Eagles Draft Buzz: Trade Winds Blowing?

A roundup of Eagles-related draft buzz from today…

In what should come as no surprise, the Birds are one of the front-end teams making calls about potentially moving down in the first round. ESPN’s Adam Schefter identifies the Eagles (No. 4), Lions (No. 5), Browns (No. 6), Bills (No. 8) and Dolphins (No. 12) as teams looking to make a move.

Roseman admitted last week that the Eagles were open to making a deal, and the team has been very active in recent years, having pulled off a first-round trade in five of the past six drafts. As we’ve been saying for awhile, the sense from the team is that there are 12 to 15 prospects that stand out above the rest. Assuming that’s the case, it’s unlikely that the Eagles would be willing to drop down all the way into the 20s or 30s.

The key, as always, is the market. Right now, it seems several teams in the top-10 would be more than willing to move down. The players to watch continue to be the offensive tackles: Texas A&M’s Luke Joeckel, Central Michigan’s Eric Fisher and Oklahoma’s Lane Johnson.

The Jaguars, at No. 2, are a bit of a wild card. The guess here is still that they take Oregon outside linebacker Dion Jordan, but there’s been buzz (to drive up the market?) that Jacksonville will go offensive tackle.

The way I see it, there are two scenarios that would create a favorable market for the Eagles in terms of finding a trade partner:

1. The Chiefs take Joeckel, the Jaguars take Jordan, and the Raiders take Florida defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd. If Fisher is still on the board at No. 4, I think the Eagles will field a lot of interest. Then again, if they don’t get a favorable offer, they might just take Fisher and move on.

2. Fisher and Joeckel go off the board in the top three picks, but the Eagles find a team that really likes Johnson. According to Albert Breer, teams’ opinions of Johnson vary:

I’ve talked to a number of teams that are baffled by the rise of Lane Johnson. One college director termed him “not ready for primetime”.

— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) April 23, 2013

Of course, it only takes one team to make a deal.

In case you missed it, a couple weeks ago, we went over teams that could be interested in moving up and guessed at potential compensation.

The Dolphins continue to be a team to watch. They’ve got the No. 12 pick, 11 picks overall and five in the first three rounds. They’ve also got a dire situation at tackle and a franchise quarterback in Ryan Tannehill to protect.

Meanwhile, the Jets, Rams and Vikings all have two first-rounders, making them potential partners. The Falcons, too, have been rumored to be interested in moving up.

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One more things on trades: It’s not unusual for teams to have a deal in place before the draft that hinges on a specific scenario. In fact, that’s what happened last year with Fletcher Cox.

“I think there are teams that are very comfortable giving you scenarios they’ll stick to in that situation,” Roseman said last week. “With us and Seattle last year with [Seahawks GM] John [Schneider], it was very easy to get to an agreement on the compensation if the player we were interested in was there and they felt comfortable moving back.

“I think what that does, it takes the negotiating out of being on the clock, because when you’re on the clock, there’s a lot of things going on. You’re getting a lot of phone calls and when you’re starting something new or from scratch and you’re going through that process, time runs out fairly quickly.”

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Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is continuing his draft preview series with a look at the linebackers. Here’s part of the passage on Jordan:

“He’s very athletic, fast, rangy, explosive with a keen ability to bend and accelerate around the corner,” Atlanta GM Thomas Dimitroff said. “He can be both a drop guy and a pass-rush threat. It makes him a consideration in the top five (picks).” Suffered third-degree burns over 40% of his body in 2007 when a vacuum cleaner he and his friends were using to siphon gas exploded. “The only negative is his body,” one scout said. “He got burned. He went to Oregon because that was the only school that stuck with him. He’s the whole package. All he has to do as a rusher is develop an inside move. It’s all up the field now.”

Follow Sheil Kapadia on Twitter and e-mail him at skapadia@phillymag.com.
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