Eagles Could Pull A Surprise In First Round Of NFL Draft

This would be a surprise for the Eagles in this spring’s draft – selecting Emmanuel McNeil-Warren or Dillon Thieneman with their 23rd overall pick. Either safety would make a lot of sense, though. With the NFL Scouting Combine coming up in two weeks, it would be wise to pay attention to this position regarding the Eagles.

There are three reasons why McNeil-Warren and Thieneman could be in the first-round conversation:

One: The Eagles need safeties if they don’t re-sign Reed Blankenship or Marcus Epps, and Drew Mukuba, who is considered undersized at 5-11, 185, still needs time to recover from the broken fibula he suffered in mid-November that ended his season. Mukuba was still in a walking boot during the team’s locker cleanout day on Jan. 12. Sydney Brown could be a cut candidate.

Two: Waren and Thieneman are both considered first-round talents. Warren is from Toledo, which produced the Eagles’ first-round pick two years ago, Quinyon Mitchell. Warren, who is 6-2, 202, is the No. 19 prospect on the top 50 list of NFL Media draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah, calling him “a bouncy, twitchy athlete with Pro Bowl potential.”

Thieneman, who is 6-0, 205, was a three-year starter at Oregon and is No. 25 on Jeremiah’s top 50 board, a player Jeremiah said, “was a versatile chess piece in Oregon’s defense. He lined up in the box, in the deep half, and over the slot…does a lot of different tasks at a very high level. His skill set is highly coveted around the NFL.”

Versatility Key For Pair Of Safeties

Oregon defensive back Dillon Thieneman carries the ball as the Oregon Ducks practice on Jan. 5, 2025, at the Moshofsky Center in Eugene, Oregon, ahead of the Peach Bowl. | Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Three: The NFL is a copycat league, and the top cats are the Seattle Seahawks. There’s plenty worth copying from them, but, specifically, for the Eagles, it was the play of rookie safety Nick Emmanwori, a versatile piece to the Super Bowl champions’ defense. He lined up all over the field, logging more than 300 snaps as a slot corner, over 250 as a linebacker, and about 60 as an edge rusher, and was a finalist for the Defensive Rookie of the Year award.

Emmanwori was taken 35 th overall last year, so the Eagles could have had him, but moved up from 32 to 31 to take talented linebackerJihaad Campbell.

There are three reasons, however, why it would be a surprise.

One: The Eagles have never drafted a safety in the first round. Even Hall of Famer Brian Dawkins came in the second round.

Two: It would be a fifth straight year they drafted a defensive player, a trend that should probably end in April

Three: The draft is relatively deep at the position, so the Eagles could grab one in the second round as they did with Mukuba. Maybe even the third round or the third day, though the talent level would probably be a drop-off from an early-round safety. Still, some to watch outside the first round are USC’s Kamari Ramsey, Penn State’s Zakee Wheatley, Texas’ Michael Taaffe, LSU’s A.J. Hauley, Maryland’s Jalen Huskey, and many others.

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