Assuming the Eagles keep the No. 10 pick (and don’t use it to, say, trade for Derrick Henry or something like that), there’s quite the split around here as to whom the Birds should select.
With just three days to go before the Draft, Joe DeCamara and Jon Ritchie had one last battle about which offensive cog the Birds should take: an offensive lineman like Peter Skoronski, or a possible generational talent at running back in Bijan Robinson.
“I’ll tell you what is a fact I didn’t think would be in play, is that as the draft approached, all the talk here on WIP would be on offense,” Joe said. “With all the guys they were set to lose on defense, I figured that would be the focus, but the focus has been on two guys in particular: Skoronski and Robinson.”
It’s not that simple, because they could draft literally anyone else other than the nine guys eventually selected ahead of their spot, but Joe & Jon wanted the callers to weigh in on Skoronski vs. Robinson.
And if both are there, Ritchie, the old fullback, is sticking with his position group.
“Straight up at 10, I would pick Bijan Robinson,” Ritchie said. “If we’re talking trade back, because you think he may be there later, I’d be TOTALLY open to that, and would actually prefer that.”
“If you go from 10 to like 17, you could get Bijan and a second-round pick,” Joe replied.
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“Yeah, and I have visions of sugar plums dancing in my head when I saw he was 4.2 yards after contact,” Ritchie added. “Our offensive line creates more yards BEFORE contact than any other in the NFL, but Miles Sanders was among the back of the league in yards after contact. Can you imagine if we added a guy who gives you a first down after contact every couple runs? You churn first downs with this guy.”
Ritchie understands Skoronski’s versatility, but he doesn’t see him being the eventual Lane Johnson replacement many others do.
“I think Skoronski looked more like a guard and plays more like a guard, so I don’t like picking him that high,” Ritchie said. “It feels like the guard spot is later in the first round.”
As for Joe DeCamara, well, he’s all about the hosses up front.
“I would rather have Skoronski. I like both, and there’s a reason we talk about both, two players very worthy to go in that range,” DeCamara said. “All due respect to Bijan, I take Skoronski for a host of reasons. Fundamentally, he will likely play longer – and I hear people ask what difference the second contract makes if we can sign a guy five years from now, but when you sign your own guys, you usually sign them before free agency, and you usually get a better deal, so it makes sense economically.”
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Offensive linemen do usually have longer careers than running backs, so that’s fair, but Joe has some other reasons to draft the versatile blocker over the guy he’d be blocking for.
“The other thing: keeping Jalen healthy,” Joe said. “This topic has been so obscured within this conversation, and people talk about how a great running game would help keep the quarterback healthy – but no one is going to convince me that the running back keeps Hurts healthier longer than the lineman. The lineman LITERALLY blocks for him!”
Joe then asked who is a better player, and as you might expect, he thinks it’s Skoronski, and Ritchie is more in Robinson’s camp – which is where we found out later in the show Eagles insider Reuben Frank stands as well! Listen to it all above, and weigh in with your thoughts on social media!
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