Eagles Explore Navy Prospect As Top-30 Visits Wind Down

The Philadelphia Eagles have been all over the talent map at safety, and who they met with during the top-30 process.

Aug 26, 2023; Dublin, IRL; Navy Midshipmen safety Rayuan Lane III (18) knocks the ball away from Notre Dame Fighting Irish running back Audric Estime (7) in the first quarter at Aviva Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-Imagn Images | Matt Cashore-Imagn Images

It doesn’t happen often, but maybe it will this year, and maybe it will be the Eagles who make it happen.

On the final day the NFL allows teams to have top-30 visits with prospects in the draft, the Eagles reportedly met with safety Rayuan Lane III, who played at the Naval Academy. The last player selected in the NFL Draft from Navy was five years ago when the Miami Dolphins took running back Malcolm Perry in the seventh round, the 246th player taken in a draft that saw Joe Burrow go first overall to the Bengals.

The Eagles have been all over the map with their top-30 reported visits at the safety spot. In addition to Lane, they also met with Malaki Starks, a first-round talent, and Jaylen Reed, considered more of a fourth-round option. Lane is a seventh-round pick at best, and more likely an undrafted free agent option.

The Eagles don’t have any selections in the sixth or seventh rounds of a draft that begins next Thursday with the first round. That could change with general manager and trader Howie Roseman at the controls.

Lane is 5-11, 200 pounds. Though not overly athletic judging by his NFL Scouting Combine numbers – 4.57 in the 40 with a 37-inch vertical jump - he had a productive final season with the Midshipmen, starting all 13 games and finishing with three forced fumbles, two interceptions with one returned for a touchdown, and four pass breakups.

This is what NFL Media draft analyst Lance Zierlein wrote about him: “A mainstay of the Navy defense, Lane roams the field with ball-hawking instincts and an impressive special teams résumé. Lane lacks length but is well-built and moves fluidly in space. He does a nice job of reading quarterbacks and getting early jumps on the throw from his zone perch but will occasionally allow the action to get behind him when he lingers with his eyes.

“He plays ready football in run support but needs to improve his pacing and technique as an open-field tackler. Lane has enough talent to land as a backup safety and will likely stand out as a gunner on special teams.”

The Eagles already have a military academy graduate on their roster with offensive lineman Brett Toth, who played at West Point and was signed by the Eagles as an undrafted free agent in 2019.

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