King: Eagles Talking Trade With Two Teams

It’s draft week, and the rumors are in full swing.

This morning’s nugget comes courtesy of Peter King’s Monday Morninq Quarterback column, and it involves the Eagles potentially looking to move up in the first round for a wide receiver:

Keep hearing they want in on the prime receiver action, and the receiver they want could be LSU’s Odell Beckham, who can play outside, inside in the slot and as a returner. But the Eagles would have to trade up, and GM Howie Roseman is doing his due diligence, talking to at least two teams in the mid-round neighborhood when Beckham would likely go. But the cost could be too rich for the Eagles’ blood. They may have to settle for Marqise Lee, who would be some consolation prize.

In our scouting report of Beckham last month, we pointed out that he was named college football’s most versatile player last year. The 5-foot-11, 198-pounder has 4.43 speed. He might be best in the slot at the next level, but certainly showed he could be effective outside and is also a factor in the return game.

T-Mac wrote in detail this morning about the possibility of the Eagles making a trade. Included in the piece was this quote by general manager Howie Roseman.

“We’re not going to make any move unless it’s based on our board, so to sit here and know we’re going to move up, move down, if we have a guy that’s in the top five in our draft, and he’s falling? Would we look at that? No question.”

The obvious question here is: What would it take for the Eagles to move up six or seven spots?

In 2012, the Patriots moved up six spots (from No. 27 to No. 21) and had to throw in a third-round pick to the Bengals. That same year, the Cowboys moved up from No. 14 to No. 6 and gave up a second-rounder. And last year, the Falcons moved up from No. 30 to No. 22 and included two additional picks (a third-rounder and a sixth-rounder).

No previous trade is exactly what the Eagles would be looking at. But the guess here is that they would likely be looking at giving up a minimum of a third-rounder if they wanted to move up into the middle of the round.

We know anything is possible, but the guess here is that a trade-up for a wide receiver is still unlikely. We saw what Riley Cooper (widely considered a mediocre receiver) was able to do in this offense last year. And the draft is loaded with pass-catchers. If the Eagles are considering moving up, you’d think it’d be for a player at a position that isn’t stacked with talent (outside linebacker, safety).

On the surface, it doesn’t make sense to give up additional picks for a receiver in the first round, but as Roseman said, if the Eagles identify a player they believe to be special, they won’t be afraid to pull the trigger.