Philadelphia Eagles land safety, edge rusher in recent NFL mock draft

One of the reasons why the NFL remains the king of professional sports is its business model. They’ve done all that they can to create parity, and more often than not, parity does exist. Think about it. The Philadelphia Eagles were the last team to win the NFC East in consecutive seasons and that was more than 15 years ago when they won the division’s crown from 2001-2004.

Ever since then, the Dallas Cowboys, Washington Football Team, and New York Giants have alternated as the kings of the NFL’s ‘Money Division’. So yes, even though the Detroit Lions always seem to be bad and the Green Bay Packers always seem to be good (and always seem to beat the Chicago Bears), the National Football League gives its teams the best chance to go from the outhouse to the penthouse in a single season.

The free-agency period allows for some quick fixes. Trades allow teams to swap out someone expendable for something necessary, and then there’s the annual NFL Draft, which has become an event in its own right. The draft allows each of the league’s 32 franchises to invest in the future.

There isn’t a single football fan that doesn’t think about what their team needs or who they might land, and even though we won’t know the answers to those questions until April, that won’t stop any of us from speculating.

The Philadelphia Eagles land QB, EDGE, and safety help in a recent NFL mock.

Eagles Insider Reuben Frank is always worth a read when he speaks on all things related to the Birds, and recently, he dropped a full first-round NFL mock draft for NBC Sports Philadelphia. In it, Philadelphia landed Notre Dame safety Kyle Hamilton. They also found some EDGE help with Aidan Hutchinson of the Michigan Wolverines. Here’s Roob’s explanation for both picks.

We begin with the Hamilton addition:

"The Eagles have to do something about this defense, and let’s face it, they haven’t developed a quality home-grown safety since Michael Lewis two decades ago. Rodney McLeod is 31, Anthony Harris is on a one-year deal and hasn’t played that well, and Hamilton is a stud who’s equally effective supporting the run or dropping back in coverage. The Eagles haven’t taken a defensive back in the 1st round since Lito Sheppard and Lewis 20 years ago, and it’s past time they did."

Here’s the skinny on the Hutchinson idea:

"The Eagles have not been able to generate consistent edge pressure for years. They’ve drafted guys, signed guys, traded for guys, and they’ve had some veterans play really well for a bit, but they haven’t had a double-digit sack edge rusher in a decade. Brandon Graham has been very good the second half of his career, but he’s 33, will be coming off a significant Achilles injury next year and even if he’s back he’ll need some help… The Eagles haven’t had great success drafting edge rushers in the 1stround going back to Jon Harris, Jerome McDougle and the consistently underachieving Barnett. But they’ve got to keep trying."

He also has the Eagles landing a linebacker. Yes, we said a linebacker… His name is Devin Lloyd out of Utah.

An all-defensive first round huh? That sounds interesting! We’re a long way from draft time, but if you take a poll on this one, you shouldn’t have any issues with getting Philadelphia Eagles fans to buy in on this idea.