NFL DRAFT DAY 2: What Eagles Should Do vs. What They Will Do

PHILADELPHIA - There is still plenty of talent left in the NFL Draft and the Eagles won’t have to wait long to take another crack at it on Friday night where they will be up at No. 37 overall, the fifth pick of the night.

The overnight pause before Days 2 and 3 of the draft often results in resets around the league with organizations identifying the best talent available left on the board and making the first selection a prime spot for a trade-up.

WHAT THE EAGLES SHOULD DO?

Howie Roseman should make the call to Shad Khan and Urban Meyer in Jacksonville with an eye on Notre Dame hybrid Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, almost universally regarded as a first-round pick but a player who inexplicably was not taken on Thursday night.

There are no character concerns when it comes to JOK and there have been no medical issues leaked to date so the only explanation for the fall is the fact that Owusu-Koramoah is projected by most to be a linebacker at less than 220 pounds.

What Owusu-Koramoah really should be is a hybrid that floats all over the back seven in an age where defensive coaches like to talk about the evolution of defensive football toward positionless players but seem to be afraid to pull the trigger on those types of athletes.

Tweener is an antiquated word in the NFL but it also remains a dirty one.

The Eagles already gave up a third-round pick to go up on Thursday to get another undersized player in receiver DeVonta Smith so they won’t want to give up any draft capital but maybe attaching the disgruntled Zach Ertz to the 37th pick would be enough to get Philadelphia to the No. 1 spot on Friday and what would come with that: a direct line to JOK.

The selling point?

Well, the Jags are building around No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence at quarterback, and what’s a better security blanket for a young signal-caller than a great receiving TE?

Jacksonville hasn’t been a suitor for Ertz to date but it can’t hurt to call because TE1 on the First Coast right now is oft-injured veteran Tyler Eifert, ironically the first TE selected in the 2013 draft when Ertz was the TE2.

WHAT THE EAGLES WILL DO?

The far-more-likely scenario on Thursday is the Eagles stay put and select either a cornerback or edge defender with the 37th pick.

At CB, Georgia’s Tyson Campbell is likely to come off the board very quickly, and perhaps next in line is Florida State’s Asante Samuel Jr., the son of the ex-Eagles CB who figures to be a really nice option in a zone-coverage scheme for Jonathan Gannon.

Wake Forest edge rusher Carlos Basham could also intrigue the Eagles as a solid base end and power player, especially with Brandon Graham aging and Derek Barnett and Josh Sweat entering contract years.

At No. 70 overall, the Eagles could finally address the offensive line with either an interior option - perhaps Quinn Meinerz of Wisconsin-Whitewater - and an outside prospect like Northern Iowa offensive tackle Spencer Brown.

Those would both be high-level developmental prospects for Jeff Stoutland with higher ceilings than Nate Herbig, Luke Juriga, and Jack Driscoll who could be ready to tag in by the time the shelf lives of Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson are nearing the expiration dates.

John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on both PhillyVoice.com and YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

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