@Mr. Bitter I agree with that. I would also add that I'm going to have to go away from mocking a CB to them at 10, or even at 30. They've gone from the possibility of losing both Slay and Bradberry to keeping them both, plus they also signed Greedy Williams. And as Jordan Reid pointed out on Twitter, the Eagles haven't drafted a CB in the 1st Round since 2002 (Lito Sheppard). The odds appear very strongly that Philly will go OL or DL at 10, unless they absolutely fall in love with one of the WR's, I suppose.
I like the Greedy Williams signing. Could be a profitable reclamation project.
The longer I do this, the less I lean on team draft trends. Good way to get burned. Every year is different and patterns are broken all the time. I remember when everyone was saying the Cowboys won't draft Tyron Smith because DAL NEVER drafts O-linemen in the 1st round. DAL drafted Smith and has drafted O-line 1st round seemingly every other year since. Things change.
Eagles are hard to predict. I still think it's possible Roseman goes CB at 10 if that's the best value. Honestly, I think PHI is in a prime trade down spot. They're just ahead of a cluster of OT-needy teams. I could see them trading down to a better value range for Brian Branch or Smith-Njigba.
@Mr. Bitter I don't know about that, we're in the prediction business of trying to get picks right, and looking at history is a smart way to go IMO, especially if the same regime is in place. Yes, Dallas finally took an OL after many years, but you would've lost money for a lot of years if you had picked Dallas to take one for many years, right? So when a team hasn't taken a CB in the 1st Round in 21 years, and when the team brought back its starting CB duo in free agency, and when this same team has a clear pattern of very often taking OL or DL in the 1st, it's just a case where I think the smart money is on DL or OL. Or possibly WR, since we have seen them use picks on WR's in the 1st recently with Reagor and Smith. If they want Smith-Njigba, they'll have to take him at 10, since Tennessee and Houston right behind them could be legitimately interested in him. And you could argue that both of those clubs could also go OL (especially Tennessee), so if they want to take an OL, they may not be able to trade down, either, especially if it happens to be Skoronski who is on the board, since he would seem to be a good fit at RG to replace Seumalo. I do question if Philly would go OL at 10 if Skoronski isn't there, since OT may not make sense and since it's clearly way too early for Torrence. But I guess you could also argue that it might be too early for one of the edge players or a DT...unless Carter is just sitting there for them, and we can't rule that out. In general, I do agree that they could find themselves in a spot where they'd ideally like to trade down.
I was under the assumption that Darius Slay was being released when I wrote my last comment. You're right - PHI isn't likely to go CB at #10.
I think Skoronski could easily be off the board at 10. Still, I could see PHI take Paris Johnson or even Darnell Wright to replace Seumalo at RG and eventually replace Lane Johnson in a few seasons. O-line is probably the safe bet at #10, whether it's PHI sticking and picking or a team like the Patriots jumping ahead of the line for their preferred OT.
If the Eagles can't bring back CJ Gardner-Johnson, I've gotta think they'll be very interested in Brian Branch. Branch offers a similar skill set to CJGJ and could make an immediate impact - no small factor for a team trying to take advantage of Hurts' rookie contract window. I personally don't like Branch that high, but there's such a dramatic falloff from Branch to the next tier of safety prospects that I wouldn't be surprised if he goes top 15.
Man, I just can't see Smith-Njigba popping off that high. He's always getting tracked from behind on film. Monster short area quicks, but just not seeing the deep speed usually required for a top-10 WR.
Honestly, I don't like any of this year's crop of WRs in the top 15. The more I've studied Quentin Johnston, the more he scares me. He has that gliding, effortless speed kinda like Christian Watson, but he's a certified body catcher. It's concerning.
Also, Green Bay doesn't have this much leverage to get all that draft capital from the Jets. Rodgers is a year-to-year player at this point, and while the Jets certainly want him, it's also true that Green Bay DOESN'T want him and can't carry his money into the season, and they want to play Jordan Love. I'll be surprised if they can even #13 by itself out of the Jets, but perhaps they can get a 2024 1st out of it, though I personally don't think they'll get a single 1st. We'll see.
Totally agree. I can't believe how many "expert" mocks have the Jets giving up 2 1st-rounders (and sometimes even more) for Rodgers. No way that's happening. At best they'll get something like #43 this year and a '24 2nd-rounder that could become a 1st-rounder if Rodgers fulfills certain requirements.
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