Day 2 Draft Recap: War Room Incident, No CBs, Dickerson Medical, and More
PHILADELPHIA – The Eagles had just drafted defensive tackle Milton Williams in the third round of the 2021 NFL Draft on Friday night when general manager Howie Roseman began making his way through the Eagles’ war room, fist-bumping anybody that would let him when he arrived at Tom Donahoe, the organization’s senior director of player personnel.
Donahoe gave a less than enthusiastic fist bump and looked very unhappy, saying something that the TV cameras, which were rolling, couldn’t quite pick up. Roseman opened his arms, palms up, to address whatever the issue.
Roseman was asked about it later on a Zoom call with Eagles media.
“These guys spend all year scouting these guys and you get favorites,” he said. “You get guys that you feel really strongly about. We all do. That’s the fun part about being in the draft room is the emotions of it. At the end of the day, Milton Williams is an exciting player for our football team. We’re excited to have him. I don’t want to take away from his day, but we’re all excited about that pick.”
Well, Donahoe didn’t seem to be.
What may have angered Donahoe was Roseman’s trade down three spots in the third round, going from No. 70 to No. 73 in a deal with the Carolina Panthers.
In that span of three picks, Central Florida cornerback Aaron Robinson came off the board, going to the New York Giants, who traded up five spots to get him.
“There were a couple of guys we liked on the board and moved back a little bit to see how it would go,” said Roseman. “A couple of guys we liked went as well.”
A day after hitting a home run with the selection of DeVonta Smith in the first round, Roseman seemed unable to build on that momentum by taking a center in Landon Dickerson in the second round with an injury history and a defensive tackle that weighs 284 pounds.
They could prove to be good picks, but with a cornerback like Asante Samuel Jr. still on the board in the second round and other CBs like Paulson Adebo and Benjamin St-Juste there in the third round and getting taken in a span of three picks after the Eagles took Williams, Day Two feels like a bunt single.
CORNERBACK PHODDER: Speaking of corners, Roseman was asked what’s up at that position after not taking one in the first two days.
“We were going with the board,” the GM said. “We've got eight picks (Saturday). We don’t start the season until September. There are other ways to skin a cat. We wanted to go into the draft, take the best player, and kind of go from there and we’ll see what happens (Saturday).”
The Eagles have eight picks on the draft's final day, including four in the sixth round after the trade with Carolina.
The picks are: 123, 150, 189, 191, 224, 225, 234, 240.
In addition to the draft, there are still two solid CB free agents the Eagles could take a look at after the draft: Richard Sherman and Steven Nelson.
SHOULD’VE SEEN IT COMING: That the Eagles went offensive lineman in round two and defensive lineman in round three was sort of forecast by Roseman on Thursday night.
He was asked if there was a philosophical switch in thinking after taking a wide receiver in the first round for a second straight year.
“Obviously we got a lot more work to do here (Friday) and Saturday, and it is definitely not shifting our focus or philosophy,” he said.
MEDICAL CENTER: The Eagles got burned when they took cornerback Sidney Jones in the second round of the 2017 draft after Jones tore his Achilles during his pro day in March. Despite being considered a top-15 pick before the injury, he never panned out.
Now along comes Landon Dickerson, who is the best center in the draft, but he tore an ACL for the second time in his career after 11 games in the 2020 season.
“There’s risk-reward,” said Roseman. “I think again, we rely on our medical staff to try to figure out the best way to handle these. If guys are fails and they’re off the board, those aren’t discussed anymore after the medical meeting. We look at this guy as a guy who is one of the top talents in this draft, a really talented guy, and a culture setter for our organization. We’re really excited to get him.”
Roseman is confident that Dickerson will play at some point this season.
“We're confident it's not going to be a redshirt season,” he said. “I think going in [with Sidney] we kind of said, ‘Hey, this is a guy, he's not going to play this year and we're just going to get him right.’ That's not what we were thinking about with Landon.
“Again, we know that we're going to have to hold him back a little bit. I mean, that's who he is and what he wants to do.”
SWEET HOME ALABAMA: After not taking a player from Alabama in 18 years, the Eagles took two in a row, and they seem really sensitive about it after SI.com Eagle Maven asked Roseman in his pre-draft availability why that had been the case.
Roseman brought it up on Thursday night and on Friday it was VP of player personnel Andy Weidl, who ticked off a list of scouts who have Alabama connections.
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s EagleMaven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
