NFL mocks continue to link Eagles with potential 1st-round wide receiver

Who would have thunk? We’ve gone from discussing the frustrations of the Philadelphia Eagles‘ 2-5 start to talking about resting the starters with one more regular-season game on the schedule. Raise your hand if you thought the word ‘meaningless’ would be used in conjunction with Week 18’s game versus the Dallas Cowboys.

That’s right! We didn’t think so!

As surprising as parts of this turnaround have been, there’s another narrative surrounding this Eagles team that shouldn’t surprise you. Everyone wants to talk about what comes next.

The Eagles have a lot to build on once this season ends. Everyone will be making their guesses about what Philadelphia will do with that trio of first-round picks in 2022’s NFL Draft.

Some have mentioned trading one of them to give themselves two first-rounders in 2023. Others have stayed the course in their belief that this team should load up on defense. What we haven’t heard too many people recommend is using one of those picks on a wide receiver, that is until recently. It does appear, however, that one source for NFL content thinks that’s wise to do so (and they aren’t straying from that theory).

A recent PFF mock draft links the Eagles to a USC receiver (again).

Heading into Week 17’s week of action, Eric Eager of Pro Football Focus mocked Drake London of the USC Trojans to the Eagles at the 23rd-overall selection. One week later, PFF’s Anthony Treash has done the same thing, and he’s done it two spots earlier at the 21st-overall selection.

Here’s some of his theory:

"London was running away with the Biletnikoff Award before fracturing his right ankle in Week 9. Despite not playing a full season, he still might and probably should take home the award, given his routine dominance before the injury.The 6-foot-5, 210-pound receiver earned a 91.8 receiving grade this year. He dominated in one-on-one scenarios and put up monster numbers due to his physicality and ball skills. London totaled 19 contested catches and 22 broken tackles in eight games. The former is six more than any other Power Five wide receiver through Week 12, while the latter is the second-most."

If you aren’t totally turned off by Pac-12 wide receivers and if Nelson Agholor doesn’t make you look at the USC Trojans program skeptically, London is interesting. Uncertainty surrounding everyone from JJ Arcega-Whiteside to Jalen Reagor to John Hightower only adds to the intrigue.

While it does stand to reason that the Birds have no choice but to invest some draft capital in a wide receiver, the question remains about whether doing so in Round 1 next year would be too early in the selection meeting to make that decision.

As far as numbers go, in 2021, Drake London caught 88 passes for 1,084 yards and seven touchdowns during eight in-game appearances. He did that in spite of injury issues.

If you’re interested, Treash also mocked cornerback Trent McDuffie of the Washington Huskies to Philadelphia at 14 (via the Miami Dolphins) and linebacker Devin Lloyd of the Utah Utes to the Birds at 19.

It should be interesting to see how these mocks change (or remain the same) as we move towards the beginning stages of the draft process, but for now, this gives us all something to talk about.