PHILADELPHIA — The Eagles pushed some of their immediate stash of draft picks into future years Monday.
In a deal with the New Orleans Saints, the Eagles traded two first-rounders in exchange for a package that includes one first-rounder this year, one next year, and a 2024 second-round pick.
The Eagles now have the 15th and 18th picks in this year’s draft and also got a third-round pick from the Saints. In total, the Eagles gave up No. 16 and No. 19 as well as a sixth-rounder this year in exchange for the 18th, 101st (third round), and 237th (seventh round) picks this year, a first-round pick next year, and a second-rounder in 2024.
Last offseason, the Eagles got the Miami Dolphins’ 2022 first-rounder, which became the 15th pick, in a trade before the draft, and the Indianapolis Colts’ 2022 first-rounder, No. 16, in the Carson Wentz trade.
The likelihood of general manager Howie Roseman trading away one of the three first-rounders the team amassed was always high, and this move gives him flexibility across multiple drafts. This year’s class is deep at some premium positions such as edge rusher, but there aren’t many highly valued quarterbacks available.
At first blush, the trade makes plenty of sense for the Eagles from a value standpoint. If you negate the Eagles’ slight move from 19th overall to 18th, the trade boils down to the Eagles giving up the 16th pick for a third-round pick this year, a 2023 first-rounder, and a 2024 second-rounder.
Jalen Hurts has received votes of confidence from Roseman, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, and coach Nick Sirianni this offseason, and trading picks into future years further indicates the third-year quarterback will be the starter this year.
“We have a young, 23-year-old, playoff quarterback who gets better every year in college and in the pros,” Lurie said last week at the owners’ meetings. “He’s had, really, one full year. No one knows where that’s going to end up, but I think what you do know is you have a guy that is incredibly dedicated, excellent leader of men. Players around him gravitate to him. He will do anything and everything to get better and work on every weakness he has and to try to maximize every strength he has. That’s why we’re committed to Jalen at age 23. Who knows what the future holds, right?”
“We all have this vision, myself included, ‘That’s an automatic franchise quarterback,’ it’s almost nonexistent,” Lurie added. “And if it does exist, you’re very, very lucky to have that.”
While pushing draft capital into future years has merits outside of targeting quarterbacks, the deal can be viewed as somewhat of a hedge on Hurts.
By securing multiple first-round picks in next year’s draft, the Eagles will have a better chance at targeting a quarterback next offseason if Hurts regresses. It’s hard to project quarterback classes this far out, but next year is expected to have a few promising prospects, including two Heisman Trophy finalists from the 2021 season: Alabama’s Bryce Young and Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud.
If Hurts continues to make progress with his accuracy and anticipation, though, the Eagles can use the future draft capital to build around him or trade up for another position.
Roseman said building around Hurts has been the objective for the team this offseason multiple times, including at the NFL scouting combine last month.
“We have to continue to add good players,” Roseman said. “We have to continue to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to maximize our players’ ability to be successful and, certainly, that starts at the quarterback position with Jalen.”
For the Saints, the move could put them in a position to target one of this year’s first-round quarterback prospects. The team has Jameis Winston under contract but no long-term answer at the position one year removed from Drew Brees’ retirement.
By dropping one first-rounder this year, the Eagles will also have some cap savings to work with in this latter part of free agency. This year’s draft class is generally regarded as a deep one without much separating the top prospects from the next tier of prospects, and there are a handful of talented edge rushers and wide receivers expected to go in the early rounds.
The Eagles now have 10 total picks in the draft, which begins April 28 in Las Vegas. They have five in the first three rounds, which includes two of their own, two from New Orleans, and one from Miami.
