The Math of ‘21’ for the Eagles

In a survey of NFL personnel executives, there's a scneario where Henry Ruggs could be available with Philly's first-round pick at No. 21 overall

In many ways when you are down the board a bit, the NFL draft becomes a math equation with the goal of figuring out what your potential paths might be.

For the Philadelphia Eagles, it’s about surveying the landscape in a realistic fashion and focusing on who might be available when the clock starts on their selection.

To that end, SI.com contacted three (one current and two former) league personnel executives and got their thoughts on how the draft board might unfold. The consensus was that 16 players would definitely be off the board by 21, including four offensive tackles and three quarterbacks.

The highly-touted receiving corps only contributed two to the consensus club - Oklahoma’s CeeDee Lamb and Alabama’s Jerry Jeudy.

If Howie Roseman “loves” any of these players, he’s going to have to go up to get them:

QBs:

Joe Burrow

Tua Tagovailoa

Justin Herbert

WRs:

CeeDee Lamb

Jerry Jeudy

OTs:

Tristan Wirfs

Jedrick Wills

Mekhi Becton

Andrew Thomas

Edge Rushers:

Chase Young

K’Lavon Chaisson

IDL:

Derrick Brown

Javon Kinlaw

LB/HYBRID:

Isaiah Simmons

CBs:

Jeffrey Okudah

C.J. Henderson

From there comes the leaning category which was very sleight and contained only two more wideouts, Alabama’s Henry Ruggs and LSU’s Justin Jefferson:

WRs:

Henry Ruggs

Justin Jefferson

That brings the total to 18 and the “maybe” category, players who are in the it-only-takes-one conversation.

That number was a healthy 10, including another quarterback in Jordan Love as well as Baylor receiver Denzel Mims, who many are connecting the dots with when it comes to Mike Mayock and the Las Vegas Raiders at No. 12.

The value probably isn’t there from an individual standpoint with offensive tackle Austin Jackson of Southern Cal, edge rusher Yetur Gross-Matos of Penn State or cornerbacks A.J. Terrell and Trevon Diggs but the positional value will push some of those names up.

Linebackers Patrick Queen of LSU and Kenneth Murray of Oklahoma and Queen's teammate Grant Delpit, along with Alabama's  Xavier McKinney at safety would be more need-type picks in the top 20.

QB:

Jordan Love

WR:

Denzel Mims

OT

Austin Jackson

Edge:

Yetur Gross-Matos

LBs:

Patrick Queen

Kenneth Murray

CBs:

A.J. Terrell

Trevin Diggs

S:

Grant Delpit

Xavier McKinney

That's 28 names in all.

In this equation, one of the top five receivers is almost sure to reach No. 21 overall - likely Mims or Ruggs with the Raiders being the lynchpin - and late-mock draft favorite Kenneth Murray could also be available for the Eagles.

If Roseman doesn’t like any of those options, the mechanics of a trade down to increase draft capital should be in play.

John McMullen covers the Eagles for SI.com and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every day on SIRIUSXM’s Tony Bruno Show with Harry Mayes, Every Tuesday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SBNation Radio, and every weekday on ESPN 97.3 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen