It wasn't that long ago when we woke up to rumors that the Philadelphia Eagles were entertaining trade offers for A.J. Brown. That morphed into theories that they had found a buyer in the New England Patriots. It sort of made sense. Mike Vrabel is the Pats' head coach now. He and A.J. are tight, so we understood the argument even though we never thought the trade would happen.
A.J. decided to give us a heart attack by flashing a Number 11 Pats jersey. Thankfully, he didn't keep the charade going for long, flipping it over to reveal Julian Edelman's name. Whew! Not funny A.J.! Not funny!
Well, we will never know how things might have turned out now. During the 2025 NFL Draft, the hated New York Giants removed any temptation by selecting Abdul Carter with the third overall selection.
Carter is a Philly native and the guy the Birds were rumored to be trading up third overall to select. He'll join a Giants pass rush already featuring Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux. The latter is expected to have the fifth-year option on his rookie deal exercised.
Grading the first-round selections of every Eagles rival.
All 32 first-round selections are in the books. The Birds have added Jihaad Campbell. That's a home-run addition, and with that, we offer grades for each selection made by the Philadelphia Eagles' NFC East rivals.
New York Giants - Abdul Carter (3rd overall)
We'd love to tell you the Giants didn't land a player here for obvious reasons. We love watching Big Blue fail, but we'd be lying if we said they didn't hit the jackpot here.
Carter is a baller and, without question, the class's top pass rusher. He's going to be very good for a very long time. He gives us Micah Parsons and Will Anderson vibes. Grade: A+
Dallas Cowboys - Tyler Booker (12th overall)
The Dallas Cowboys add to the trenches. Good for them. Dak Prescott is getting older and more expensive. The so-called America's Team doesn't run the ball with any consistency. They've taken an offensive linemen for the third time in four drafts.
This one might be the best the 2025 class has to offer, but he'll need to work on balance issues and agility. If coached correctly, he could truly be something special. As is the case with the G-Men, we wish we had something to complain about here, but we don't have much to pick apart. Grade: B+
New York Giants - Jaxson Dart (25th overall)
This is the moment we waited all night for. We finally earned our reason to pick on the New York Giants. Big Blue traded back into Round 1, presumably to draft a quarterback, and they did.
But, it wasn't Shedeur Sanders that they were after.
Jaxson Dart was the selection, someone the Giants presumably didn't need to trade up from the 34th overall selection to take. He probably would have been available when New York was on the clock with the second selection of Round 2.
The Houston Texans obviously win the trade here. They fleeced New York for the 34th and 99th selections in this draft and a future third-round selection moving forward.
Trading up unnecessarily... Drafting a guy at a position where so many better players were still on the board and available... This one has all the trimmings for disaster, something Giants fans are getting used to.
Dart isn't a bad player, but trading up and giving up draft capital makes this a bad move. Dart is this class's third-best QB, maybe. We just wonder if he's good enough to warrant everything Big Bluie did to get him at an area of the draft where no one was thinking about taking him, no one except for New York, we mean. Grade: C
Washington Commanders - Josh Conerly Jr. (29th overall)
This is a much better choice than the Giants made at the 25th overall selection. No, we aren't going to let that go.
The Eagles liked Josh Conerly. They even invited him to the NovaCare Complex for a Top 30 Visit. It wasn't meant to be as the former Oregon Duck lands with an NFC East rival.
Jayden Daniels is special. We all know that. The Commanders know that. They are investing the resources to keep him upright and protected. Laremy Tunsil is in town, and now, so is Conerly. A First-team All-American and First-team All-Big Ten mention in 2024. He's a solid addition to a Commanders team steadily on the rise.