Eagles reach unnecessarily for 1st-round WR in recent NFL mock

Before we state anything else, let’s make this clear. At Inside The Iggles, we’re fans of Eliot Shorr-Parks. For the uninformed, he’s a Philadelphia Eagles reporter for 94 WIP-FM, one of the premier sports radio outlets in the City of Brotherly Love. He knows his stuff.

Some swear by him. Others disagree with everything he says, but he’s always someone worth listening to when it comes to all things Birds. With that being said, despite everything we just mentioned, we have to throw the challenge flag on something that he said recently.

In one of the more intriguing mocks we’ve seen, he took Senior Bowl prospects and cooked up an Eagles-only mock. There are a lot of great picks in this one, but one sticks out. Buckle up. We have much to discuss.

Even in a mock of Senior Bowl prospects, this is a reach for the Eagles.

So, here’s what we have. As you know, the Eagles are the owners of three first-round draft choices. Eliot Shorr-Parks has the Birds taking former Cincinnati Bearcats quarterback Desmond Ridder at 15. As interesting as that is, it gets better.

Penn State Nittany Lions wideout Jahan Dotson comes off of the board one spot later at 16. Philly’s trio of first-rounders wraps with the selection of Devin Lloyd, formerly of the Utah Utes at 19.

That first pick is debatable, but you can see it, especially for a franchise that makes controversial first-round picks, one that made the term ‘Quarterback Factory’ famous. We like the Lloyd selection. He’s going to be great at the NFL level. That second pick is questionable though, but before we get into that, here’s what Shorr-Parks had to say on the subject.

"Roseman’s never-ending search to fix the Eagles’ receiver position continues. The Eagles are likely to sign a receiver in free agency, but they still need help at the position, considering the only sure thing they have right now is Devonta Smith. What makes Dotson so appealing is his strengths are all of Jalen Reagor’s weaknesses. Dotson is an excellent route runner. He can win at the line of scrimmage. He is actually dangerous with the ball in his hands. He can be an effective punt returner. Dotson is a bit undersized, but a trio of Smith, Dotson, and a veteran free agency could finally give the Eagles the talent at receiver they have been looking for."

Okay, we get it, but this also makes sense if the Birds go another route in Round 1 and address the wide receiver position later. Dotson, though talented, is a reach at number 16.

In 42 career games at the collegiate level, he hauled in 183 passes for 2,757 yards, and he reached the end zone 25 times. That includes 12 trips to the end zone as a receiver in 2021 (he also scored another touchdown as a rusher). Here’s the thing though. There are so many other wideouts you can rank ahead of him if Philly did make the decision to go with a first-round wide receiver target.

Throw Treylon Burks (Arkansas Razorbacks), Garrett Wilson (Ohio State Buckeyes), Jameson Williams (Alabama Crimson Tide), Chris Olave (Ohio State), and Drake London (USC Trojans) in that category. If the Birds did take a receiver in Round 1, taking Dotson at 16 would be a reach, almost to the same level as taking Jalen Reagor before Justin Jefferson.

Here’s something else of note. As mentioned earlier, Shorr-Parks also has Philly taking Desmond Ridder at 15. Sure, that’s debatable. We can go back and forth about whether or not the Eagles should be taking a quarterback and, if so, how high. We can argue that there’s no guarantee that Ridder gives Philly something that Jalen Hurts doesn’t. That can be discussed another day though.

Here’s something that you learn quickly when you talk about the NFL for a living. It’s impossible to embark on a career in which one covers the Philadelphia Eagles and does so with the knowledge that they’ll make everyone happy. It simply cannot be done.

The joy of sports journalism lies in the fact that we talk about something that we love all day, and that’s something we’d do if we weren’t getting paid for it. One of the drawbacks (and there aren’t many) is the constant beratement by armchair quarterbacks and people who are often angry about everything, so again, much respect is given to Elot Schorr-Parks. He made a lot of sense in this mock, but we’ll pass on the five-foot-eleven wideout who probably tops out as a slot guy.