Will this be the Year the Eagles Take a Player from Alabama?
PHILADELPHIA – Alabama prospects are slotted in various spots on the Eagles’ draft board, many of whom are clustered together on the first-round line, but several others are plugged into other draft lines too.
It’s no different than any other year, according to Eagles GM Howie Roseman.
What would be different is if Roseman actually drafts one.
When it’s come time to taking a prospect from one of the nation’s best college programs, one that seemingly creates NFL players at some secret laboratory in one of the state’s nooks and crannies, the Eagles never seem to get one.
General manager Howie Roseman had no good answer as to why, either.
“You know, I'd like to joke and say it's something about being a Florida grad with Alabama, but the reality is my wife's family is from Mobile and they're Alabama fans,” said Roseman on Wednesday.
“You know, I think we look at Alabama as a program that's incredibly well run. The NFL players that come out of there are ready to play and ready to go. I know there's a lot of guys on our draft board at the University of Alabama not only in this draft but in a lot of other drafts.
"Tremendous respect for [Alabama] Coach [Nick] Saban and what they've done there, and we would be excited to add players from the University of Alabama.”
Not since 2002 have the Eagles looked to the Tide campus for a roster answer.
Wide receiver Freddie Milons was the pick that year, but he was hardly an answer, coming in the fifth round of a draft that produced several key members on an Eagles team that made the Super Bowl after the 2004 season: Lito Sheppard, Michael Lewis, and Sheldon Brown, along with RB Brian Westbrook.
It would be surprising, to say the least, if Roseman doesn’t take an Alabama player this year, and there are three who could be in play with their 12th pick: receivers Jaylen Waddle and DeVonta Smith, and cornerback Patrick Surtain II.
Smith is the Heisman Trophy winner.
The Eagles have taken just three of those since the draft began in 1935 and it was that year in which they chose their first, University of Chicago halfback Jay Berwanger with the first overall pick. The Eagles didn’t think they could meet his salary demands, though, and traded him to the Chicago Bears for tackle Art Buss.
The other two Heisman winners they took were quarterbacks Davey O’Brien from TCU in 1938, the fourth overall pick, and John Huarte from Notre Dame in 1964, the 76th overall selection.
This will be the second year that two Tide WRs get picked in the first round. Last year it was Henry Ruggs and Jerry Jeudy.
Ruggs went 12th overall to the Las Vegas Raiders, played 13 games, and had 26 catches for 452 yards and two touchdowns.
Jeudy went 15th overall to the Denver Broncos, played all 16 with 14 starts, and had 52 receptions for 856 yards and three scores.
Meanwhile, ’Bama had two secondary players taken last year – safety Xavier McKinney (No. 36 overall to the Giants) and cornerback Trevon Diggs (No. 51 overall to the Cowboys).
If the Eagles don’t get one of this year’s big three – or quarterback Mac Jones, either, for that matter – there are Alabama players who could be available in the second or third rounds.
They are offensive linemen Landon Dickerson, Deonta Brown, and Alex Leatherwood, linebacker Dylan Moses, tight end Miller Forristall, and long snapper Thomas Fletcher.
Will this be the year one of them suits up for the Eagles?
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s EagleMaven and 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.
