D
Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles let Washington fall into their laps, and walked away with a D.
by Dutchman ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 18 picks
· 12 steals
· 0 reaches
The phones were a trap the Eagles kept walking into, shipping out surplus on nearly every deal. It grades a D, and the process earned it.
It is not that Smith is a bad player; it is that the Eagles had louder needs to answer first. They punted on interior defensive lineman, and it is the miss that keeps the grade honest.
However the rest shakes out, Washington at that price is a win they earned.
Bottom line, they will need several of these picks to beat their grades just to break even, and interior defensive lineman is still a hole.
Pick-by-Pick
They read the board right and J.J. McCarthy was the payoff at pick No. 52. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
No drama and no debate, Edgerrin Cooper went about where he belonged in slot 58. Depth more than a fix, but depth they can use.
A tidy little value on Chris Braswell in the 61st pick, a step better than break-even. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
They let Brandon Dorlus come to them and pounced at the 65th overall pick. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
The board had Josh Newton higher than pick 68, and the cornerback fell to them anyway. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
A reasonable price with a little left over, Zach Frazier in Round 3, Pick 7. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
Cooper Beebe in the 80th pick is exactly on the number, no argument either way. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
Jonathon Brooks at the Round 3 slot is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
Gabriel Murphy at slot 89 is a sensible buy, a touch better than market for the edge rusher. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Value with a capital V on Malachi Corley in Round 3, Pick 27, a genuine coup. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
A curious use of pick 92. Interior defensive lineman and tight end needed the pick; a DT-EDGE in Maason Smith did not.
They bypassed pressing needs at interior defensive lineman and tight end to take Marist Liufau, a linebacker that was not the priority.
The needs board was loud and they turned it down, spending the 104th overall pick on Cade Stover with interior defensive lineman and tight end unsolved.
Tykee Smith is a better player than No. 108 suggests; smart patience, rewarded. The roster fit checks out.
A cornerback of that caliber at the 133rd overall pick is the definition of value, full stop. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Ainias Smith in the Round 5 slot should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
They robbed the room for Malik Washington here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
Donovan Jennings in Round 7, Pick 36 is a bargain the rest of the room will envy. A need, and now a little less of one.