Eagles Should Trade First-Round Pick
If ever there was a year for the Eagles to part ways with a first-round draft pick for the right player, it is this year.
The right player is out there, and that player is defensive end Yannick Ngakoue, who wants out of Jacksonville and probably won’t sign the franchise tag the Jaguars put on him recently. If he knows he’s getting dealt and a new deal is happening, you can bet Ngakoue would sign then.
The reason this is the right draft for that team to be the Eagles is because they own 10 picks and the position the team needs to fortify most – wide receiver - is deep and can wait until the second round before addressing.
Ngakoue, who is still just 24, is worth a first-round pick.
Last year, the Seahawks traded defensive end Frank Clark, who was 25 at the time, to the Kansas City Chiefs, costing KC its 2019 first-round pick and a 2020 second-round pick. Seattle and Kansas City also switched draft positions in last year’s third round. I’d surrender that if I were Eagles general manager Howie Roseman.
Ngakoue and Clark had similar numbers after four years in the league, with Ngakoue having 37.5 sacks and 122 tackles to Clark’s 35 sacks and 136 tackles.
The pain would come in the salary. The Chiefs signed Clark to a five-year, $105 million contract that included $63.5 million guaranteed, which would be a big investment for an Eagles team that is paying quarterback Carson Wentz and defensive tackle Fletcher Cox millions upon millions.
Cox is making base salaries of $11.2 million in 2020, $15 million in 2021, and $16.1 million in 2022; whereas Wentz’s salaries spill into the low $20 million range beginning in 2022 and continue through 2024.
Finding the money then to pay Ngakoue could be an issue, but when it comes to matters of the salary cap, Roseman has proven to be resourceful.
It comes down to this: would you rather have Ngakoue or a pass rusher in the first-round of the draft like Iowa's A.J. Epenesa or LSU's K'Lavon Chaisson? And that's assuming that one would even still be there at pick No. 21.
Locking Ngakoue down for five seasons would take him through much of his prime and, if former first-round pick Derek Barnett, who is still just 23, can stay healthy and live up to expectations, the Eagles would have their bookend pass rushers through at least the first half of this decade.
Something that could be an obstacle, in addition to money, is that the Jaguars don’t really need any more first-round picks. They already own two, including their own at No. 9 and the Los Angeles Rams’ first at No. 20 after LA sent that pick to the Jags in the trade for cornerback Jalen Ramsey at the 2019 trade deadline.
Jacksonville also picked up a second first-round pick from the Rams, which will come in 2021, giving them two No. 1s next year, too.
That was a crazy amount of collateral for the Rams to give up, and it didn’t even get them back to the Super Bowl, let alone a playoff berth.
Anyway, perhaps the Jags would take three first-rounders this year and maybe try to move up in the first round to acquire a quarterback for their future. Right now, they are trying to unload Nick Foles and seem content to go with Gardner Minshew as their starter.
Would they rather try to get into the top-five of this year’s draft for a shot at Justin Herbert or Tua Tagovailoa?
If so, then the Eagles should try to make that happen for them in exchange for Ngakoue’s services.
If it only costs Philly one pick in this year’s draft and a second next year, then so be it. They would still have nine picks this year and can grab a receiver such as Penn State’s K.J. Hamler, Notre Dame’s Chase Claypool, or TCU’s Jalen Reagor, whose stock seems to be slipping after a 10-pound weight gain for the Combine cost Reagor some speed in his 40 time.
The Eagles still have two third-round picks and can find a cornerback there and maybe even an offensive lineman that can play any of the three positions. Or even something else.
Heck, maybe they even try to use another pick or two to climb higher in the second round than their current spot at No. 53.
To land someone like Ngakoue would already make this draft a home run no matter who the Eagles picked.
