NFL draft 2021: Eagles GM Howie Roseman’s popularity was short-lived

Well, it didn’t take long for Howie Roseman to go from Draft Day genius back to village idiot.

Even his harshest critics were applauding him on Thursday night after the Eagles GM snookered the New York Giants and traded up in front of them to steal Alabama wide receiver DeVonta Smith.

But then came Friday night.

First, Roseman, who just last year said “hope is not a strategy” when asked about taking any more chances on players with considerable injury histories, drafted a guy in the second round – Alabama center/guard Landon Dickerson -- who has had two ACL tears and two season-ending ankle injuries in the last five years.

Few NFL scouts question Dickerson’s ability. Take away the injuries, including the second ACL tear he still is rehabbing from, and the 6-5, 333-pounder probably would’ve been a mid-first-round pick.

Take away the injuries and this guy is a perfect eventual replacement option for either 33-year-old four-time Pro Bowl center Jason Kelce or 31-year-old three-time Pro Bowl right guard Brandon Brooks.

But you can’t take away the injuries. This is as much a risk as Sidney Jones was four years ago. You’re supposed to learn from your mistakes, not repeat them.

One of the Eagles’ biggest needs going into this draft was cornerback. After getting Smith on Day 1, the expectation was they would add a corner on Day 2. But that didn’t happen.

One pick before the Eagles took Dickerson, the Miami Dolphins, who are a frequent trading partner of the Eagles, selected one of the draft’s top slot corners, Jevon Holland of Oregon.

After the Eagles took Dickerson, four corners or slot safeties – Richie Grant of Central Florida, Trevon Moehrig of TCU, Kelvin Joseph of Kentucky and Asante Samuel Jr. of Florida State -- went in the next 10 picks.

After Samuel was selected by the Los Angeles Chargers with the 47th pick, another corner/slot guy didn’t go until the New York Giants took Aaron Robinson of Central Florida in the third round with the 71st overall pick.

» READ MORE: Tom Donahoe & draft-room drama obscure the fact that Howie Roseman crushed NFL draft for Eagles | Marcus Hayes

The Eagles initially had the pick right in front of the Giants, No. 70. But they ended up trading down three spots to 73 with the Carolina Panthers in exchange for yet another worthless sixth-round pick (they already had three of them, along with two seventh-round picks). Those sixth- and seventh-round picks are worth two cents on the dollar this season because of the much-smaller pool of draftable players. Many of players that would’ve been there in the sixth and seventh rounds decided to stay in school after the NCAA gave student-athletes an extra year of eligibility because of the pandemic.

It’s believed that several Eagles scouts and personnel people, including respected senior personnel adviser Tom Donahoe, liked the 5-11, 186-pound Robinson a lot. NFL Network draft analyst Ben Fennell had him rated as the third best slot corner in the draft behind Elijah Molden of Washington, who ended up going later in the third round to Tennessee, and Holland.

Whether the Eagles’ plan was to take Robinson at 73 is unclear. If it was, they never got the chance because the Giants took him at No. 71, one pick behind the Eagles’ original selection.

The Eagles ended up using their third-round pick on developmental defensive lineman Milton Williams of Louisiana Tech. which means just one of the first three draft picks on a team that finished 4-11-1 last season, is going to be starting this season.

After the Eagles selected Williams, ESPN’s cameras showed what was supposed to be one of those generic shots of the team’s draft room with everybody fist-bumping.

But this one wasn’t so generic. It included an awkward exchange between Roseman and Donahoe. When Roseman went to give Donahoe the obligatory fist bump, Donahoe didn’t appear to be happy and said something to Roseman.

There is other video that shows other Eagles coaches and scouts seemingly very happy with the selection of Williams. But when someone as respected in the business as Donahoe is unhappy, it’s a little more significant than if the Northeast area scout is unhappy.

I should point out that every team has draft room differences. The late Giants general manager George Young regularly had knock-down-drag-out draft room arguments with his coach Bill Parcells.

The problem here is there is a perception – more than a perception actually – that Roseman too often doesn’t listen to his scouting people.

» READ MORE: Eagles’ Howie Roseman doesn’t care if you wish he’d drafted fewer linemen

So an incident like the one Friday night with Donahoe, which ordinarily would have been quickly forgotten about by viewers, now has Eagles fans that already had reservations about Roseman’s talent-evaluation skills doubling down.

After the Eagles lost out on Robinson, just one cornerback, Paulson Adebo of Stanford, went in the next 25 picks.

At the end of the third round, there finally was a cornerback run, with five of them going in the last seven picks, between 99 and 105.

The Eagles might’ve tried to trade up and get one of those corners. But they already had traded away their own fourth-round pick, No. 110, to the Cleveland Browns in a 2019 trade-deadline move for edge rusher Genard Avery. Their only fourth-round pick was the one they got from the Dolphins in their first-round trade-down, No. 123.

Avery has been a disappointment. He’s played just 159 defensive snaps in 19 games with the Eagles and has 1 ½ sacks. He is expected to be moved to linebacker and might not even make the roster.

Meanwhile, the Eagles headed into Saturday’s final day of the draft still looking for cornerback help after missing out on 13 of them in the first three rounds, along with four slot safeties.

They finally took one in Round 4, selecting Zech McPherson of Texas Tech at No. 123.