Eagles' GM On The Importance Of Top-30 Visits

Some organizations don't even use them, but the Eagles value the information-gathering process of top-30 visits.

Eagles GM Howie Roseman speaks to reporters at the NovaCare Complex on April 15, 2025. / John McMullen/Eagles On SI

PHILADELPHIA - The Eagles have a recent history of drafting players who have come through the NovaCare Complex on top-30 visits.

The idea of top-30 visits varies from city to city. The Los Angeles Rams and Jacksonville Jaguars don't use them. Others play the subterfuge game. For the reigning Super Bowl champions, it's a valued part of the process.

Philadelphia GM Howie Roseman was asked about those visits at his pre-draft media availability on Tuesday.

"I think that we have changed a little bit in how we approach the Top-30," said Roseman. "Like everything, it's an information gathering process for us. The whole draft process is gathering information, constantly gathering information. [Head coach] Nick [Sirianni] and I are on the phone all the time talking to people that we know in college football, trying to get to know these guys as well as we can so we can make good decisions.

"So for us, it's really just trying to fill in a lot of the blanks and the more we get to know people, the more that we expose them to not only us but people around us, the better we get a feel for them. So we think they're incredibly valuable for us."

To date, 24 of the Eagles' allotted 30 visits have been reported with the headliners being edge rushers Donovan Ezeiruaku of Boston College and Nic Scourton of Texas A&M, Georgia safety Malaki Starks, Oregon offensive tackle Josh Conerly Jr., Ohio State offensive guard Donovan Jackson and cornerbacks Trey Amos of Ole Miss, and Maxwell Hairston on Kentucky.

While there are no guarantees, there is a good chance that the Eagles' first pick, whether they stay at No. 32 overall or trade up or down, will come from that list of players.

"Obviously, everyone's got their own way of looking at things, but at the same time, we only have 30 of [these vists]," Roseman said. "We've got to do more work on a lot more guys in this draft than just the 30 guys that come here.

"But, we like that process and we really like involving everyone in the building. We have a really good building, we have really good people who have good instincts on people, good instincts in their field, and being able to utilize those people in our building, see how they operate with the people that they would have to be dealing with every day, we think is a valuable part of the process."

You can also earmark those names who crossed through NovaCare this year for the future.

The Eagles brought in offensive guard Kenyon Green before the 2022 draft and quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson before the 2023 selection meeting. Philadelphia got neither in the draft but ultimately ended up trading for each this offseason.

"All of those are independent evaluations and independent opportunities that you're going for. When we're looking to bring in guys here, we're looking for talent. It's hard to play in the NFL. It's hard to play at a high level in the NFL," Roseman explained. "So usually guys who get drafted high, part of the evaluation is the talent that they have in their body. So when you get a second chance on some of those guys, then you go into part B, which is all the work that we do.

"I mean, we're going to have some extraordinary amount of reports in the system. Let's use 500 as a round number. And at the end of the day, we will have, as it stands now, eight chances to select guys off the board. And then we'll have somewhere between 12 and 20 free agents that we'll sign after the draft. So really, we're talking about 20 to 25 selections that we'll make over the draft weekend, which I'm excited about. I love that. But when you think about the overall work that gets in, it doesn't really relate to that total number."

Often the work doesn't go to waste.

"Where it does come in is the other opportunities, the other talent acquisition periods, whether it's at the waiver wire in August, whether it's on practice squads, whether it's for trades, whether it's when they become unrestricted free agents," Roseman said. "And so we have this body of work that we can pull back up and that we can go back and understand the work that our scouts did on their character, on their work ethic. We have what we have on them as player evaluations coming out of college. We have now player evaluations of them as pro players. And so all of that goes into how we acquire players going forward once they enter the NFL."

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