3 Reasons Eagles should be slightly hesitant about drafting Nakobe Dean

The Eagles simple have better options in Round 1 than Nakobe Dean.

Here’s as honest an assessment as you will find on Nakobe Dean. The UGA product is going to start for someone in 2022 as a rookie. He’s going to be good. He’s going to be a factor at the NFL level for a while.

Still, in terms of the buzz that he’s gotten in Eagles communities, you have to understand that this can be an emotional fan base at times, and emotion could be playing the biggest part of what fans are feeling right now.

It’s easy to watch what Dean did versus the Michigan Wolverines and the Alabama Crimson Tide during the College Football Playoff and resign yourself to every theory you hear that this is a slam dunk for the Eagles at 15 or 16, but the fact of the matter is this.

The Eagles will have better options than taking Dean in Round 1 of the draft. Utah’s Devin Lloyd is one of them. Many have rated him as the top linebacker on the board, and even though mock drafts shouldn’t be the final say in analysis, many of them are intriguing.

There have been guesses that Lloyd goes early and slides to the Eagles in the middle of the first round.

Philly will also have options a month earlier during free agency. Take Bobby Wagner for instance. There are a ton of teams that would love to land him, Philadelphia included, and if the Eagles have a shot at bringing him in and they do, taking a linebacker becomes an afterthought.

The argument can be made that EDGE and cornerback are the Eagles’ biggest needs, and Jermaine Johnson II fits the bill if the Birds go after a defensive end. He’s a slam dunk, and he’s a monster selection to fill a hole the Eagles figure to have if they move on from Derek Barnett and Ryan Kerrigan, a very likely scenario.

There’s also center Tyler Linderbaum who will be hard to pass up if he falls to 15 and the argument that, if Philadelphia wants to upgrade their secondary, it will be hard to pass on Trent McDuffie once Derek Stingley and Ahmad Fardner are both off of the board.

Don’t get us wrong. There’s no need to throw a pity party if Dean is the Eagles selection at 15,16, or 19, but if they elect to go with someone like Travon Walker instead, that would be a solid move for the franchise as well.