Eagles brass excited to land linebacker Nakobe Dean and center Cam Jurgens on Day 2 of the NFL draft

Through the first three rounds of the NFL draft, the Eagles have made three picks. Each addition has addressed a clear need for the team.

After the Eagles selected defensive tackle Jordan Davis with their top selection and acquired star wide receiver A.J. Brown in a trade with the Titans, on Friday they drafted Nebraska center Cam Jurgens and Georgia linebacker Nakobe Dean in the second and third round, respectively.

The selection of Dean served as the headliner after the talented linebacker — who was in attendance Thursday at the green room in Las Vegas — experienced a seismic slip down the draft board. Ahead of the draft, Dean was widely viewed as a first-round talent. But multiple reports recently surfaced about his medical background, which included an assortment of injuries: Dean suffered a torn labrum in 2020, battled knee tendinitis over the past year, and he is also recovering from a “pec injury that doesn’t require surgery,” according to general manager Howie Roseman.

However, those red flags didn’t scare away the Eagles, who claim they had only two players — Dean and Jurgens — atop their draft board when it was their turn to pick at No. 51. Roseman insists the team selected the latter player that round based on the franchise’s draft philosophy in prioritizing the offensive and defensive lines.

When the team was on the clock again with the No. 83 selection, there was no argument Dean was going to be an Eagle.

“I am fired up right now!” coach Nick Sirianni said as he entered the media auditorium at the end of the night. “This is a guy who checks all our boxes as a competitor.”

Pressed further about Dean’s medical background, Roseman put his foot down.

“Listen — I think I called our doctors three, four times and asked them, ‘Am I missing something?,’” he said. “Because obviously he was way higher on our board [compared to other NFL teams]. We get a lot of information on these guys. That’s how this rolls. It’s important we get it right. We’re excited about it. In talking with other teams, if we didn’t take him, he was [about to be] gone.”

Dean, who acknowledged disappointment in slipping from the first and second rounds, is expected to participate in the team’s rookie minicamp, which is scheduled to begin next week. Roseman doesn’t expect Dean’s pec injury to require surgery.

“There may be guys with better measurables,” Roseman said of Dean. “But this guy played at the highest level and he was the heartbeat of that team.”

By adding Davis and Dean, the Eagles are stocking up on championship pedigree.

This was the second consecutive year in which the team drafted a pair of national champions. During last year’s draft, the Eagles selected wide receiver DeVonta Smith and offensive lineman Landon Dickerson in the first and second rounds, respectively. Smith and Dickerson were teammates on the Alabama team that claimed the 2020 national championship. Meanwhile, Davis and Dean helped lead Georgia to a national title in January.

“We basically spent our whole fall down there [scouting the SEC],” Roseman said. “It’s a one-stop shop. You go to a practice, a game, visit the facility — you say to yourself, ‘Shoot! I’ll draft this whole team.’

“I think experience is a great teacher. It’s not that hard. Great players, great schools — it just kind of works. You want winners, you want guys who have done it because they know what it takes. When you have a guy that’s a champion and adversity hits, they know how to raise the level of everyone, that’s what our team is all about. That was a huge learning experience for us [throughout the 2021 season] is knowing who’s with us.”

In selecting Jurgens, the team is hopeful to have added a future starting interior lineman, particularly at center. There’s a mutual understanding that Jurgens might not receive extensive playing time during his rookie season as he learns behind 12-year veteran and four-time All-Pro Jason Kelce, who is returning on a one-year deal after he contemplated retiring this offseason.

Jurgens, 6-foot-3, 304 pounds, ran a 4.92-second 40-yard dash at the scouting combine, and his 1.71-second 10-yard split was in the 90th percentile. If Jurgens indeed is groomed into becoming the team’s future starting center, that scenario would allow Dickerson to stay at left guard alongside left tackle Jordan Mailata. Prior to drafting Jurgens, the Eagles appeared content with a contingency plan that featured Dickerson as the backup center with Isaac Seumalo and Nate Herbig as depth options.

During his post-draft teleconference with local reporters, Jurgens retold an interaction he had with Kelce during a recent visit to the NovaCare Complex. While he was in the middle of a meeting with offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, they were suddenly interrupted by Kelce. As Stoutland was quizzing Jurgens on the team’s offensive playbook, Kelce burst into the room in a joking manner, before he formally introduced himself to Jurgens, a prospect Kelce held in high regard.

“We talked for quite a while,” Jurgens recalled of his interaction with Kelce. “We were talking about the offense and what I can do and how I could fit in...We started talking some ranching and football and how we can help each other learn. It was just a great convo.”

The Eagles have just two picks remaining, a fifth rounder (No. 154) and seventh rounder (No. 237) on Saturday. After the team addressed defensive line, wide receiver, offensive line, and linebacker, there are lingering needs across the secondary, primarily at safety and outside cornerback. If the Eagles aren’t able to shore up those positions on the final day of the draft, Roseman hinted tapping into free agency could be another possibility.

“We have from now until September,” he said.