PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Adding proven veterans in trades and free
agency has allowed the Philadelphia Eagles to stick to their philosophy of
selecting talent over need in the NFL draft.“We want to retool. We don’t want to
rebuild when we have this amount of talent on our team
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president of football operations. “We don’t know what we’re going to need a year
from now, two years from now, and we’re trying to get long-term players on our
team.”Focusing on filling a hole at a specific position hasn’t worked out well
for Philadelphia. Two examples this decade were linebacker Marcus Smith (No. 26,
2014) and guard Danny Watkins (No. 23, 2011). Smith never started a game in
three seasons and Watkins was gone after two.“I’ve been humbled by some mistakes
I made in terms of valuing a position over the best particular player,” Roseman
said. “That’s one of the things that’s exciting where we are right now. We can
go play right now. We think we’re a pretty good team. So we can go into the
draft knowing we don’t have anything we have to do or we have to fill at any
position, and we can base it on what’s best long term.”The Eagles acquired
speedy receiver DeSean Jackson from Tampa Bay and running back Jordan Howard
from Chicago, filling two needs last month. They also signed defensive tackle
Malik Jackson.They enter the draft with seven picks
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57 in the second. Roseman and Joe Douglas, vice president of player personnel,
can go in several directions. Trading down to stockpile more picks this year or
for the future is always an option. They also have enough assets to move up if
they wanted.“The higher you are in the draft the better your success rate,”
Roseman said. “We look at the 15-year history of our draft, and there is a
break-off on the talent level where you can get a difference maker in the first
round. There’s very few drafts where there are 32 legitimate first-round grades
on guys. And so for us, we just look at that opportunity in the draft to get a
difference maker each year — your homegrown difference maker, which is hard to
find.”Here are some other things to watch in the draft:THE PRIORITIESThe Eagles
value depth on the offensive and defensive lines. They could take a left tackle
to eventually replace Jason Peters, a run stuffer in the middle of the D-line or
an edge rusher. Among the players who made pre-draft visits were: Boston College
OL Chris Lindstrom, Oklahoma OL Cody Ford
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Louisiana Tech DE Jaylon Ferguson, Clemson DTs Christian Wilkins and Dexter
Lawrence, and Notre Dame DT Jerry Tillery.RUNNING BACKAcquiring Howard won’t
preclude the Eagles from drafting a running back. Several mock drafts have
Alabama’s Josh Jacobs going at No. 25, but that would be a departure from an
organizational philosophy. The team hasn’t selected a back in the first round
since Buddy Ryan chose Keith Byars at No. 10 in 1986. LeSean McCoy was the last
back the Eagles drafted in the second round. McCoy, chosen No. 53 overall in
2009, became the franchise’s all-time leading rusher before Chip Kelly traded
him to Buffalo.ADDING VERSATILITYThe Eagles prefer players who can play several
positions, especially in the secondary and on the offensive line. Avonte Maddox
started nine games at cornerback and safety as a rookie last season. Isaac
Seumalo, a third-round pick in 2016, played everywhere upfront before settling
in at left guard.“We talk about position-less players
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Lock Jersey ,” Roseman said. “That’s a huge value in a league where
you are going to have injuries. Those are traits that add to the value of the
player.”WHEELING AND DEALINGUnder Roseman, the Eagles have always been active
during the draft. Besides three picks in the top-60, the team has two picks in
the fourth round, one in the fifth and one in the sixth.“Try to accumulate a lot
of good players,” Roseman said. “There are a lot of good players on both sides
of the ball.”HOWIE’S HITSTrading up to No. 2 to take Carson Wentz in 2016
remains Roseman’s best move. Other first-round hits were RT Lane Johnson (No. 4,
2013) and DT Fletcher Cox (No. 12, 2012). TE Zach Ertz, a second-round pick in
2013, also was an excellent pick.
The NFL has named five sites as finalists to host the NFL draft in either
2019 or 2020.
Finalists to host either the 2019 or 2020 draft include Denver; Kansas
City http://www.broncoscheapauthenticstore.com/dre_mont-jones-jersey-cheap ,
Missouri; Las Vegas; Nashville, Tennessee; as well as a combined entry of
Cleveland and Canton, Ohio. Canton is the home of the Pro Football Hall of
Fame.
Representatives for each site will offer presentations before the final
selections are made in May at the NFL spring meetings in Atlanta.
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The draft historically had taken place in New York each year, but the league
plans to move it around since it went to Chicago in 2015 and 2016 before moving
to Philadelphia last year.
This year’s draft is taking place April 26-28 at AT&T Stadium in
Arlington, Texas.
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