The Eagles made a massive trade on Friday, trading picks No. 6 and No. 156 overall to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for No. 12 overall, No. 123 overall, and a 2022 first-round pick.
The pick gives the Eagles as many as three first-round picks in the 2022 NFL Draft, but it does move them outside of the top 10 for this year, passing on a chance to take one of the elite talents in the draft this year.
So what to make of the big move?
Here are three thoughts on the trade:
*** My initial read on it is I don’t like trading outside of the top 10. They were going to have a great chance at taking either LSU receiver Ja’Marr Chase of Florida tight end Kyle Pitts. Now those chances are gone unless they move back up, which isn’t impossible, but isn’t likely. The Eagles really needed to get their first-round pick this year right — and it is going to be harder to do that at No. 12 than it would have been at No. 6.
*** That being said, ultimately this trade will either be a good one or a disaster based off of evaluations. If they can get a Pro-Bowl player at No. 12, then picking up that extra first-round pick is huge. If they trade down, and Chase becomes the next Justin Jefferson, this trade will look terrible if they don’t hit on No. 12 in a big way. The Eagles are clearly in a rebuild and by doing this they now have more swings at landing top talent — but they absolutely have to hit on the picks.
*** Almost everything that happens with the Eagles right now comes down to what it means for Jalen Hurts. The Eagles trading down to No. 12 would seem to take them out of the quarterback market, as the chances of any of them top four passers being their at No. 12 seem very, very slim. There is a chance they like Alabama’s Mac Jones enough to trade down for him, but that seems unlikely.
But while they might not draft a quarterback this year, they now have the No. 12 pick this year and potentially three first-round picks next year. That is more than enough to trade up for a quarterback next year, or enough to trade for Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson if they want to.
Combine all of the picks with an NFL Network report that they looked into trading up for No. 3 for BYU’s Zach Wilson, and this trade seems to be more about landing assets to keep their options open at quarterback as opposed to showing they have faith in Jalen Hurts.
You can reach Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com!