Diving into the Philadelphia Eagles' options in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft

The Philadelphia Eagles have a rare thing going for them after a Super Bowl loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in that they still have a top-10 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft thanks to a trade with the New Orleans Saints.

With two picks in the first 30 of April’s draft, they are positioned to restock their roster with more top talent as they look to make it back to the Super Bowl. So, what are their options with both picks?

Let’s dive into PFF’s Mock Draft Simulator to explore.

 

OPTION 1: STAY AT NOS. 10 AND 30, SELECT THE BEST PLAYERS AVAILABLE

In this scenario, four quarterbacks were selected in the first nine picks, leaving the Eagles in position to land one of the top players in the draft with the 10th pick. James Bradberry and Chauncey Gardner-Johnson are currently set to be free agents, and Alabama’s Brian Branch and Oregon’s Christian Gonzalez were the top players available. Gonzalez ranked fourth among Pac-12 cornerbacks this season with an 81.4 PFF coverage grade.

The Eagles fielded a dominant defensive line in 2022, but Georgia's Nolan Smith would be a tempting prospect if he’s still there with the 30th pick. His best season was in 2021 when he produced an 85.0 PFF grade.

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OPTION 2: TRADE BACK FROM NO. 10

It worked last year in the draft, so why not try the same again? Here, the Eagles swap Pick Nos. 10 and 21 with the Los Angeles Chargers and add a 2024 first-round pick.

Texas running back Bijan Robinson was then available at Pick No. 30, despite his average draft position in the mock draft simulator being inside the top 25 picks. The Eagles selecting Robinson is a little bit of a luxury, but it’s difficult to not get excited about a prospect who broke a PFF record with 104 missed tackles forced last season.

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OPTION 3: SHOCK EVERYONE AND DRAFT A QUARTERBACK

Firstly, I am not saying that this is what the Eagles should do. Should they be faced with the option of drafting one of the top quarterbacks Pick No. 10, though, there are those within the analytics community who see value in it. With a long-term extension for Jalen Hurts looming, this would allow the Eagles to not have to spend big at quarterback, something that helped them build the roster that went to the Super Bowl this past season.

https://www.pff.com/news/draft-philadelphia-eagles-options-first-round-2023-nfl-draft

Trading down from 10 to 21 and only getting a 2024 1st...from a team that will likely be picking late in the 20's again...it idiotic.

And surely we can use the PFF mock sim to come up with better possibilities than this guy posted, lol. 

1 hour ago, EaglesAddict said:

Trading down from 10 to 21 and only getting a 2024 1st...from a team that will likely be picking late in the 20's again...it idiotic.

Exactly what I was thinking when I read that ... better be a whole lot more than just a 2024 1st in return.  When KC traded up to 10 for Mahomes, they threw in their 3rd that year plus their 1st the following year.  But they were trading up from 27 (not 21) - the difference in value between 27 and 21 is that of a pick at the very end of the 3rd round, so perhaps not that far off?  Still, I would hope for more than just a 2024 1st.  Would be particularly nice if we grabbed their 2023 4th and 2023 5th since we have no picks in either round.  But really I'm not so sure I would want to trade down to 21 ... all depends on who is available when our pick rolls around.  If we make a trade down thinking more like to mid teens and grab Witherspoon.    

30 minutes ago, time2rock said:

Exactly what I was thinking when I read that ... better be a whole lot more than just a 2024 1st in return.  When KC traded up to 10 for Mahomes, they threw in their 3rd that year plus their 1st the following year.  But they were trading up from 27 (not 21) - the difference in value between 27 and 21 is that of a pick at the very end of the 3rd round, so perhaps not that far off?  Still, I would hope for more than just a 2024 1st.  Would be particularly nice if we grabbed their 2023 4th and 2023 5th since we have no picks in either round.  But really I'm not so sure I would want to trade down to 21 ... all depends on who is available when our pick rolls around.  If we make a trade down thinking more like to mid teens and grab Witherspoon.    

Yeah, no doubt we'd get more than a '24 1st for moving down to 21.  But I can't see us moving down that far, if at all, from 10.  It'll depend on who's still on the board at 10 and what spot we'd be trading down to.  But I remember previously Roseman saying something about drafting players in the top half vs bottom half of Round 1.  Forget what he actually said, but basically the takeaway was that he wants to draft players in the top portion of Round 1.  And the Eagles' record of trading down in Round 1 is pretty bad...along with drafting players in the back half of the round as well.

The more I think about it, I think he'll stay put at 10 and take a blue chip player at either OL, DL or CB (there should be someone good at one of those positions).  Then, at pick 30 look to trade down.

8 minutes ago, EaglesAddict said:

The more I think about it, I think he'll stay put at 10 and take a blue chip player at either OL, DL or CB (there should be someone good at one of those positions).  Then, at pick 30 look to trade down.

I think that is the smarter strategy.  There will be teams likely willing to give up a bit more so as to have that 5th year option to use.  Perhaps a deal similar to what we made with Baltimore in 2018 when we traded 32 for their 2nd and 4th that year plus their 2nd in the following draft.