Posted April 24th, 2025 | Comments Off on 2025 Eagles Draft Preview
Winning the Super Bowl is great. Until late April. Having the last pick in every round isn’t any fun at all, for the fans or the front office. Shouldn’t the other 31 teams get punished for not being as good as the mighty Eagles? Just a thought.
The Eagles have a loaded roster. They have a lot of high-priced stars. They need to find some young talent to fill starting roles or become key backups because the team can’t afford to pay good veterans for all of those spots. That doesn’t mean all the picks will be based on need. The key is still to find talented players.
Let’s take a look at where the roster stands as of today.
WR DeVonta Smith … Ainias Smith WR AJ Brown …… Johnny Wilson WR Jahan Dotson … Terrace Marshall QB  Jalen Hurts …….. Tanner McKee … Dorian Thompson-Robinson RB  Saquon Barkley ..… AJ Dillon ……. Will Shipley …. Avery Williams TE Dallas Goedert …… Grant Calcaterra … Harrison Bryant … Kylen Granson LT Jordan Mailata …… Kendall Lamm LG Landon Dickerson….. Kenyon Green … Trevor Keegan OC Cam Jurgens ……… Brett Toth RG  Tyler Steen ….… Matt Pryor RT  Lane Johnson ……. Darian Kinnard
ED Jalyx Hunt …. Azeez Ojulari …. Patrick Johnson DT Jordan Davis …… Moro Ojomo …. Byron Young DL Jalen Carter ……… Thomas Booker ED Nolan Smith …. Josh Uche …… Bryce Huff LB Zack Baun LB Nakobe Dean .,.. Jeremiah Trotter Jr ……… Ben VanSumeren SS Sydney Brown … Tristan McCollum …. Andre Sam FS Reed Blankenship …… Lewis Cine CB  Quinyon Mitchell ……… Eli Ricks CB Kelee Ringo …….. Adoree Jackson NB Cooper DeJean
P Braden Mann K Jake Elliott LS Charley Hughlett
NEEDS
Safety is a need. The Eagles have Sydney Brown ready to step in for CJGJ. Brown has played in 25 games, with 7 starts. While he has some experience, he is far from a sure thing. The Eagles need someone to challenge Brown and at least offer depth. McCollum was disappointing last season.
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Edge rusher is an odd spot. The Eagles have real potential already in place. Smith is coming off a good season. Hunt was playing good football by the end of the season. Still, neither of those guys has been a starter for a full season. Ojulari has a lot of talent, but he’s struggled to stay healthy. Uche is good. He’s just a role player. I have no idea what to say about Huff. He could turn out to be a key player or could be a June cut. The Eagles have shown interest in edge rushers so this is an area they want to address, whether early or late.
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The Eagles have a pair of great corners in Mitchell and DeJean. The other spot will be a battle between Ringo and Jackson. Ringo is unproven and Jackson is an older player. The team could look to add someone who could be a long term answer. Adding a third high level CB would make the secondary imposing for several years. At the least, the team needs someone to build up depth at CB. Read the rest of this entry »
The NFL is full of smart coaches and personnel people. These people have strong convictions and philosophies. But they all pay a little extra attention to the team that wins the Super Bowl. Is there anything that can be copied? Would those ideas work for my team?
This is hard to do with a team like the Chiefs. They have a Hall of Fame coach and QB. How are you supposed to duplicate that? We overuse the word generational. Patrick Mahomes is truly a generational player. When the Eagles win the Super Bowl, teams are going to study the ideas of the coaching staff and the moves made by the front office. The Eagles have a loaded roster, but there are definitely some ideas worth stealing.
Using a lot of resources on the line of scrimmage is the most obvious one.
Jordan Mailata – big contract Landon Dickerson – 2nd round pick, big contract Cam Jurgens – 2nd round pick, big contract Tyler Steen – 3rd round pick Lane Johnson – Top 5 pick, big contract
Nolan Smith – 1st round pick Jalen Carter – 1st round pick Jordan Davis – 1st round pick Jalyx Hunt – 3rd round pick Bryce Huff – big contract
Not only have the Eagles invested a lot up front, they have hit on those picks. And they tend to keep them around. Milton Williams is one of the few OL/DL to play well and then leave without a second contract. The Eagles have a good philosophy. They have a coaching staff that does a good job of developing players. And then they keep them.
Let’s look at some specific guys and how they could influence other teams.
Chris Jones has been a dominant DT for the Chiefs. He was the 37th overall player taken in 2016 and developed into a HOFer. Jalen Carter was the top prospect in 2023, but fell down to pick 9 due to character concerns. The Eagles snatched him up and he’s been dominant for Philly. I wonder if Carter’s performance will have an effect on how teams view Walter Nolen.
Nolen is a Top 15 talent, but there has been talk of him sliding to the 20’s/30’s. Some wondered if he might slide to the 2nd round. In the last few days there are more and more mock drafts showing him as a Top 15 pick. Dallas is one of the teams being linked to him. Are the Cowboys hoping Nolen is the next Carter? The Niners are also being rumored as a landing spot for Nolen. Same question would apply. Those are two teams who hate the Eagles and would love to catch up to them.
Or maybe this is just noise and Nolen will slide. If he does, you know Howie will keep an eye on him. Nolen and Carter would be a dynamic duo at DT.
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Saquon Barkley just had one of the greatest seasons by a RB in league history. It sure fells like he made RB a sexy position again. Derrick Henry also had a great season, but he’s had several of them. And his team didn’t win the SB. Saquon and the Eagles showed you can win the big game in this era with an elite RB. That has helped the value of Ashton Jeanty. There is talk of him going as high as 5th overall (to the Jags). Two of the last three drafts didn’t see a RB going in the top 35 picks.
Trying to find the next Barkley could be risky. After all, he didn’t put up massive numbers until he got to a team that had an elite OL and other offensive weapons. It isn’t like Saquon carried the team on his back. He was part of a great offense.
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There are more LB tweeners in this first round than I can remember in recent years. Maybe that is just anecdotal, but it sure feels that way. Zack Baun was an edge rusher in New Orleans. The Eagles signed him and moved him to LB. Baun responded by playing at an All-Pro level.
Jalon Walker was a LB who could be an edge rusher in the NFL. Jihad Campbell was an edge who moved to LB in 2024. Femi Oladejo was a LB who moved to edge. These guys are all top prospects. You wonder if teams will be more comfortable with taking tweeners after seeing Baun turn out to be such a stud for the Eagles. These situations aren’t all the same, but teams might be influenced by seeing another tweener have such impact.