Eagles trade down from pick 6 to 12, team was reportedly tried to trade up to get Zach Wilson
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There’s still a whole month to go before the NFL Draft, and the Philadelphia Eagles are already making moves. The Birds on Friday finished off a flurry of NFL moves by trading down from their number six pick to number 12 in a trade with the Miami Dolphins, who had just traded down from three to 12. In the trade, the Eagles picked up number 12, number 123 (fourth round) and a first-round pick in 2022. The Dolphins got number six and number 156 (fifth round).
All to say about this move is wow. The Eagles will have three first round pick if Carson Wentz, who the Eagles traded to the Indianapolis Colts back in February, play 75% of next season. So it seems to be the trade was for rebuilding purposes.
With a quarterback off the table, the Eagles’ attention for the 12th pick goes to one of the top remaining receivers or one of the top cornerbacks.
And while the Eagles may now be out of contention for a Kyle Pitts or Ja’Marr Chase, the run on quarterbacks will push some non-QBs who might have been top-10 guys into the Eagles’ range.
Certainly if the Eagles are earmarking a cornerback, they would presumably have a shot at one of the top three at number 10 – South Carolina’s Jaycee Horn, Alabama’s Patrick Surtain and Virginia Tech’s Caleb Farley.
Why not take the best available player at six? Because this is a rebuilding team that has very few young impact players, and an additional first-round pick in the Eagles’ eyes brings more value than the six spots they’re losing.
The top 12 picks in the draft now look like this:
- Jaguars
- Jets
- 49ers
- Falcons
- Bengals
- Dolphins
- Lions
- Panthers
- Broncos
- Cowboys
- Giants
- Eagles
Thanks to this trade, the Eagles could have three first-round picks in 2022 – their own, the Dolphins’ and the Colts’, assuming Carson Wentz triggers the 75% playing time clause (or 70% with a playoff berth) that turns a conditional 2nd-round pick into a 1st.
The Eagles now have 11 picks in the draft, and while it’s unlikely they will still have all 11 when the draft rolls around during the draft – which runs from April 29 through May 1 – as of now that’s their most draft picks since 2011, when they also had 11.
1st round: No. 12 (acquired from the Dolphins)
2nd round: No. 37 (own pick)
3rd round: No. 70 (own pick)
3rd round: No. 84 (acquired from Colts as part of the Carson Wentz trade)
4th round: No. 123 (acquired from the Dolphins)
5th round: No. 150 (own pick)
6th round: No. 189 (own pick)
6th round: No. 224 (compensatory pick)
6th round: No. 225 (compensatory pick)
7th round: No. 234 (own pick)
7th round: No. 240 (acquired from 49ers as part of Marquis Goodwin trade)
But apparently, the Eagles were looking to trade up before they traded back, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
Now this is interesting.
We all know that the Jacksonville Jaguars are going to take Trevor Lawrence from Clemson with the number one pick, but this really signals that the Jets are going to take Zach Wilson from BYU with the second pick. Howie Roseman and Joe Douglas obviously have a good relationship from their time working together in Philly, so it would make sense if Douglas told Roseman he wouldn’t be able to get Wilson with the third pick.
Wilson’s BYU pro day was held on Friday and the Eagles were reportedly represented there by OC Shane Steichen and QBs coach Brian Johnson. Those were the same two coaches who attended Trey Lance’s pro day earlier in the month.
An ESPN report came out this offseason claiming that owner Jeffery Lurie gave a directive to build around Jalen Hurts, but Roseman denied that. And this NFL Network report seems to back that up.
So what does that mean for Hurts? Well, it means that it looks like the Eagles are going to ride with him this season but aren’t completely sold on him. The Eagles were reportedly willing to move up and snag one of the top quarterbacks in this draft if they were able to do.
This should be very interesting what the Eagles do from here.
