Inside The Passion Of Day 3 For The Eagles

PHILADELPHIA - Eagles GM Howie Roseman had just put the finishing touches on his largest draft class since 2020 before assembling the organizational staff for the now annual tradition of a “class picture” to both show the scope of draft weekend for the franchise and to thank everyone that has helped him reach the perch of perhaps the most well-regarded personnel executive in professional football.

Two players over the first two days of the 2025 draft turned into 10 by Sunday evening bookended by impressive Nebraska defensive tackle Ty Robinson, and productive Virginia Tech edge rusher Antwaun Powell-Ryland, the first time since 2011, Roseman’s second year as GM, that kind of volume was secured on Day 3 when the philosophy changes.

Roseman explained the organizational philosophy during Day 3 of the draft:

“In the third round, you're trying to get a minimum of solid starters, and same really for the fourth round [Robinson] and in the middle rounds [as a whole],” said Roseman. “And I think for us, when we look at the later stages of the draft, we're shooting for starters.”

The Eagles have what Roseman has coined a “passion meeting” on Saturday morning, a session where all the scouts and personnel executives join Roseman, head coach Nick Sirianni and owner Jeffrey Lurie for one last opportunity to pound the table for a prospect they believe should be brought into the program.

“We have this meeting this morning and I tell our scouts all the time, we can find backups,” Roseman said. “We could find backups in August, we can find backups on our team. We want to find starters.”

There is also some realism to Day 3 of the draft, however.

“I mean, you take eight guys, and you hit on three starters, I mean, you are smoking,” said Roseman. “You are doing a really good job. So, we're going to take shots on guys who have traits and we're looking for guys that can make a difference.”

In recent years, Roseman had had a history of keeping a large percentage of his drafted players on the 53-man roster. When the volume increases, that comes with the understanding of that becoming tougher.

“We're not worried about the guys that may not [make the roster] – we're not looking for the numbers,” the GM insisted. “We're not saying, ‘Hey, 90 percent of the guys made our roster.’ We're looking for guys who can make an impact for the Philadelphia Eagles.”

That means those traits for the Eagles, whether it’s Robinson’s relentlessness as a person, the bloodlines of Boston College center Drew Kendall and Michigan offensive tackle Myles Hinton, the speed of Central Florida cornerback Mac McWilliams and Georgia linebacker Smael Mondon Jr, the processing skills of Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord, the pure size of Texas OT Cameron Williams, or the savviness of Powell-Ryland’s pass-rushing toolbox.

“The draft is our opportunity to [find impact players]. So, a lot of these guys are traits guys that we think that have a love for the game that we can develop with this great coaching staff and this player development staff and the sports staff to turn into starters,” Roseman said.

“And that's what we're looking for.”

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