Eagles expect fans will like their draft pick no matter who they choose
With their needs, the Birds could pick a wide receiver, cornerback or running back.
Derek Barnett and Corey Davis are among the draft prospects who made return trips to Philadelphia this week. They both visited the team's facility earlier this spring, and now they're among the 21 players who accepted the NFL's invitation to attend the draft in Philadelphia.
They're also two candidates to stay in the city beyond Friday morning.
The NFL draft has finally arrived. The Eagles have the No. 14 pick on Thursday night. Barnett, a defensive end from Tennessee, and Davis, a wide receiver from Western Michigan, are possibilities for the Eagles in the first round.
"It would mean a lot," Barnett said Wednesday during an event for patients at Shriners Hospital. "I can drive up the street. Not too far, a few blocks over. I'd already be at home if they called me."
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Good luck finding a consensus on who the Eagles will pick. It could be a wide receiver such as Davis, Washington's John Ross or Clemson's Mike Williams. It could be a running back such as Dalvin Cook, who is not attending the draft. It could be one of the top cornerbacks in the draft such as LSU's Tre'Davious White and Alabama's Marlon Humphrey. Or it could be a pass rusher such as Barnett, who might not even last to No. 14.
There is as much uncertainty in this draft as any in recent memory. Part of it is because the Eagles have immediate needs such as cornerback along with a long-term objective to build around quarterback Carson Wentz.
"I think they're better off with an offensive player to support Carson Wentz," NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock said Wednesday. "If you're going to move from 13 to eight to two to get him [last year], you better support him. Most of the offensive playmakers are on one-year contracts. Whether it's a running back, a tight end, a wide out, I think they have to look real hard at an offensive player."
Both Davis and Ross stated their case Wednesday. Ross' speed separates him, but he touted his receiving ability, too. Davis emphasized his versatility with the ability to play outside and in the slot and said that the ankle injury that sidelined him throughout the pre-draft process is almost fully healed. Williams has the best size of the group and produced for the national champions.
Davis, who accidently retweeted an Eagles fan calling him a future Eagle, said he already has an idea of what Philadelphia is like after new wide receivers coach Mike Groh gave him a tour of the city.
"I love the city. I love the fans," Davis said.
The only running back attending the draft is Leonard Fournette, who is unlikely to last to the Eagles' pick. Christian McCaffrey is also expected to be gone by No. 14, but Cook might be the first first-round running back for the Eagles in three decades.
Anyone would tell you that cornerback is the Eagles' biggest need. But Ohio State's Gareon Conley, who seemed a strong possibility for the Eagles two days ago, is now the subject of an investigation for a sexual assault allegation. He has not been charged, and the security staffs of teams are scrambling for information. The uncertainty could take him off the board in the first round.
"He could fall out of seven rounds," Mayock said. "I've talked to a bunch of people today around the league, and nobody knows what's going to happen. Teams are going to do their digging. If nothing formal happens . . . then teams are going to do all their individual homework, and if you have any hesitancy at all, you can't take a kid in the first, second, third rounds that might be facing rape allegations. . . . If the kid didn't do anything, I feel horribly for the kid. But if he laid a hand on her, I hope he falls completely out of the draft."
Conley was supposed to be in Philadelphia for the draft, but he did not attend. In a statement to ESPN, Conley said the allegations are "completely false," that he feels "powerless" about the allegations and that he did not come to Philadelphia because he did not want to be a distraction to the other players or the league.
"Anybody who is accused of something is not going to be OK to the fullest," said Ohio State cornerback Marshon Lattimore, a close friend of Conley's. "But he says he's innocent. I feel like he's innocent. Just knowing that you're innocent and you still have to go through it, he's losing millions of dollars right now. It's not about the money. It's about the character, too. But still, he worked hard his whole life to be at this point."
Defensive end is less of a short-term need, but it remains a priority for the organization. NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah, a former Eagles scout who also worked with Eagles executive Joe Douglas in Baltimore, predicted that the Eagles would pick Barnett in his mock draft. He noted that Douglas worked for the Ravens when they overlooked Terrell Suggs' combine testing to draft the Pro Bowler. Earlier in the day, Barnett told reporters that the Eagles compared him to Suggs when he took his pre-draft visit and that his poor combine performance should not be a concern.
"I'm a great football player. I'm not a great track star," said Barnett, who broke Reggie White's sack record at Tennessee. "But I'm trying to find a job in the NFL, and I think I fit that description of being a football player."
Even though the Eagles don't know how the first 13 picks will go, they must make sure they are happy with the top 14 players on their board. They cannot have a situation like 2014 when they expect targets to fall and are left scrambling when they don't.
Howie Roseman said there is no additional pressure to satisfy the fans who will react to the choice at the Art Museum on Thursday, but he thinks the depth of the class will allow them to be happy with the Eagles' eventual selection.
"We're not going to raise a guy up to get a standing ovation," Roseman said. "But one thing I know: When we make a pick at 14 with the way our board looks right now, we're all going to be high-fiving and very excited about that pick."
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