Swoop may be on the clock, because the Eagles added three more former members of the all-time great 2021 Georgia defense in the 2023 NFL Draft, and traded for a sixth ex-Bulldog for their roster in running back D’Andre Swift.
Kirby Smart is clearly building something Howie Roseman is paying attention to down in Athens, and when speaking to ESPN during Saturday’s coverage of Draft Day 3, Howie noted that success is one thing, but when these guys are getting to the NFL, they already have an in – which may be more important.
“We’ve been fortunate here to have chemistry, and when we talk about that, when you have new guys coming into a new environment, now they know people,” Roseman said. “They can go to each other when they’re uncertain about things that maybe we take for granted. They have people they can rely on and know have their back, and that enhances the chemistry and culture.”
Jordan Davis and Nakobe Dean were two of the Eagles’ top three picks in 2022, and they started the 2023 barrage with Jalen Carter, a defensive tackle that was projected as a possible No. 1 overall pick before being involved in the tragic car accident that took the life of a teammate.
The Eagles moved up from 10 to 9 to get Carter, and they believe that their culture can overcome the stigma surronding that incident, even as the team they traded with, the Bears, said that incident knocked Carter almost completely off their board.
Obviously he’s had a tough spring after that tragedy in Georgia, and our hearts go out to those who lost people in that accident,” Roseman said. “For us, it was a full process on Jalen, and we feel comfortable he can have success on and off the field. We’re going to rally around him. He’s a tremendous talent, and when we bring these guys in, we have to develop them on and off the field. We have a great staff here that takes that part of the job seriously, so we’ll give him the support he needs to be great on the field and the best person he can be off the field.”
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The final piece of the Three-Dawg Weekend was corner Keely Ringo, whom the Eagles traded all the way up to the top of the fourth round to select after what Roseman said was “a long night of evaluating” after the third round ended.
“A lot of times you go overnight and you see who is still there and stands out; we had him much higher than where he was, so we jumped up to try to get him,” Roseman said of Ringo. “He’s in a situation where we have phenomenal outside corners in Darius Slay and James Bradberry, so he doesn’t have to come in and be Superman; he can learn and bide his time. We’re talking about a 20-year-old corner here. Bur, we’re always looking for corners, so we were excited to get him, and adding him was good for our football team.”
The Eagles made quite a few moves on Day 3 of the Draft and ended up with just two selections after Ringo, taking Stanford QB Tanner McKee in the sixth round and WHO in the seventh – but maybe, only because no one else from the Georgia D was left?
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
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