The Eagles are a long-standing franchise that has been drafting football players since the 1930s and they have never taken a safety in the first round.
But maybe this is the year that changes.
Heck, Howie Roseman already bucked a couple of trends in recent years by paying big-time money to a linebacker and a running back so maybe it’s not crazy to think about him drafting a safety late in the first round later this month.
In his most recent mock draft, NFL Network’s Charles Davis had the Eagles selecting South Carolina safety Nick Emmanwori with pick No. 32. Davis was a guest on the latest Takeoff with John Clark and talked about that pick and a bunch of Eagles/NFL Draft topics.
“In my last one, I gave you a safety,” Davis said to Clark. “That big kid out of South Carolina, Nick Emmanwori. Just one of those deals where the Eagles at the end of the first round, last pick of the whole thing, and somehow they get a guy that blows up the entire Combine and has everyone take notice.
“Almost like a Nolan Smith pick. Remember how Nolan Smith blew up the Combine and everyone is like, ‘God, he’s going to be long gone’ and somehow he was there for the Eagles to take? And that tended to pay off pretty well for them. That worked out really well. That would be just like Howie Roseman and the Eagles to have that right there staring them in the face. Another big, strong, physical, athletic player that they could use at their disposal.”
The Eagles entering this draft have several needs and safety is one of them after Roseman traded starting safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson to the Texans last month. That left a starting job vacant next to incumbent starter Reed Blankenship.
The top two consensus safeties in this draft class are Emmanwori from South Carolina and Malaki Starks from Georgia. In that most recent mock draft, Davis had Starks going to the Vikings at No. 24.
When asked if he thought a modest trade-up could be in play for the Eagles to get Starks, Davis said he thinks it’s a possibility.
“There’s always that potential, because with Howie Roseman, he has such great conviction on what he’s doing,” Davis said. “And he has sheer force of will in doing it. He will bend things to his will. His track record is unassailable. It is really, really good in what he’s doing.”
Davis has Starks ranked as his best safety in this draft class but opinions are split. NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah and The Athletic’s Dane Brugler have Emmanwori as their top-rated safeties. It could go either way on draft night.
Davis broke down the difference:
“Emmanwori is an overwhelmingly incredible athlete,” Davis said. “We saw that at the Combine. But don’t take that to mean that Starks is not. Because sometimes we have these things that happen and we have this explosion that happens in front of us and it dwarfs what everyone else does. Then when you go back in when the smoke clears and you realize, ‘Oh, Starks is still a really good athlete as well.’ … Emmanwori and what he did at the Combine was incredible but turn on the tape and watch Starks.
“To me, if I’m playing him as a single-high safety, patrolling everything in front like a good centerfielder in baseball, can go in the alleys, range to pick up everything, tackles everything that comes through, can make plays on the football. Can he go in the slot and cover? Sure. But to me, his strength is much more of that roaming free safety who is going to smack you when you come across the middle and make plays downfield. That’s where I really like Malaki Starks. I think he’s terrific. To me, he’s the best safety in the draft.”
While it’s true that the Eagles have never taken a safety in the first round, they are as low as they possibly could be in the first round after winning Super Bowl LIX. And they have drafted safeties in the second round before. Nate Allen was the 37th overall pick back in 2010 — so that’s just five spots lower than the Eagles’ spot this year.
If Emmanwori or Starks make it all the way down to 32, then there seems to be a chance the Eagles would be willing to select them. It seems less likely that they’d be willing to trade up for one of them but with Roseman you just can’t rule anything out.
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