In this NFL draft, the Eagles let everyone in on the secret to their success, and Bijan Robinson has nothing to do with it

With the eighth pick in the 2023 NFL draft, the Bijan Robinson debate throughout Philadelphia ended, finally. Bless the Atlanta Falcons for their generosity and their attempt to build a team that can function without an elite quarterback. The Falcons selected Robinson, the marvelous tailback out of Texas. The Eagles made a trade with the Chicago Bears, jumped from the 10th pick to the ninth, and kicked off a whole new debate by drafting Georgia defensive tackle and road-racing aficionado Jalen Carter. All that speculation and hope … all those reality checks … poof. Here comes D’Andre Swift instead, for a couple of draft picks.

Those weeks of wondering whether the Eagles might actually pick Robinson might have seemed pointless in the aftermath of the draft, but they weren’t. They provided a reaffirmation of the thinking at the core of the franchise’s success. Look, all that debate and scuttlebutt about the remote possibility that the Eagles would do something that they hadn’t in 40 years — draft a running back in the first round — was fun, and it has its place in the sports media landscape.

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Still, it was surprising to see so many national pundits predict that the Eagles would take Robinson when anyone who has paid any attention to the Eagles over the last two decades should have known that there was pretty much no chance they would draft him. From Jeffrey Lurie to Andy Reid to Joe Banner to Howie Roseman, the Eagles simply don’t believe it’s prudent to invest heavily, either in draft capital or salary-cap space, in one running back, no matter how promising or productive he might be.

What they believe in is simpler. What they believe in is their offensive and defensive lines, and they showed it again in this draft. They traded up to nab Carter, perhaps the most talented player available at any position. They took Alabama offensive lineman Tyler Steen in the third round. And they added defensive tackle Moro Ojomo, from Texas, in the seventh. Out of all their picks in this draft, 43% were linemen. That’s the kind of proportion and asset allocation that they’ll take every time.

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“It just represents how we feel,” Roseman, the team’s executive vice president, told reporters Saturday. “We want to build a team with an O-line and a D-line, and it was important for us to make a statement in this draft in this offseason that this is how we believe we’re going to win. …

“You guys know how we try to build it, and I think every opportunity we had in this draft — the grades were the same. So we weren’t going off that draft board, and [if] we saw a lineman, we wanted to pick that lineman. I think it worked out.”

Carter, of course, already has generated the greatest amount of buzz among the Eagles’ seven draftees – for his talent, for his potential, for the risks he presents. But Steen is just as emblematic of how the Eagles have risen to a place among the NFL’s elite franchises and how, generally, they manage to keep themselves there. Why use a first-round pick on a running back, even one as impressive as Robinson, when you’ve demonstrated that you can rely on a committee of backs, when offensive line coach/run-game coordinator Jeff Stoutland has demonstrated that he can mold a raw youngster into a reliable member in the league’s best group of blockers?

Drafting Steen is in perfect alignment with that strategy. He was a left tackle for most of his career at Alabama, but at the Senior Bowl, he lined up some at guard, too, displaying the sort of versatility that Roseman, Stoutland, and the Eagles consider so important. Lane Johnson is 32. Jason Kelce is 35. A lineman can suffer a serious injury at any time. There could be upheaval on the line, and the Eagles can’t afford that, and Steen’s presence helps guard against it.

“Playing left tackle for the University of Alabama, obviously that’s a high-profile position,” Roseman said. “There have been a lot of NFL players play that position, and you watch him play tackle, and he’s had success there. Then he moved at the Senior Bowl. He played guard. You could see him moving people off the ball. You could see his athleticism in space. This is a 6-6, 320-pound guy who started in the SEC, smart guy, comes from a great family. And obviously Coach Stoutland [is] is a big part of our process as well.”

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It’s no coincidence that a decade ago, after those awful 2011 and 2012 seasons, one of the first decisions that the Eagles made to get right again was selecting Johnson with the fourth pick in the 2013 draft. It’s no coincidence – and a pretty remarkable achievement – that they were the team willing to take a flier on an Australian rugby player in 2018 and that Jordan Mailata has developed into an excellent left tackle. It’s no coincidence that the Eagles reached the Super Bowl in the same season that they set a team record for sacks. Win the line of scrimmage, and everything else takes care of itself, and even a back like Bijan Robinson becomes a luxury you don’t need. The Eagles understand that truth better than anybody in the NFL. This draft was just the latest example, and it was completely predictable, if you were paying attention.