Eagles' Cost to Acquire Jordan Davis, A.J. Brown Well Worth It

PHILADELPHIA – The offseason began with the Eagles owning 10 draft picks, including three in the first round at 15, 16, and 19.

Things sure changed quickly beginning with the Eagles moving the 19th pick to the Saints for their 18th selection on an April 4 deal that involved six other draft picks of various sorts.

Then came the Thursday night’s explosion in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft.

It began when GM Howie Roseman sent away three third-day picks in order to swap selections with the Texans, going from 15 to 13 and taking Georgia defensive tackle Jordan Davis, a player Roseman reminded everyone later “was Top-10 in Heisman voting, (an) Outland Trophy winner. This was a dominant college player too for a dominant college defense.”

Then came the blockbuster deal to land superstar WR A.J. Brown by trading away the 18th pick and a third-rounder. The Eagles then made Brown the fourth-highest paid pass-catcher in the league with a $100M contract, putting him behind only Tyreek Hill, Davante Adams, and DeAndre Hopkins.

“We just added to our passing game,” said head coach Nick Sirianni. “We were, I believe, 25th in the NFL in passing [last year], and you don't ever want to be that low in anything because, again, you're predictable to the defense.”

Brown’s presence will also aid DeVonta Smith as he enters his second season.

“No one thought DeVonta was a secret, he won the Heisman Trophy, but there's still a prove it factor for a lot of these defensive coordinators in the NFL,” said Sirianni. “I saw it with [Chargers WR] Keenan Allen. He had a little bit of a slip from year one to year two, just the fact the defenses were keying on him a little bit more.

"This is going to make that an awful lot harder for defenses to do with the proven commodity like A.J. Brown on the opposite side of him.”

The aftermath of the two deals: The Eagles got vastly better on the defensive line and in the passing game. It also left them with just four picks over the next two days of the draft.

That's not a bad thing, though it is strange that the Eagles never actually drafted any players at their original seeding in the first round at 15, 16, and 19.

“You have to think about where those (traded away) draft picks are and the hit rates on those draft picks,” said Roseman. “All draft picks are not created equal. It's not like we gave up six first-round picks. I don't think that's necessarily fair to just say (five, including Davis) picks. It's where they are.”

Rounds Two and Three are Friday night and Philadelphia owns picks 51 and 83 overall.

Roseman hinted he would try to recoup some of the picks, when he turned to VP of Player Personnel Andy Weidl at their end-of-first-round news conference and said, “I got your back.”

Well, he has Jalen Reagor and Andre Dillard to shop. Perhaps even Nate Herbig.

Realistically, they won’t fetch too much, but maybe they can be included in a trade back to acquire another pick or two.

“Obviously, when we started with 10 picks and we're at six; I think Andy and his staff are a little mad at me right now for that,” said Roseman. “Let’s just see what happens here. But we have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of areas we want to continue to improve on this football team.

"That work's not going to stop. It's not going to stop Saturday, it's not going to stop Sunday and it's not going to stop really until the trade line. Even then, we are going to look at the waiver wire and keep working, try to get better.”

On Thursday night the Eagles got much better, no matter the cost.

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Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.