Post-Combine Eagles Draft Priorities: Edge Help, Tight End Depth, and Tackle Insurance
Feb 24, 2026; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman speaks at the NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
With the Combine just wrapping up, this Eagles roster has real needs that aren’t getting fixed with another bargain veteran. So the 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh, Pa., matters more than the shiny free-agent headlines, since rookie deals are still the cleanest way to refill the middle of the depth chart without blowing up the cap.
When you look at this depth chart, there’s a reality staring right back, which is that the veteran core is finally hitting the part of the curve nobody likes to talk about, and the pricetag of the core is beginning to make it hard to go out and hunt for top tier veterans to fill the gaps that exposed the Eagles late in the season. You already know the ceiling of the offense is tied to what Jalen Hurts does when the first read is covered, and the pocket collapses, but that becomes a grind when protection gets stressed by younger, faster edges, and the slide protection that made life easier for years is losing that half-step that used to turn pressure into an easy completion.
The biggest area that needs to be addressed is still the edge rotation, since Vic Fangio’s system looks great when four can get home, and the back end stays intact, and it looks miserable when you have to blitz to create pressure and now you’re asking the secondary to hold up with less help and the offense knows exactly where the soft spots are. There were too many snaps last season where opposing quarterbacks could sit in the pocket long enough to let intermediate crossers clear the linebackers, and by the time the ball came out, the play was already over. Nolan Smith has flashed the kind of speed that forces tackles into ugly sets, but you still need it snap-to-snap, not once a quarter. Akheem Mesidor from Miami feels like a steal later in the first round and gives you flexibility because he has the frame to kick inside on passing downs, which lets Jalen Carter see slower guards more often while Mesidor uses length to mess with a tackle’s timing and hands.
On the other side of the ball, tight end has quietly turned into a structural weak point that threatens the whole identity if Dallas Goedert isn’t out there doing the two things this offense leans on him for, which are blocking like a sixth lineman and acting as a reliable third-down option when the play breaks down, and Hurts needs an answer. When the Eagles offense is at its best, they force defenses to match personnel and then punish the matchups in space, but right now, the depth behind Goedert is thin enough as it is. Kenyon Sadiq from Oregon has the type of vertical juice that can replace some of that missing stress up the seam and force safeties to play honest instead of squatting downhill. He had an impressive combine highlighted by a 4.39 40-yard dash, drawing comparisons to Vernon Davis.
We also can’t duck the right tackle conversation because even if Lane Johnson is still the standard at the position, the organization can’t treat succession like a future problem, and with Chris Kuper stepping in as the offensive line coach, you’re going to have a new set of eyes on how they develop future linemen. Ignoring development, especially with linemen, is the type of gamble that usually shows up at the worst possible moment, like a midseason stretch where the big boys are banged up, and the margin for error gets thin. For this reason, a high ceiling lineman like Caleb Lomu from Utah makes sense as a move that protects your future while running it back with the line from last season. He had a very good combine, running a sub-5-second 40-yard dash, and his choice to skip the bench press didn’t help his draft stock, because he could have addressed some of the questions there were about his upper body strength; he was still widely considered to be a winner. Lomu could be a player who could quickly develop into an NFL tackle and compete at guard in the meantime.
The NFC East is not going to be a cakewalk this upcoming season, and the next few months are going to tell you whether this front office can replenish the roster to keep up with the other teams. What matters now isn’t who looked fast in shorts, it’s who can execute in the fourth quarter when the crowd is loud and the pressure is on. For now, the pressure shifts onto the staff to prove it can integrate new pieces into a system that is in need of reinforcements.
Steve Hamilton
Steve may have been born in California, but don’t let that fool you. After dating a local woman and clashing with her and her family over sports for decades, he has an affinity for Philly sports. Balancing love for Philly and Bay Area sports teams may seem impossible, we can all agree that the Cowboys are the true evil.
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