Our friends over at NFLMocks have released their pre-combine mock draft and it features someone other than Texas A&M tackle Luke Joeckel or Alabama cornerback Dee Milliner.

Enter Utah defensive tackle Star Lotuelelei. Here’s the breakdown.

The Eagles are getting their starting OTs back from injury, and they just re-signed Michael Vick, indicating to me that he’ll start this season. The one thing they truly lack personnel wise is a nose tackle for their new 3-4 defense. Lotulelei is a workhorse who could fill that role.

My initial evaluations of this draft class along with Philadelphia’s most pressing needs had me mocking the versatile defensive tackle to the Eagles with the fourth pick, but as we draw closer to the NFL Scouting Combine, I’m no longer so sure about Lotulelei with the Eagles.

New defensive coordinator Billy Davis will implement some variation of a 3-4 look, but it may not be the traditional set we are accustomed to seeing. If the Eagles do in fact convert to a full-fledged 3-4 front, then a difference making defensive tackle is a piece they must add. Still, the team’s dire need to upgrade the secondary along with the quality of depth at defensive tackle has me steering away from Lotulelei this early in the draft.

Here’s a look at the massive defensive tackle at his best.

Listen. There’s nothing sexy about a 6-4, 320 lb. man. But Utah defensive tackle Star Lotulelei should be very attractive to the Eagles as the team creates its big board for the upcoming NFL Draft.

Despite the absence of a new defensive coordinator, all indications are that the team will make the switch from a 4-3 to the increasingly popular 3-4 front. It’s been well-documented that the Eagles current defensive personnel isn’t an ideal fit for the system. And while the team will need to rebuild what was an embarrassingly soft and vulnerable secondary, one of the primary reasons the team’s personnel isn’t suited for the 3-4 is because of the lack of a prototypical system defense tackle.

While many early mock drafts have Lotulelei going in the top three picks, that’s far from a certain proposition. Lotulelei, projected by many to be a dominant force as a 3-4 tackle, racked up 41 total tackles and five sacks during his senior season at Utah.

From CBSSports.com’s draft profile of Lotulelei:

Rarely does a player come along who so thoroughly dominates his competition that he generates buzz across the entire nation despite posting only average statistics and playing in a relatively small media market. That is precisely what 6-3, 318-pound defensive tackle Star Lotulelei accomplished for Utah.

Lotulelei is a versatile athlete who is projected to produce in any type of defensive front, but his rare combination of power to clog running lanes and agility to get to the quarterback would be an ideal fit as the anchor of a rebuilding Eagles defense.

Given the Eagles’ multitude of needs, the team could go in a variety of ways, but expect the buzz about Lotulelei and the Eagles to heat up in the coming weeks.

Here’s a look at Lotulelei’s work.