Eagles’ top draft need is at defensive back, analysts at NFL Network and ESPN say

As it stands now, the Eagles won’t be in position to pick one of the consensus best players in the NFL draft, as they did last year when they selected Jalen Carter at No. 9 overall.

With the No. 22 pick on April 25, the Eagles have no guarantee that a player who fills a position of need will be available. Upgrading the secondary — specifically defensive back with James Bradberry as a possible cut candidate and Darius Slay getting older — is one of the Eagles’ top priorities heading into free agency and the draft.

The position has been a popular pick for the Eagles in media mock drafts, including those by ESPN’s Matt Miller and NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah, a former NFL scout.

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In Jeremiah’s latest mock draft, he has the Eagles selecting Missouri’s Ennis Rakestraw, a 6-foot and 188-pound outside corner with blazing speed and the ability to challenge wide receivers at the line of scrimmage. Jeremiah, who spoke Thursday in a conference call with the media, says Rakestraw’s game resembles that of a current Eagles defensive back.

Rakestraw “kind of has some Slay to him, looks a little similar to Slay, just a tough, feisty competitor, plays with a ton of energy, which I love,” Jeremiah said. “They would get a kick out of [him] out there in Philly. Just a passionate energetic dude, but really fluid, really fast, really tough.”

Miller saw Toledo corner Quinyon Mitchell’s performance at the Senior Bowl and ticketed him for the Eagles in his latest mock draft, lauding his length, instincts in coverage, and ability to press wide receivers at the line of scrimmage. Mitchell has connections to Nick Sirianni through Toledo head coach Jason Candle and defensive coordinator Vince Kehres. Both played with Sirianni at Mount Union.

The Eagles typically don’t draft cornerbacks in the first round, last doing so in 2002 when they picked Lito Sheppard. The Birds have not selected a defensive back in the first three rounds in each of the last six drafts. In 2017, they double-dipped into the corner class by taking Sidney Jones in the second round and Rasul Douglas in the third.

Howie Roseman enters an offseason in which he could alter his drafting philosophy. Typically focusing on line play in the early rounds, Roseman may look instead to value a corner, as the league is getting younger at the position. With a deep class of defensive backs this season, evaluators believe that this could be the year the Eagles break their 22-year absence from drafting that position in the first round.

» READ MORE: The Eagles have two second-round draft picks. Here are seven prospects worth targeting.

“You can have those trends and say, ‘OK, this team never does that.’ But this might be the time to do it,” Miller said on a Tuesday conference call. “With the struggles in the secondary, [the Eagles] got old at corner in a hurry, and the depth at linebacker fell off.

“So those might be positions you would say Howie Roseman does not do this, but it might be time to break some of those trends and break away from some of the molds that you have.”

“I think I have about 14-15 [cornerbacks] with that top three-round grade range, which is a good number,” Jeremiah said about the depth in this class. “I think there’s guys worth the pick [for the Eagles] there. And I think once you get through that top group, I think there’s a lot like that in the second-, third-round range — those guys are going to be nickels.”

With two second-round picks this year (Nos. 50 and 53), the Birds have the capital to move around in the draft if cornerbacks such as Alabama’s Terrion Arnold, Iowa’s Cooper DeJean, or Clemson’s Nate Wiggins are selected before the Eagles’ first-round pick.

Georgia’s Kamari Lassiter was another player Jeremiah mentioned as a potential option for the Eagles, although he says taking him at No. 22 would be early for his current stock.

A player we mentioned as a second-round target, the Georgia standout saw snaps at nickel and outside corner, displaying explosiveness and closing speed out of his backpedal. Lassiter is at his best making plays on timing and vertical concepts.

The off-ball linebacker class in this draft isn’t particularly strong, but it’s a position the Eagles need to address. In Vic Fangio’s defensive scheme, linebackers must be able to diagnose route concepts quickly in his match-zone concepts, specifically when teams attack the middle of the field.

One player who keeps coming up in connection to the Eagles is Michigan’s Junior Colson, a durable player at 6-foot-3, 247 pounds. The Wolverines linebacker, who Jeremiah believes is “one of the best linebackers in this class and is a plug-and-play guy,” always seems to be in the right place at the right time.

In Miller’s two-round mock draft, he has the Eagles selecting Colson at No. 53 overall, praising his instincts and calling him the best run-defending linebacker in his class.

“I know that the game has moved on a little bit from your linebacker being the center of the defense, but Colson fits that so well as somebody who can erase passing lanes,” Miller said. “He’s agile enough to cover tight ends, but what he does against the run ... you can key on him every play. What he’s doing outside the tackle box as a run-and-chase linebacker is really, really impressive.”