Eagles

Mock Draft Season: Kyle Pitts off the Board Before Ja’Marr Chase?

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Mar 23rd, 2021 · 11:07 AM EDT

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Mock draft season should always been considered with a grain of salt, since a lot of the experts will do nine versions of their big board and have a certain team picking nine different players.

But there are shifts that take place based on free agency and pro day performances, with guys rising and falling depending on a multitude of factors.

Previously, we thought it would be impossible for Ja’Marr Chase to fall to the Eagles are #6 overall, but that’s where Mel Kiper Jr. happens to be as of March 23rd, 2021:

In Mel Kiper Jr.'s latest mock draft, he has the Eagles selecting Ja'Marr Chase at No. 6.@danorlovsky7: "They [will have gotten] the next Larry Fitzgerald in this draft. Ja'Marr Chase is stinking awesome!" pic.twitter.com/RXTrBxOATo

— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) March 23, 2021

Couple of thoughts here:

1. Penei Sewell had been penciled in at #5 on pretty much every board, but the Bengals went out and signed Riley Reiff in free agency. That certainly doesn’t preclude them from taking Sewell, but it does increase their chances of going WR or TE instead. They’ve got Drew Sample and C.Z. Uzomah and not much else at the tight end spot.
2. Pitts is the biggest riser on pretty much everybody’s board. He’s a fantastic player, a tight end/WR tweener with great athleticism who just does everything well. He’ll go to multiple Pro Bowls and is now being mocked in the top six.
3. A run on quarterbacks puts the Eagles in position to do any number of things. They could take Chase straight up. They could go for Sewell also, and maybe move on from Andre Dillard, or try to convert Jordan Mailata to the right side as an eventual Lane Johnson replacement. A run on quarterbacks helps the Eagles, unless they were hoping to trade back for a QB-desperate team and grab some extra picks (also assuming they are moving forward with Jalen Hurts and not trying to draft a new QB1).

Interesting stuff to think about. If Chase is there at #6 overall, and the Dolphins trade out with Carolina or another team, then it puts the Eagles in a position where not even Howie Roseman can screw it up.