Philadelphia Eagles draft prospects: Jefferson versus Ruggs, 3 questions

3. What if Philly actually has bigger plans?

Here’s a component that isn’t getting discussed as often. What if the Eagles trade up? In a recent mock drawn up by Chris Trapasso of CBS Sports, Philly does exactly that via a trade with the New York Jets that puts the ‘Birds’ at 11 to take CeeDee Lamb. Here’s his reasoning.

"Howie Roseman strikes as he sees Lamb fall outside the top ten and makes a deal with former colleague Joe Douglas. While many Jets fans scoff at the idea of moving back for a team to pick a receiver that could’ve helped Sam Darnold, Douglas decides to gather more picks in a deep receiver class."

Hey, it isn’t an impossible theory, and here’s why.

History has taught us that Roseman has no issue whatsoever with using draft picks as collateral. Once the smoke clears and the dust settles, Philly’s projected to have over 40 million to spend during the free agency period. They’ll also have about ten draft choices once they’re awarded compensatory picks. They can go from being a team that struggled to win nine games and a division title to being a title contender almost overnight.

Roseman also has a penchant for wheeling and dealing with former colleagues. That’s where Joe Douglas comes in. We’ve seen that he has no idea what he’s doing from a draft standpoint. Maybe Howie coaxes him into a deal of some sort.

Maybe Philly feels like the time to strike is now. They’re wasting some of Carson Wentz‘s prime years. He needs weapons, and by trading up, the ‘Birds could wind up with a sure thing at receiver that would give Wentz a security blanket for years to come. Time will tell if they’re of that mindset, but here’s something that doesn’t really need debate.

Championship windows close very quickly in the NFL. Just ask the Seattle Seahawks. The Eagles can’t allow themselves to believe that they have all of the time in the world to place another Lombardi Trophy on the shelf. They don’t, and there needs to be some urgency.

Still, we’ll have to wait and see if they’re willing to sacrifice a few picks to move up and acquire one of the game’s more sought after prospects, whether or not Ruggs is even available at 21, or whether they need to reposition themselves to find a game-breaking receiver. These next two months are going to be fun.