2024 NFL draft: Eagles take edge rusher Jalyx Hunt, defensive back Cooper DeJean; trades land Birds two extra fourth round picks

The Eagles bolstered their edge rusher rotation Friday night, drafting Houston Christian edge rusher Jalyx Hunt with the 94th pick in the NFL draft.

After moving up 10 spots to take Iowa defensive back prospect Cooper DeJean early in the second round, the Eagles made two separate trades to move back in the third round before taking Hunt, a 6-foot-4, 252-pound developmental pass rusher.

Hunt started his college career as a safety at Cornell, mostly seeing the field as a special-teams contributor before transferring to Houston Christian in the Football Championship Subdivision. The 23-year-old converted to the edge with the Huskies and started his last two seasons while recording 13.5 career sacks, 20.5 tackles for loss, five forced fumbles, and one interception.

Georgia defensive back Tykee Smith, a West Philly native and former Imhotep star, was selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 89th overall in the third round of the 2024 NFL draft. Smith becomes the second Philly native selected in the draft, after Marvin Harrison Jr. was selected fourth overall to the Arizona Cardinals in the first-round.

The hybrid defensive back spent five seasons in college, his first two at West Virginia, and the final three at Georgia. His first season with the Bulldogs was cut short with a knee injury in 2021, but became a key contributor for a talented Georgia defense the last two seasons.

His best season in a Bulldogs' uniform came in the 2023 season, when Smith set career highs in tackles (70), tackles for loss (8.5) and interceptions (four). He has 16 starts over the last two seasons, primarily the STAR position for the Bulldogs, a hybrid spot that asked the West Philly native to play both the nickel and safety positions. Over 29 games at Georgia, Smith amassed 101 total tackles (11 for loss), four interceptions, four sacks and seven passes defended.

When Quinyon Mitchell strolled across the draft stage on Thursday night as the newest member of the Eagles, the cornerback exuded an even-keeled energy. Calm and collected, the No. 22 overall pick pointed out a cluster of exuberant Eagles fans in the Detroit crowd, dapped up Roger Goodell, then cracked a smile when the commissioner unfurled his “Mitchell”-emblazoned Eagles jersey for a photo op.

Justin Wentworth, his former high school coach at Williston, watched the moment unfold on television from nearly a thousand miles away in Madison, Fla. The 22-year-old Mitchell he observed was the same kid who made the jump to his varsity program as a sophomore back in 2017.

“That’s genuine,” said Wentworth, who is now an assistant coach at Madison County. “That’s not him putting on a show. He didn’t have his arms up in the air, yelling and screaming, jumping around. That’s just him. That’s what you’re gonna get, day in and day out.”

When you watch Cooper DeJean, the first aspect of his game that is alluring is instincts, which allows him to break quickly on short game routes out of zone coverage. Like Quinyon Mitchell, there’s a level of smoothness and patience he displays.

Iowa’s defense didn’t ask DeJean to play press man coverage often, but he trusts his long speed and ability to run stride for stride with wide receivers.

Though DeJean plays with high pad level when he explodes out of his backpedal, DeJean is a reliable, and at times, aggressive tackler, who understands when to take risks jumping routes and when to secure the tackle first.

The Eagles entered Friday night without a third round pick, but acquired one – No. 78 – in a trade with the Washington Commanders that allowed the Birds to move up and draft Iowa defensive back Cooper DeJean.

So what happened to the Eagles original third round pick?

The Eagles original third round pick, which would have been No. 86, was traded to the Houston Texans during last years draft. The deal netted the Eagles a fourth round pick, which they used to select cornerback Kelee Ringo.

The Eagles continued revamping their secondary on Friday, trading up 10 spots to take Iowa defensive back Cooper DeJean with the 40th overall pick to start the second day of the NFL draft.

DeJean, widely considered a first-round prospect going into the draft, played primarily as an outside cornerback with the Hawkeyes but has the versatility to play slot cornerback or safety as well.

The Eagles moved up 10 spots to get the 21-year-old, sending picks No. 50, No. 53, and No. 161 to the Washington Commanders in exchange for picks No. 40, No. 78, and No. 152.

I had Quinyon Mitchell as the Eagles’ most likely first-round pick in The Inquirer draft meter and their pick in my mock draft. It would be disingenuous for me to pan the selection, especially when I thought it would require a trade up to No. 16 to acquire the Toledo cornerback. Howie Roseman stood pat at No. 22 and took a defensive back in the first round for the first time as general manager. On paper, it was a sound choice.

But the obvious qualifier for all draft picks, even first rounders, applies: No one knows, including the Eagles, how Mitchell will fare once he’s playing against NFL competition. He had a few pre-draft strikes against him, the most prominent being his small-school credentials. He seemed to answer those concerns at the Senior Bowl. But no offense to Florida’s Ricky Pearsall — another first-round selection — or the other wide receivers in Mobile, the jump to the pros will be significant.

Mitchell’s production in the Mid-American Conference was eye-popping, though. He got his hands on a lot of balls and locked down nearly every receiver he faced. He played a lot of off-man coverage and will have to adapt to more press and zone defense. But Mitchell has the speed — he ran a 4.33-second 40-yard dash at the combine — and intangibles to make the transition.

