With two first-round picks, Eagles need to prioritize defense first, then wide receiver

Over the past decade, general manager Howie Roseman has overseen each draft except 2015, when Chip Kelly relieved him of that duty. Roseman’s title might have changed but his primary responsibility as a talent evaluator remains.

Whenever Roseman’s tenure concludes, he’ll likely be most remembered for helping piece together the Eagles roster that won the Super Bowl following the 2017 season. But it would be remiss to not mention the team’s ensuing downfall and how Roseman survived the breakup with coach Doug Pederson. How Roseman navigates and attempts to bring the team back to a level of frequent relevancy could serve as additional pillars to his legacy in Philadelphia.

With draft week finally here, Roseman is about to write the franchise’s next chapter.

“I think you’re constantly evaluating the things that you do wrong, and you also want to learn from the things you did right and lessons that you have from that,” Roseman said last week. “We discussed that a lot, about the scenarios where we’ve done good things and how obviously this is a hard process. You’re going to mess things up, but what can you learn from those picks that didn’t work out? ... All this information is at your fingertips, and it just makes everything narrower and your margin for error narrower.”

The Eagles possess 10 selections in the NFL draft, which is scheduled to begin Thursday with the first round, continue with the next two rounds Friday, and conclude with four rounds Saturday.

Here’s how we’d run the Eagles’ first-round strategy, with the help of Pro Football Focus’ mock draft simulator. For this specific exercise — which didn’t include trades — we simulated the first round 100 times. The following two prospects were most frequently tabbed to the Eagles.

In a recent mock draft with fellow Eagles reporter EJ Smith, we detailed a scenario in which the Eagles traded up with the Houston Texans and selected Jordan Davis with the No. 13 pick. Here, Davis slips to the Eagles and they swipe him with their top selection.

While it doesn’t appear there’s an immediate need for a starter at interior defensive line, Davis is a freak athlete with the build of an immovable tank at 6-foot-6 and 341 pounds. He’s bound to flourish against the run, but the potential to develop Davis into a brute pass rusher at the next level is mighty appealing.

The Eagles currently have Fletcher Cox and Javon Hargrave as mainstays in the middle parts of the d-line. But Hargrave, 29, has only one year remaining on his deal, and the Eagles essentially restructured Cox’s contract this offseason when they released and subsequently re-signed the 31-year-old to a one-year deal. Milton Williams was a contributor throughout his rookie season, but there are no proven pieces beyond Cox and Hargrave.

NFL.com analyst Lance Zierlein wrote of Davis: “Beefy, mountainous nose tackle with the size, power and will to clog the drain and alter the offense’s desire to run between the tackles. Davis has anchor and quick-shed talent to eviscerate single blocks and successfully occupy double teams, allowing linebackers to thrive in pursuit of ballcarriers. He plays upright, lacking agility and reactive quickness to mark up a stat sheet with any consistency, but that’s not what he’s asked to do. Davis won’t be as effective against outside-zone teams and won’t offer much rush, but he could become one of the league’s best run-pluggers as soon as he takes the field.”

If the Eagles select a wide receiver in the first round, they’ll become just the second franchise in NFL history to so in three straight years. But that shouldn’t scare away Roseman, whose past draft classes have required some patchwork. Last year’s top selection of DeVonta Smith was deemed necessary given the combined struggles of receiver Jalen Reagor (2020 first-round pick) and receiver-turned-tight end JJ Arcega-Whiteside (2019 second-round pick). In this scenario, the Eagles not only select another receiver, but they also address both the defense and offense in the first round.

It could be argued there are more appealing fits among the top wide receiver prospects, but Chris Olave is a smooth and polished route runner who has the ability to play multiple spots. He’s a sub-4.4 speedster who can create vertical deep shots in a hurry. If any top receiver — between Olave, fellow Buckeye Garrett Wilson and Alabama’s Jameson Williams — slips into the back half of the first round, the Eagles would be wise to look his way.

» READ MORE: Ohio State wide receivers could fit the Eagles’ needs in the NFL draft’s first round

Zierlein writes of Olave: “The quiet storm of the Ohio State wide receiver corps, Olave is smooth, steady and makes things happen. His movements are fluid and easy from snap to the catch and all points between. He’s fast but efficient and plays with the bend and foot agility to uncover on all three levels. Olave possesses natural, well-rounded ball skills but needs to add play strength to ward off the physical challenges that are headed his way. His play traits should allow for success beyond the scheme and talent advantages surrounding him at Ohio State. He is an inside/outside hybrid appealing to offenses looking for a field-stretcher with the ability to take on a sizable catch load.”