EAGLES DAY 3 DRAFT TRACKER: Follow the Picks as They Happen
The Eagles have made three picks over the first two days of the draft, and none were a cornerback.
Here's the way the first two days have gone:
First round:
Trade up from No. 12 to No. 10 with the Cowboys and selected Alabama's Heisman Trophy-winning WR DeVonta Smith.
Second round:
Went back to Alabama to take center/guard Landon Dickerson with the 37th overall selection.
Third round:
Traded back three spots with the Carolina Panthers in return for a sixth-round pick, No. 189 overall, and picked defensive tackle Milton Williams.
That is a receiver, interior offensive lineman, and a defensive tackle.
Here we go with day three:
Fourth Round:
12:25: The Cleveland Browns selected OT James Hudson from Cincinnati with the No. 110 overall pick.
You may ask what that has to do with the Eagles. Well, that was the selection that Philadelphia sent to Cleeland at the 2019 trade deadline to acquire pass-rusher Genard Avery so the book is finally closed there.
The new coaching staff is moving Avery to LB this season and he may have a difficult time making the final 53.
12:56: The Eagles finally got some cornerback help selecting Texas Tech's Zech McPhearson with the 123rd overall pick in the fourth round. McPhearson is 5-11, 191 pounds. He began his career at Penn State before transferring to Texas Tech. He had four interceptions in 2020. He started 12 games in 2019, as well (51 tackles, 2.5 for loss, five pass breakups, two blocked kicks).
"That transfer did a lot for me as a player and as a man, just being able to graduate early and step out and go away from where I’m comfortable,” McPhearson said on Texas Tech's Pro Day. “I definitely would say it helped me build my character and coming to this team, being an older player, it changed my responsibility. A lot of the guys, I was older than, so they looked up to me as a leader, and that definitely has helped me as a player, just being more knowledgeable with things that I can help the younger guys with on and off the field.”
Texas Tech CB Zech McPhearson was picked in the fourth round by the Eagles
USA Today
2:08: With the 150th overall pick in the fifth round the Eagles got a potential RB2 as a complement to Miles Sanders, selecting Memphis' Kenneth Gainwell.
At 5-8 and 201 pounds, Gainwell is good value this late, slipping perhaps due to sitting out the 2020 season due to COVID-19 concerns.
A Yazoo City, Mississippi native, the same hometown as Fletcher Cox, Gainwell was a star in 2019 and was named first-team All-American Athletic Conference and the AAC Rookie of the Year after rushing for 1,459 yards on 231 carries (6.3 per rush) and adding 51 receptions for 610 yards.
Memphis RB Kenny Gainwell
USA Today
3:48: The Eagles traded one of their four sixth-round picks, No. 225 overall, and the 240th overall selection in the seventh round to the Washington Football Team for a 2022 fifth-round selection.
3:53: With the 189th overall pick in the sixth round the Eagles got more help for the defensive line in the form of Southern Cal defensive tackle Marlon Tuipulotu.
USC DT Marlon Tuipulotu
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At 6-2 and 307 pounds, Tuipulotu can play both nose tackle and three-technique. He was named first-team All-Pac-12 in 2020 after compiling 23 tackles, 3.5 of those for loss, and two sacks.
3:56: In a span of three picks the Eagles go D-Line on both with Coastal Carolina defensive end Tarron Jackson, a 6-2, 254-pounder, at No. 191.
Jackson was very productive in 2020, accumulating a team-high 14 tackles for loss and tying for eighth in the FBS with 8.5 sacks along with three forced fumbles in 12 starts en route to being named a first-team All-American, Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year, and a finalist for the Nagurski Trophy.
Coastal Carolina DT Tarron Jackson
USA Today
5:29 - The Eagles take hybrid back-seven player JaCoby Stevens of LSU with the 224th overall pick in the sixth round. The Eagles have one pick left - No. 234.
Stevens, 6-1, 215 pounds, was listed as a linebacker by the Eagles so that's notable as they will try the Nate Gerry-like transition again.
LSU safety/LB Jacoby Stevens
USA Today
With the 234th overall pick and their final pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, the Eagles went with a different type of hybrid in Tulane edge player Patrick Johnson. At 6-2 and 240 pounds, it's hard to imagine Johnson as a DE so we will see what new defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon thinks of him.
Johnson struggled through injuries as a junior, but still started all 13 games (35 tackles, 8.5 for loss with four sacks, four pass breakups).
Tulane LB Patrick Johnson
USA Today
He moved up to first-team all-conference accolades as a senior, tying for second in the FBS with 10 sacks (setting a school record with 24.5 in his career) and tying for eighth with 14.5 tackles for loss among his 39 total stops - also breaking up two passes and forcing two fumbles in 11 starts. Johnson missed the team's bowl, however, following the unexpected death of his father, Kevin, after he arrived in New Orleans for the game.
Of the six players the Eagles selected on Day 3, five of them were on the defensive side with the lone exception being Memphis RB Kenny Gainwell.
The draft ends for them with six defensive players taken overall and three offensive players.