When coming from a smaller school, showcasing your talent against players from big programs can help prove you belong in the NFL. New Eagles defensive back Quinyon Mitchell, from Toledo in the Mid American Conference, had questions early in the draft process about the competition he faced in college. In going through the process of electing to sign with an agency, many recommended Mitchell opt not to compete at the annual Reese's Senior Bowl, which gathers the top draft-eligible juniors and seniors from across the country.

Instead, Mitchell chose to compete down in Mobile, Ala., and dominated against top talent, competing and winning against players like Florida's Ricky Pearsall, this year's 31st-overall pick for the San Francisco 49ers, Michigan's Roman Wilson, among others.

Senior Bowl director Jim Nagy, who spent time at Toledo's football facility this afternoon after Mitchell became the first Toledo player in 30 years to be drafted in the first round, says the NFL was impressed with how the Eagles' top pick fared in practices.

After taking a defensive back in the first round on Thursday night, here's a look at some options for the Eagles at two of their other areas of need, edge rusher and linebacker:

LB Edgerrin Cooper, Texas A&M

Cooper is an explosive off-ball linebacker prospect with a nose for the ball and solid college production. His aggressiveness can sometimes get him into trouble, but for a team that values explosive plays like the Eagles, he’ll bring plenty of value making plays on the ball. Cooper had 17 tackles for loss, eight sacks and two forced fumbles last season with the Aggies and had two career interceptions as a multi-year contributor. He has 34-inch arms and ran a 4.51-second 40-yard dash, indicative of his range and upside in pass coverage. Cooper will have to improve his play recognition and instincts to reach his ceiling, but his playmaking ability and physical traits make him one of the best linebacker prospects in the class.

The Eagles are slated to make two picks — Nos. 50 and 53 overall — on Day 2 of the NFL draft. Here are some offensive players they could target with those picks:

OL Cooper Beebe, Kansas State

Beebe has the rare blend of heft and athleticism that the Eagles have coveted in the past. He made several highlight blocks as a puller during his college career where he gets up to speed surprisingly quickly and finishes off blocks with an edge. He has extensive starting experience at right tackle and both guard spots over three years for the Wildcats but at 6-foot-3, 322 pounds with 31½-inch arms, he’ll be limited to the interior line in the NFL. It’s also worth noting Beebe took a top-30 visit to the Eagles.

Day two of the 2024 NFL draft begins tonight at 7 p.m. Eastern, but you won’t be able to watch it on ESPN.

That doesn’t mean it’ll be hard to find. ESPN will air its normal draft coverage on ESPN2, with Mike Greenberg hosting alongside Mel Kiper Jr., Booger McFarland, and former Eagles front office executive turned NFL analyst Louis Reddick.

The draft will also air on the NFL Network and ABC, meaning all you Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune fans in Philadelphia will have to wait until the early hours of Saturday morning to catch the latest episodes. 6abc said if either show is saved in your DVR, you should be fine.

Both Toledo head coach Jason Candle and defensive coordinator Vince Kehres played at Mount Union and are close with Nick Sirianni, who was a wide receiver at that Division III school and got his start in coaching there. Candle was Sirianni’s roommate, and Kehres is the son of legendary Mount Union head coach Larry Kehres (11 national titles), who is one of Sirianni’s most influential mentors.

Perhaps Sirianni asked his old roommate about his star player. If he did, what might Candle say?

“He’s a dominant competitor first and foremost,” Candle said in a phone interview earlier this year. “He’s a guy that will always try to raise the standard for himself. He’s a guy that always levels up with the man that he sees in the mirror. It’s never about anybody else, it’s all about the standard he set for himself. And that’s just the way he carries himself.”

Especially after extending star wide receiver A.J. Brown on Thursday, the Eagles have a strong offensive nucleus in place for the foreseeable future. Still, one of their biggest needs comes along the offensive line, with the potential to add an immediate starter at right guard and/or a successor for Lane Johnson at tackle sticking out as one of the main priorities for Day 2.

Even with Smith under contract through 2028 and Brown’s new deal stretching through 2029, adding a No. 3 wide receiver to complement the pair would also make sense.

Defensively, the Eagles could still use help at all three levels. Their edge rusher rotation could benefit from another upside play even with 2023 first-round pick Nolan Smith presumptively getting a bigger role after a quiet rookie season. Devin White’s one-year deal shouldn’t preclude them from targeting a linebacker to fill out the depth chart and a third safety for new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio makes sense even after signing C.J. Gardner-Johnson and extending Reed Blankenship this offseason.

Before the 2024 NFL scouting combine, The Inquirer did a deep dive into the Eagles draft history, identifying the top seven draft needs, which included: defensive back, safety, linebacker, edge rusher, wide receiver, offensive tackle, and interior offensive line.

Using previous draft picks at those positions, specifically ones who were measured at and participated in the combine, while using NFL.com and Sports Reference’s databases, The Inquirer stacked the data of players selected during Howie Roseman’s tenure as general manager, which dates back to 2010, to see if there is any commonality in the traits and physical measurables the Eagles value.

With the Eagles taking Toledo DB Quinyon Mitchell at no. 22 overall, where does he stack up amongst the other nine defensive backs selected since 2010 who were combine participants? Here are a few things to know: