This is mostly a post for myself to look back on after the draft, see what I was right and wrong on, and what I need to adjust to next year. I created a horizontal draft board with probably 100-120 players on it and below is a summary of my priority targets at each main pick location.
| Pick Range | Prioritized Draft Targets |
| R1 Trade up (8-12) | CB Ahmad Gardner CB Derek Stingley |
| R1 Picks 15 & 18 | WR Jameson Williams WR Garrett Wilson DT Jordan Davis CB Trent McDuffie EDGE Jermaine Johnson WR Drake London EDGE George Karlaftis WR Treylon Burks |
| R1 Trade down (25-35) | S Lewis Cine S Daxton Hill CB Kaiir Elam WR Jahan Dotson CB Kyler Gordon CB Andrew Booth DT Travis Jones EDGE Arnold Ebiketie |
| R2 Trade up (35-45) | 5T Logan Hall EDGE Boye Mafe WR Skyy Moore LB Quay Walker |
| R2 (51) | DT Perrion Winfrey 5T Josh Paschal EDGE Nik Bonnito LB Chad Muma LB Christian Harris |
| R3 (83) | EDGE Kingsley Enagbare CB Cam Taylor-Britt S Kerby Joseph WR Calvin Austin WR Khalil Shakir LB Channing Tindall S Brian Cook OG Dylan Parham OC Cole Strange OG Sean Rhyan TE Charlie Kolar |
| R4 | OL Zach Tom CB Jalyn Armour-Davis CB Cordale Flott LB Brandon Smith RB Rachaad White WR Erik Ezukanma S Tycen Anderson |
| R5 | DT Neil Farrell OL Matt Waletzko P Jordan Stout RB Keaontay Ingram LB Kyron Johnson DL Matt Henningsen CB Martin Emerson RB Hassan Haskins |
| R6 | LB D’Marco Jackson DL Michael Clemons CB Joshua Williams CB Damarion Williams WR Tyquan Thornton OL Jean Delance |
| R7-PFA | S Joey Blount DL Jayden Peevy DL Noah Ellis CB Decobie Durant WR Tre Turner S JT Woods OL Devin Cochran OL Austin Deculus RB Jerion Ealy P Jake Camarda |
Couple of notes:
Trade-up:
I am not a trade-up guy at all but have two players I would trade up for (Sauce and Stingley). Two reasons: first, I think there is a decent drop-off from Sauce and Stingley to the next group of corners.
And second, in a draft that most think is deep but lacking top-end prospects, I think Sauce and Stingley would stand up with the top CBs taken the last several years. I don’t feel the same way with WRs and EDGEs – I’d rather have Treylon/JJ/Karlaftis without losing a pick or Dotson/Ebiketie/Travis Jones/Cine with an extra pick from trading down than to move up for pick-your-player-in-the-top-10.
Some players I notably left off include Kyle Hamilton (I don’t think the gap between him and Cine and Daxton is that big at all) and Jordan Davis (I love Davis but he either falls to us or I go after Travis Jones or Perrion Winfrey).
The 25-40 pick range:
A lot think Howie will probably look to move another pick and when you look at the players between are 18 and 51 picks, there are a lot of really interesting players:
- If you miss out on Jordan Davis, I would love Travis Jones or Perrion Winfrey
- The Eagles really need a safety and Daxton Hill and Lewis Cine will go in between 18 and 51
- Kyler Gordon and Kaiir Elam would be good options at corner if they don’t move up
- If there is a run on EDGEs, Arnold Ebiketie and Boye Mafe would fall in this late 1st / early 2nd range
- And if they don’t get a receiver at 15 or 18, I would absolutely love Jahan Dotson or Skyy Moore but neither will likely be there at 51.
Players I would hope to not have to make a decision on:
A few players in the 1st round area that many like but I have enough reservation on that I would hope to not have to make a decision on them:
- Chris Olave – I watch his film and really like a lot of what he does. But his underlying per route stats are not good. Does that mean he won’t be good? No, but per route stats have raised flags on other receivers in the past, including Reagor.
- David Ojabo – I tweeted on him before, the data on Achilles recovery is really not good with power being diminished for up to 3 years.
- Jermaine Johnson – I have him on the board above and I like him, but I worry about the older prospects as I previously wrote. I would still probably take him but the history is not great here.