SI Predicts First Safety off NFL Draft Boards
The Eagles could use a safety.
Perhaps it isn’t as dire a need anymore, since they decided to bring back Jalen Mills and will convert him to safety, and Rodney McLeod and signed free agent Will Parks.
That doesn’t mean they won’t take one when the 2020 NFL Draft begins in just three weeks.
In addition to Mills, McLeod and Parks, the Eagles also have Rudy Ford and Marcus Epps on the roster.
Neither Epps nor Ford are considered to be more of a special team player, though Epps played 99 defensive snaps after being claimed off waivers from the Vikings on Nov. 7. Ford received just 16 defensive snaps in 10 games before he was placed on Injured Reserve with an abdomen injury.
There are options at safety, and Sports Illustrated took a look at who the first one off the board might be in the draft.
The Eagles won’t be the first team that takes a safety.
In fact, they may not get around to shoring up that position until the third day of the draft.
In my Eagles mock draft 2.0 I had the them selecting Lenoir-Rhyne’s Kyle Dugger in the second round.
It could still happen, or maybe Minnesota’s Antoine Winfield is in play with their second-round selection, at No. 53.
No matter who they take – or if they take anybody at all – it likely won’t be Alabama’s Xavier McKinney or LSU’s Grant Delpit.
They are considered to be the top two players at their position entering the draft and will likely be gone in the first round or early in the second round at the latest.
Three third-day options for the Eagles could be Kenny Robinson, Clemson’s K’Von Wallace or Louisiana Tech’s L’Jarius Sneed.
Robinson is an interesting prospect in that he was kicked out of West Virginia University in an academic fraud scandal, was unable to enter the transfer portal, so he went into the XFL, picking up valuable experience in a league that had many former NFL players.
