Eagles Reportedly Felt there was "Pretty Good Chance" that Bengals Would Take Ja'Marr Chase at #5
Thursday and Friday were pretty crazy, weren’t they?
We did ‘Kyle Lowry Watch 2021,’ which resulted in 10 bazillion rumors and eventually a trade for George Hill instead. The Sixers improved but Lowry ended up staying in Toronto.
Then the Eagles made a Friday afternoon blockbuster trade, which turned the Delaware Valley upside down and resulted in a wide variety of emotionally-charged opinions hitting social media and the sports talk radio airwaves.
Now we’re learning more about the specifics of the trade, which saw the Eagles move back from six to 12 and pick up a 2022 first round draft pick in the process.
Writes Albert Breer in his MMQB column at Sports Illustrated:
“The Eagles worked exclusively with the Dolphins, and Roseman had to keep the trade under wraps in the two-plus weeks in between to allow for the bang-bang nature of how it eventually would go down. And with the Eagles believing there is a pretty good chance the Bengals will take LSU’s Ja’Marr Chase at five (we mentioned in our mock this week that that Joe Burrow has given Cincinnati’s brass a glowing recommendation), Philly felt comfortable with the difference in talent between six and 12—and also operated with the knowledge that it’d be hard to get a future first (this being Miami’s slotted No. 1 in 2022) in exchange for moving down closer to the draft.”
My only beef with this thinking, if true, is that they should not have “felt comfortable” with the difference in talent between six and 12.
Why?
Well if there’s a run on quarterbacks, and 3-4 go in the top four, then you would have had a significant chance of landing Kyle Pitts or Penei Sewell, assuming the Bengals did like Ja’Marr Chase and were going to take him (and assuming the Eagles even want a tackle). It’s hard to know how they feel about Andre Dillard and Jordan Mailata right now, but Sewell is the best lineman in the draft, on either side of the ball.
Another way to look at it is this:
If all three of Chase/Pitts/Sewell went off the board in the top five, you’d be in position to trade out for a team that wants a quarterback, which may have returned a better haul.
It just seemed a little premature to do this deal a few weeks before the draft when you could have let the market play out a little bit more. And if the thinking is that “it’d be hard to get a future first… closer to the draft,” that would suggest a run on quarterbacks in the top five, which would leave the Birds sidelined as a possible trade partner. So instead of taking a risk, the Eagles just traded back early and secured that extra first rounder.
But listen, there’s nothing wrong, in a vacuum, with moving back and adding a first round pick. The Eagles are likely going to have three first rounders next season, which means they can get a good player at #12 this year, then continue to add pieces next season or package that extra pick to trade up for one of Sam Howell or Kedon Slovis or another QB, depending on whether or not Jalen Hurts solidifies himself as a starter this year. Or, you package picks for a current QB (Deshaun Watson or something like that).
We all know the Eagles aren’t 1-2 players away, right? It would have been great to have a guy like Chase or Pitts on this squad, but this is a franchise in a transitional rebuild and needs help in a lot of areas. If you add Jaylen Waddle, Micah Parsons, or Jaycee Horn, then give yourself more options for next year, that’s a pretty good bit of business from Howie Roseman.