Eagles use third-round draft picks to select Alabama OL Tyler Steen and Illinois S Sydney Brown

After they traded back a few spots, the Eagles drafted Alabama offensive lineman Tyler Steen and Illinois safety Sydney Brown with back-to-back third-round picks at Nos. 65 and 66 on Friday evening.

The Eagles entered Day 2 of the draft with the No. 62 and 66 picks. They traded their second-rounder to the Houston Texans in exchange for a third-rounder (No. 65), sixth-rounder (No. 188) and seventh-rounder (No. 230).

Steen, who began his college career at Vanderbilt before he transferred to Alabama for his final season, is listed as a guard and has experience playing at both tackle spots. This past season, he started all 12 games at left tackle.

The Miami native comes from a military background. His father, Daris, played football at LSU and is a retired marine, while his late grandfather, Rodney Maxwell Davis, posthumously received a Medal of Honor for his efforts in saving his compatriots in the Vietnam War. According to reports detailing his family’s background, Steen’s grandfather jumped on a grenade, saving lives.

“My grandfather is a great inspiration to me,” Steen said via videoconference. “He sacrificed his life. He was selfless. The fact that he died for his country, I take great honor in that. Growing up in a military-based family, there’s still a lot of discipline...that honestly prepared me to enter college football and go to Alabama, and I think it’s prepared me to enter the NFL.”

While the Eagles are widely known to boast one of the sport’s best offensive lines, they lack depth after losing former first-round left tackle Andre Dillard to the Tennessee Titans in free agency. With his ability to swing to either side of the offensive line, Steen will provide the Eagles with necessary versatility. All-Pro right tackle Lane Johnson also has said he plans to play only two more seasons, so Steen could potentially be groomed into the team’s future right tackle. The Eagles also are looking to identify a starter at right guard to replace Isaac Seumalo.

“Him going from [Vanderbilt] to Alabama I think was a huge growth, and playing left tackle for the University of Alabama — obviously, that’s a high-profile position,” general manager Howie 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. [He’s a] smart guy, comes from a great family, and [offensive line coach] Jeff Stoutland had a big part of our process, as well. We’re really excited to get [Stoutland’s] hands on him.”

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Steen arrives in Philadelphia having already played against several of his new teammates, including first-round picks Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith.

“We played them pretty consistently on a yearly basis,” Steen said of competing in the SEC. “They’ve got a really good program over there, really good players over there, so I can’t wait to be a part of that and join the team with them...I know they’ve got some really good players across the offensive line, one of the best offensive lines in the NFL, and it’s a great honor to get the opportunity to be a part of that.”

Meanwhile, Brown represents another piece to the puzzle for a defensive unit longing for depth after 2022 starting safeties Marcus Epps and C.J. Gardner-Johnson departed in free agency.

Brown jumps off the charts with his athleticism and physical prowess. Similar to first-round pick Nolan Smith, Brown’s athleticism score, according to Next Gen Stats, ranked first among all defensive back prospects in this year’s class.

This past season, Brown starred for the nation’s top-scoring defense with the Illini. He tied for third in the nation with six interceptions along with 59 tackles, 3 1/2 tackles for loss, and seven passes defensed. Brown earned All-Big Ten first-team honors. He’s a multi-level safety with the ability to line up all across the field.

“When you look at Sydney, the way they used him at Illinois, they used him a lot around the box,” Roseman said. “He would blitz, he’d cover a tight end, he’d play in the run game, so you kind of had an incomplete evaluation. Then the Senior Bowl gave us the opportunity to see him being a post player, playing in the deep path, playing one-on-ones, and you saw the athleticism, and I think that really helped complete our process.

“Sydney Brown was a passion player for a lot of people in this organization, he was a red star guy, and I think just a tremendous person with obviously really good athletic tools, leadership ability, and for us, just excited to get him in the building.”

Brown joins a safety unit that features free-agent additions Terrell Edmunds and Justin Evans, second-year Reed Blankenship, K’Von Wallace, and Andre Chachere.

Regarding the Eagles’ decision to trade back with the Texans, Roseman explained they simply were attempting to gain more draft capital for Day 3.

“I think for us, we wanted to take a couple more shots [Saturday],” Roseman said. “We were really kind of trying to bring some good luck into it, so we didn’t lose these two guys. But I thought for us to get another middle sixth-round pick and to get another shot in the seventh round, we wanted to take those shots. Those have been some high-upside shots for us, when I think about some of the picks we’ve hit on in the sixth and seventh round, and just getting those shots I think also gives our staff some juice when they walk in tomorrow morning.

“It’s fun to get everyone in and to call guys and to get draft picks. To have four more chances at that tomorrow instead of two, and that sixth-round pick — we thought was worth waiting three spots for.”