Mark Dominik's Take on Drafting LB and Another WR in First Round

The Eagles have never drafted a safety in the first round, and we all know the last time they went with an off-the-ball linebacker on the first night of a draft was 40-plus years ago.

There might be a glimmer of hope that changes at the end of the month when the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft begins on April 28. At least with one of those positions.

“I do think for the Eagles you could certainly take a linebacker in round one and feel pretty good about who might fall there,” said Mark Dominik, host of SiriusXM Blitz on Friday afternoons and who will serve as the draft analyst on both SiriusXM NFL Radio and ESPNU Radio channels from the draft site in Las Vegas.

“There’s a chance Nakobe Dean’s there. You may get Devin Lloyd. Quay Walker is a guy I’d keep my eyes on. He’s moving up mock draft boards right now.

“I don’t know how high he’s going, but he’s certainly there. To me, linebacker feels like the more logical one. Safety feels like unless Kyle Hamilton has a tremendous fall, which I don’t expect it to be that big of a fall, it’s going to be harder for me to see them take a safety in round one.”

Dominik worked in an NFL front office for 20 years, 19 of them with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and five of his draft classes produced four All-Rookie Team members three Pro Bowlers, and 13 players who started a minimum of three years for the franchise.

He believes the Eagles could take a linebacker and potentially a defensive tackle.

Dominik, though, was asked what his thoughts were about Howie Roseman potentially becoming just the second general manager in league history to spend first-round picks on the same position in three straight years.

That position, of course, is wide receiver.

The Lions did it when Matt Millen was in charge, spending a top-10 pick on one in three straight drafts, 2003-05, then needed to get another one in 2007, which turned out to be Calvin Johnson. It turned out to finally be the right pick, but it took Millen four cracks at it and he was then out of a job in 2008.

“I’m not opposed to it,” Dominik said about the possibility Roseman spends one of his two first-round picks, either 15 or 18, on yet another pass-catcher.

That player would add to the Jalen Reagor pick in 2020 and the selection of DeVonta Smith last year.

“When you have a young quarterback, you like to let him have as much of a safety net as possible and you also want to be able to spread out defenses are far as possible," Dominik added. "So, if they like a bigger body guy, like Drake London if he’s there, it’s hard not to imagine pairing him with DeVonta (Smith) and saying, ‘Wow, we’re in pretty good shape.’ So, I could understand that.”

London is a 6-4, 219-pound product from the University of Southern California.

NFL analyst Lance Zierlein compared London to Ed McCaffrey, who had a 13-year career with three teams and finished with 55 career touchdowns as a third-round pick out of Stanford in 1991.

“You keep taking them in the first round (until you get it right),” said Dominik. “I think they got last year’s 100 percent right with Smith. The Lions kept doing it and they ended up with Calvin Johnson. It worked out for them that they ended up with an elite, elite gold jacket.

"I wouldn’t be opposed to (the Eagles doing it) with multiple picks and a young quarterback. I can understand the mindset to that.”

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.