Eagles bolster defense, add highly-touted WR in recent NFL mock draft

The Philadelphia Eagles figure to have hands, both figurative and literal, full between now and the end of April. In each year that passes, the NFL Draft becomes more and more of an event, and that can only mean one thing. Draft pundits, the media, and pro scouts will be fairly busy as well.

Recently, NFL Network’s lead draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah dropped his first mock of 2022. In it, the Eagles landed an EDGE star, a wideout that keeps being mentioned in conjunction with the Birds, and an interior offensive lineman.

Two days before Jeremiah shared his theory, ESPN’s Mel Kiper dropped one of his own.

Eagles add two defensive prospects, wide receiver in Mel Kiper’s first mock.

Some swear by him. Others turn the volume down whenever he’s on their television, but Mel Kiper has done enough to warrant everyone’s attention when he discusses NFL Draft matters.

The Eagles have several needs ahead of the 2022 selection meeting and the free-agency period that precedes it. Many of them are on the defensive side of the ball. Here’s Kiper’s theory. The Birds take two defensive standouts and, as so many other mocks have predicted, they take yet another wide receiver in the first round. What’s that? Three years in a row?

Here’s what he has to say concerning Devin Lloyd. That’s who he’s predicting that Philadelphia will take with the 15th-overall selection, one via the Miami Dolphins that the Eagles own the rights to.

To read Kiper’s mock, an ESPN Plus subscription is required. We won’t share any quotes from the story for that reason, but Lloyd is someone Birds fans have been eyeing. He’s a six-foot-three, 235-pound linebacker prospect from the Utah Utes who Kiper describes as “both a need and value pick”. He’s right about that one.

Philly’s next selection comes one spot later at 16. You can thank Carson Wentz and the Indianapolis Colts for that one. In this scenario, former Penn State Nittany Lions standout/2022 EDGE prospect Arnold Ebiketie is the choice.

It will be interesting to see if Ebiketie is as high on each NFL team’s draft board as he is on Mel Kiper’s list of the best EDGE prospects available. The argument can be made that Kayvon Thibodeaux (Oregon), Aidan Hutchinson (Michigan), George Karlaftis (Purdue), David Ojabo (Michigan), Jermaine Johnson (Florida State), Travon Walker (Georgia), Drake Jackson (USC), and Logan Hall (Houston) are all better prospects.

Many of those guys should be available when the Birds are on the clock with their first two picks in Round 1.

Chris Olave is the selection for the Eagles at 19. As Kiper puts it, he makes sense after Philly’s misses with both JJ Arcega-Whiteside and Jalen Reagor.

So what are you thinking? Are you in or out? There are reasons to be on both sides of the argument.

As you can see, Kiper’s theories tend to get the creative juices flowing (whether you agree with them or not), but it’s still January. Guys will rise and fall in the draft process. We’ll see how much this mock mirrors the ones that come as we navigate through the coming NFL Scouting Combine, free agency, and the rest of the draft process.