First and second-round NFL Draft prospects Eagles should steer clear of

Maybe this is wildly inaccurate and off-base, but right now, we can’t fathom the idea of using a top-ten NFL Draft selection on Peter Skoronski.

Here’s some brutal honesty. We just don’t see what some of you are seeing. Maybe we’re wrong. In truth, Peter Skoronski might be the best thing since someone decided to slice a loaf of bread.

We will acknowledge that he’s uber-talented. Heck, barring injury, we’d be willing to wager that he’s a future perennial All-Pro with eight or nine Pro Bowls in his future. Truthfully, we wouldn’t be surprised if his career took off immediately, but as of today -like right now- we keep coming back to the same three thoughts.

First, the Eagles used a second-round draft choice on Cam Jurgens last year. Rather than redshirt him for another season, we’d rather see Philly start him at right guard and draft another interior lineman later for depth in the coming draft.

Second, some things worry us about Skoronski physically. Some scouts have told us the Northwestern staff tried to hype him up as being better than Rashawn Slater. Again, we can be wrong, but we as of right now -like today- we just aren’t ready to buy into that.

Skoronski, though clearly deserving of first-round grades, isn’t the perfect prospect by any means. Sure, he’s a day-one starter in the NFL but has short arms. He played tackle at the NCAA level but probably grades out as a guard professionally which might rule out the possibility of him being an eventual replacement for Lane Johnson (that would be why we warrant using a top-ten selection on him). He also needs to work on his hand placements and improve on his tendency to be beaten by more athletic edge rushers.

Third, while we, again, believe he deserves to be taken in the first round, we can’t justify spending the tenth-overall selection on him. Simply put, if he was available at 15, we’d pounce, but we all know he won’t be available at 15. A Super Bowl may be on the line. We’d rather the Birds use the tenth pick to address another need.

Again, we can be wrong. We have been wrong before and will be wrong again, but we aren’t hearing arguments that are taking us out of this theory that, at ten and in using the ‘best player available’ theory that there won’t be a more explosive and more attractive option when Philly is on the clock with their first pick.