12.
Why not put your favorite corner in the draft instead of your 3rd favorite receiver?
You can even argue that the Eagles need a corner more than a receiver.
At least they have some young WR prospects who have shown promise. With a new offense and a head coach with a wide range of receivers, guys like Jalen Reagor, Travis Fulgham, Quez Watkins, John Hightower and even JJ Arcega-Whiteside have at least one advantage.
Around the corner, the Eagles have 30-year-old Darius Slay at CB1, but the only corner on the list the Eagles drafted is Avonte Maddox, and after last year it’s hard to imagine him being in the mix for be an outside starting corner. . After that it’s guys like Michael Jacquet, Jameson Houston, and Kevon Seymour.
In a division with Amari Cooper, CeeDee Lamb, Michael Gallup, Terry McLaurin, Kenny Golladay and Darius Slayton, you don’t get very far without legitimate turns.
But a weapon at 37?
Sure. The Eagles have found some very good weapons in the second round including DeSean Jackson, LeSean McCoy, Zach Ertz, Dallas Goedert and Miles Sanders over the past 13 years.
Over the past 50 years, the Eagles have drafted more players in the second round who have scored 2,500 yards on offense (10) and then in the first round (7).
And when you look at the best corners in the NFL in recent years – Jalen Ramsey, Marcus Peters, Marlon Humphrey, Xavier Rhodes, Stephon Gilmore, Kyle Fuller, Tre’Davious White – these are 1st round picks.
This is where you find elite corners. Where the Eagles choose.
If the Eagles could get a No.37 wide receiver like Minnesota’s Rashod Bateman or Ole Miss’s Elijah Moore – which Dave Zangaro mocked the Eagles – in addition to a potential CB1, it’s a successful draft. And with all their picks, they’ll have what it takes to get out of 37 if there’s a WR they covet sitting there late in the 1st round or early in the 2nd.
It’s always fun to think about first-round receivers. These are the guys you read the most, the guys you watch the most, the guys who do a show in their professional days.
But it’s been 19 years since the Eagles took a cornerback in the first round. It was Lito Sheppard in 2002. And it’s been 52 years since they drafted a defensive back in the top 20. It was Leroy Keyes in 1969, and he started his career as a running back.
This could be the perfect year to end that streak.
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