Philadelphia Eagles NFL Draft Grades

 

Philadelphia Eagles NFL Draft Grades and Bonus Trade Grade

Overall Grade: B

Round 1: Jalen Carter DT 6’ 3” 314 lbs, Georgia: Grade: B-

Athletic on tape, but he didn’t participate of the combine so unfortunately we don’t have the numbers. He has a quick first step and a good swim move. Shows good strength over all but was neutralized by the stronger O’Cyrus Torrance who was drafted in the second round. Jalen’s production was limited in college. He was more comparable to average and even some below average defensive tackles. He looks like a star at times, but didn’t show it very much. For the ninth pick I would have liked to see him rack up a few more tackles for losses and sacks. I saw someone comparing him to Warren Sapp which would be amazing. The difference is Warren sap had 84 tackles and 10.5 sacks his last year in college while, Jalen had 32 tackles and 3 sacks.

 

Round 1: Nolan Smith LB 6’3 235 lbs, Georgia: Grade: B-

Elite athleticism by the numbers. He ran a 4.39 40, had a 41.5 inch vertical and a 10’8” broad jump. All top level numbers. He’s more athletic than some running backs that are twenty pounds less than him. He doesn’t look quite as athletic on tape. He also looks small with thin hips. He missed several games for two years so his production took a hit. Still he barely did anything his senior year in the eight games he played. Not impressive. His junior year was his best with an unimpressive 53 tackles, 4.5 sacks, and only 1 pass defended. He added an int and 3 forced fumbles. I don’t like to draft players who performed this poorly in the first round. He may just be a workout warrior, which the Eagles love to draft. If we’re just going on the combine A. He has a high ceiling, but also a low floor.

Round 3: Tyler Steen OT 6’6” 321 lbs Alabama: Grade: A

Steen has excellent size with powerful legs and pretty good athleticism. He’s in the 91.7^th percentile for the bench, the 72.7^th percentile for vertical and around 80^th for the broad jump and shuttle. His arm length is in the 17.2 percentile so he’ll likely have to move to guard in the nfl. He got second team All-SEC honors for his 13 starts at left tackle for Alabama. He only had one sack attributed to him for his senior year. He has a powerful and well timed punch and good feet moment. He needs to improve his pad level and his forward lean, but if he can improve these, he can be a solid starter eventually for the Eagles. They needed depth and found a solid player in Steen.  

Round 3: Sydney Brown S 5’10” 211 lbs Illinois: Grade B

Sydney Brown played for five years at Illinois and was injured twice. He had a couple years with his total tackle numbers in the eighties, but doesn’t get many tackles for losses or sacks. During his senior year he had an impressive 6 interceptions and a respectable seven passes defended (PD). I usually like to see more PDs overall than he had in his college career. For me, his statistics are so so, but it’s promising that his senior year was his best year in terms of defending the pass. Overall he’s much better at defending the run than the pass and might make a better in the box safety on obvious rushing situations. Based on his combine numbers, he should be athletic enough, but his change of direction skills are questionable. He didn’t run the 3-cone or shuttle, so we can’t confirm this with his measurables. The Eagles needed depth at safety, and Brown has a chance to develop into an at least part-time starter.

Round 4: Kelee Ringo CB 6’2” 207 lbs Georgia: Grade C+

The Eagles love the SEC and selected a cornerback from Georgia. He has good size and functions well as a press corner. He has excellent top speed and ran a 4.36 40. His burst speed isn’t as good and he ran a 1.54 in the 10 yard split. He’s also not very explosive according to his poor vertical jump at 33.5” and his so so 10’2” broad jump. He didn’t run the shuttle and cone, which for some reason hardly anyone ran this year. His change of direction skills are suspect. He may not have the athleticism to be a successful corner. He will have to rely on his press abilities to have a chance. He had a not very impressive 8 PD and 7 PD in his junior and senior years. He also had an okay 4 interceptions total for those two years. I don’t think Kelee can become a starter, but he may be able to make it as a backup or special teamer.  

Round 6: Tanner McKee QB 6’6” 231 lbs Stanford: Grade D

McKee has an excellent height and weight to play QB in the NFL. He has good enough arm strength, but struggles with accuracy. He also rushes his throws when under pressure. He also didn’t perform very well in college at all. He had 13 TDs to 8 Ints his senior year and 15 TDs and 7 Ints his junior year. These are very poor numbers. He had a solid completion percentage his junior year with 65.4% and an adequate one his senior year with 62%. He can’t run at all and had negative 86 yards for his career. Overall, his numbers don’t seem good enough for him to make it in the NFL. All he seems to have going for him is good size and a strong enough arm.

Round 7: Moro Ojomo DT/DE 6’3” 292 lbs Texas: Grade C-

He is versatile and can line up at DE. He’ll probably be a DT for the Eagles, but may play DE in goal line situations. His senior year was almost as good as Jalen Carter’s which is funny since he’s a seven round pick. They both had 3 sacks and 32 total tackles. Moro had 1.5 less tackles for a loss though. He generally lacks the speed to play DE, but also is a little small for DT. He’s also not very athletic especially for his smaller size. He likely won’t be a long term player in the NFL

Trade: D’Andre RB 5’9 208 lbs: Grade A+

The Eagles get a first round talent for a 4^th round pick in 2025. He only has one year left on his contract and he gets injured, but I love it still. He’s great at catching the ball and electric with the ball in his hands. He has a 4.6 yard average for his three years in the NFL which isn’t as good as it could be largely because of injuries. He had a 5.5 yard average last year which is more in line with where he should be. He also has over a thousand yards receiving in three years with a sold 7.7 yard average. It’s very likely that D’Andre is much better than anyone we would draft in the 4^th round. He can be a complimentary pass receiving back and we might not have to pay him too much when his contract is done to keep him.