Eagles need to find a cornerstone in this year’s NFL draft. It would help if it’s at cornerback.

Howie Roseman deserves credit for wizarding his way into the No. 10 overall pick. Now, he needs to hit on it. And he needs to hit big.

Eagles general manager Howie Roseman has an opportunity to select an impact player with the 10th overall pick in the NFL draft.Read moreMonica Herndon / Staff Photographer

by David Murphy | Columnist

Published Feb. 24, 2023, 5:00 a.m. ET

They need another unicorn. Plain and simple. This offseason, the Eagles will face a long list of decisions that will determine whether they can complete the mission they began this past season. Only one of them is do-or-die. It will arrive on April 27.

They need another Fletcher Cox or another Lane Johnson. It’d be nice if he lines up at cornerback.

This year’s draft is going to be a defining one for the Eagles. Howie Roseman deserves all the credit in the world for wizarding his way into the No. 10 overall pick. Now, he needs to hit on it. And he needs to hit big.

This is more of a theoretical argument than it is an argument for any one player. I’m not going to sit here and put gel in my hair and pretend that I’ve watched enough tape of Devon Witherspoon or Christian Gonzalez or Joey Porter Jr. to decide which of them fits the bill, or if any of them does. Besides, we are just now entering two of the most important months on the scouting calendar. My point is more macro in nature: With a slew of key contributors about to hit free agency and a quarterback headed for a contract extension that will drastically limit their ability to compete in that market, the Eagles are at a juncture where they will need to rely on their scouting acumen to find premium players. And right now they have a glaring need at one of the game’s most premium positions.

It’s been a long time since the Eagles have drafted and/or developed a blue-chip fixture at corner. Ever since the Sheldon Brown/Lito Shepard era, they’ve relied mostly on short-term solutions, most of whom haven’t solved anything. Darius Slay has shown that it can work, as did Asante Samuel. But Slay will be three years older than Samuel was in his last Pro Bowl season, and two years older than he was in his last season with the Eagles. Theirs is a position that ages in a hurry. Once the lateral quickness starts to go, the effectiveness goes completely.

With Slay entering his 32-year-old season and James Bradberry hitting free agency while nearing 30, the Eagles have a situation at cornerback that can easily become one that sinks them. It takes two corners to tango in the modern NFL.

Sure, you can make up for it elsewhere. The Eagles and Giants both did it with their pass rush the last time they won Super Bowls. The Seahawks did it by building a coverage scheme around two all-world safeties. But apart from quarterback and tackle, there is no position on the football field that provides more value than an elite corner. And, again, the Eagles are at a point where they need to maximize value.

The most recent example came last season. Robert Saleh and Joe Douglas may have saved their jobs last May when they drafted Sauce Gardner at No. 4 out of Cincinnati. Their seats were bound to get hot with Zach Wilson at quarterback and with a defensive head coach whose defense finished dead last in his first year at the helm. Last year, with Gardner shutting down half of the field and earning All-Pro honors as a rookie, the Jets finished fourth in points allowed. Somehow, they won seven games.

You can certainly find a top cornerback outside the top 20. The Patriots did it last year with Marcus Jones in the third round. The Bills’ Tre’Davious White remains one of the decade’s best draft values at No. 27 overall in 2017. For the most part, though, the elite talents are found early. Two years ago, the Broncos got themselves a potential generational cover corner in Patrick Surtain at No. 9. Back in 2018, the Packers got Jaire Alexander at No. 18. The year before that, the Saints snagged Marshon Lattimore at No. 11. That same year, the Ravens took Marlon Humphrey at No. 16. Two years before that, the Chiefs landed Marcus Peters at No. 18. Jalen Ramsey (No. 5 in 2016), Denzel Ward (No. 4 in 2018) — those are the caliber of player I’m talking about.

Problem is, the Eagles are at the mercy of the talent available. There is a reason that everybody in the league is looking for another corner. You can’t turn Witherspoon or Gonzalez into Gardner simply by drafting him at No. 10. In a draft that is supposedly loaded with edge-rushing talent, that might end up being the better way to build the future of your pass defense.

Whatever the case, the Eagles find themselves in a spot where they need to find a fixture at a premium position. If all goes according to plan, they will not be drafting anywhere close to No. 10 in the coming years. They need to find a game-changer. They have two months to figure out who it is.