The Eagles last week drafted 10 players who will have varying roles during their rookie seasons in 2025.
While those roles will be earned in the spring and in training camp, some will have higher expectations than others, mostly based on where those players were drafted. And some of those picks will shake up the Eagles’ depth chart for this upcoming season.
With that in mind, here are some Eagles winners and losers from the 2025 NFL Draft:
Winners
DT Moro Ojomo: Sure, the Eagles used their third pick (fourth round) on defensive tackle Ty Robinson, who figures to join the rotation. But there seemed to be a good chance the Eagles would land a DT in one of the first two rounds and they didn’t. Had the Eagles ended up with a Walter Nolen or a Derrick Harmon with their first round pick, that guy would have leapfrogged Moro Ojomo on the depth chart. But after a solid season in 2024, Ojomo seems in line to see his role increase in 2025 and a fourth-round pick shouldn’t change that too much. The Eagles’ still have Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis but they lost Milton Williams in free agency. The Eagles have to replace Williams’ 500 snaps and Ojomo is the primary candidate to take a big step forward in 2025. The 2023 seventh-round pick has shown a lot of promise in his two years in the NFL.
OG Tyler Steen: The Eagles didn’t draft an offensive lineman until Day 3 and none of the three they drafted has significant experience playing guard. That feels like a win for Steen, who is expected to battle Kenyon Green for the Eagles’ starting right guard spot after Mekhi Becton left in free agency. Of course, we should point out that Steen also felt like a winner this time last year when the Eagles didn’t draft an offensive lineman early. But then they signed Becton, who eventually got plugged into that right guard spot after Steen opened camp as a starter. The Eagles may still have some reservations about starting Steen but at least they didn’t draft his automatic replacement last week.
CB Kelee Ringo: The Eagles didn’t draft a cornerback until the fifth round when they selected Mac McWilliams out of UCF. While Williams (5-10, 191) will add some depth at corner and nickel, he doesn’t seem like a legitimate threat to win that staring outside corner job opposite Quinyon Mitchell. That job is looking like a battle between Kelee Ringo and free agency pickup Adoree’ Jackson. Jackson has significant NFL experience but wasn’t a full-time starter for the Giants last year and will turn 30 in September. This should be Ringo’s job to win. While Ringo got bumped down the depth chart in 2024, Darius Slay and Isaiah Rodgers are both gone. Ringo already has two years of NFL experience and is still just 22 years old. The fourth-round pick from the 2023 draft might have a legitimate chance to be the full-time starter in 2025.
DE Jalyx Hunt: Entering this draft, it seemed pretty likely the Eagles would use one of their early picks on an edge rusher and … maybe they kind of did. It depends on how you think the Eagles are going to use Jihaad Campbell. But even though Campbell has pass rushing upside, he’s not a pure edge rusher right now and that feels like a win for Hunt. The 2024 third-round pick came so far during his rookie season. He was inactive in Week 1 and by the time the playoff rolled around, he was a huge part of the edge rusher rotation. And with the departure of Josh Sweat, Hunt is in line to see a bigger role in his second NFL season. While the Eagles will definitely start Nolan Smith at one of those positions, it might come down to Hunt or Azeez Ojulari at the other. Either way, Hunt earned playing time as a rookie and the Eagles didn’t draft a pure edge rusher until Round 6 with Antwaun Powell-Ryland, who could be in the rotation but clearly behind Hunt.
WR Jahan Dotson: The Eagles drafted 10 players and not one of them was a wide receiver. Dotson, 25, wasn’t super productive in his first season with the Eagles but he also didn’t see many targets. He finished with just 19 catches for 216 yards and 0 touchdowns on the regular season. But in the playoffs, he had 3 for 53 and a touchdown, including a big catch early in Super Bowl LIX. Even though Dotson didn’t get many opportunities, he made the most of the opportunities he did get. When the ball was thrown his way, he caught it and made a play. He’s the clear-cut No. 3 receiver behind A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith heading into 2025. The only receiver the Eagles added this offseason was Terrace Marshall Jr., who was a 2nd-round pick in 2021 but has had a really disappointing NFL career.
Losers
S Sydney Brown: This one is pretty obvious. The Eagles used their second-round pick (No. 64 overall) on safety Andrew Mukuba out of Texas. Before this pick, there wasn’t really anyone in Brown’s way from that starting safety job next to Reed Blankenship. But then the Eagles drafted Mukuba, who has already been compared to the former starter at that spot, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who was traded to the Texans this offseason. Brown was drafted at No. 66 overall (third round) a couple years ago but he was selected before Vic Fangio took over as DC. Brown suffered a torn ACL at the end of his rookie season, which kept him out for the start of 2024. So even though he was buried on the depth chart last season, we don’t really know what Fangio thinks of him. But we do know the Eagles last week drafted a guy who is probably already the favorite to win the job.
QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson: The Eagles’ top two quarterbacks are set. Jalen Hurts is the starter; Tanner McKee is the backup. And it was looking like Dorian Thompson-Robinson, acquired in the Kenny Pickett trade with the Browns, was going to be the developmental, third-string quarterback. But then the Eagles drafted Kyle McCord out of Syracuse with a sixth-round pick. Now, it’s a competition between DTR and McCord for that third-string job as the emergency quarterback on game days. And because the Eagles drafted McCord, he has to be considered the favorite to win the gig. DTR has NFL experience but McCord has the measurable and the tools. They’re very different style of quarterbacks, which should make their competition this summer a lot of fun.
LB Jeremiah Trotter Jr.: With Nakobe Dean’s torn patellar tendon and after Oren Burks left in free agency, Jeremiah Trotter Jr. appeared to be the next man up. If Dean was going to miss time, Trot was expected to fill in. But then the Eagles drafted Jihaad Campbell at No. 31 overall. And even if the Eagles think the real value in selecting Campbell was his pass rush upside, he’s still a viable option at off-ball linebacker. And if Campbell is healthy (also a legitimate question), he’s probably the most likely guy to start in place of Dean if the veteran MIKE linebacker isn’t ready for the start of the season.
LB Nakobe Dean: While the Campbell pick might hurt Trotter’s chances of playing in the short-term, it might also be a bad thing for Dean long-term. There’s no question that Dean gave the Eagles some really great snaps in 2024. While Zack Baun was an All-Pro, Dean flew under the radar but was great as the Eagles’ green dot before his season-ending injury in the playoffs. But now Dean is recovering from a really serious injury and is entering the final year of his rookie contract. There’s a chance Campbell fills in this season and plays well enough to be the future of the position. That stings a bit because it wouldn’t be Dean’s fault but there’s a world where that happens.
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