Philadelphia Eagles NFL Draft: Projecting Philly's 'Cloud of Prospects' in 1st Round

Like most NFL teams, the Philadelphia Eagles will be focused in on a targeted group of players for their first-round pick later this month.

PHILADELPHIA - Former NFL scout Matt Manocherian described it to Eagles Today as a “cloud of prospects,” when discussing how NFL teams target their particular spots in the draft.  

Other than the Chicago Bears, who have the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 process. no organization is 100 percent sure that they will land any one particular player. 

Southern Cal quarterback Caleb Williams is as close to a guarantee as you’re going to get for the top spot so No. 2 Washington is sleeping pretty soundly as well with the understanding it will be pick your favorite flavor for Josh Harris's Commanders between the next three QBs: LSU’s Jayden Daniels (from the outside, looking in the best fit for new Washington offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury), North Carolina’s Drake May (maybe the safest route), and Michigan’s J. J. McCarthy (he, of the intriguing upside to NFL scouts).

The further down you get on the draft board, the more uncertainty there becomes because the pool is picked from by others whom you can't control and some often throw the occasional curve ball into the mix that dismantles any educated guesses. 

That describes the Philadelphia Eagles this season who begin the process, barring any pre-draft trades from GM Howie Roseman, with the 22nd overall pick.

Mar 1, 2024; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Alabama defensive back Terrion Arnold (DB02) works out during

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Over recent seasons, we’ve been able to unearth nuggets here and there about the Eagles’ planning post-draft. In 2022, a targeted trade-up from No. 15 for Georgia nose tackle Jordan Davis was always a possibility going into Day 1 because Roseman and his staff loved the player and understood Baltimore at 14 likely would have selected the big man.

When Davis fell into range, the Eagles made their move and jumped the well-regarded Ravens who ultimately had to “settle” for All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton. In the second round that same year Philadelphia has its eyes on Nebraska center Cam Jurgens as the heir apparent to Jason Kelce at  No. 51 and stayed patient to get their man.

The year prior, Eagles Today was able to uncover the entire draft draft cloud for Day 1. Roseman ping-ponged that year moving down from No. 6 to 12 pre-draft for a future first-round pick and then moving back up from 12 to 10 to land star receiver DeVonta Smith, the final player in the Eagles’ No. 12 grouping.

Philadelphia had four players it would have pulled the trigger on at No. 12. The first to come off the board was Alabama WR Jaylen Waddle to Miami with the Eagles’ original selection of No. 6. Next were cornerbacks Jaycee Horn of South Carolina and Pat Surtain II of Alabama, who were taken by Carolina and Denver at Nos. 8 and 9 respectively. 

Smith was the only cloud prospect left and the Eagles understood he wouldn’t be getting to No. 12 with the New York Giants standing at 11 so Roseman jumped up to 10 with Dallas and got his man with the Cowboys feeling comfortable Micah Parsons would be waiting for them.

Had the move for Smith not been there, the idea would have been to move down to match the valuation of the next cloud of players in the Eagles’ wish list.

There are a whole host of players Philadelphia understands won’t be there at 22 this year so the idea is to flesh out a group of four of five where at least one will be there when selecting.

The best bets we have for that are offensive tackles Amarius Mims of Georgia and Tyler Guyton of Oklahoma. The pie-in-the-sky options are likely cornerbacks Terrion Arnold of Alabama and perhaps Quinyon Mitchell of Toledo.

Others like offensive tackles JC Latham of Alabama and Troy Fautanu of Washington, LSU WR Brian Thomas Jr., and edge rushers Laiatu Latu of UCLA (if given the green light by the medical staff) and Chop Robinson of Penn State seem to be the most likely candidates for the Eagles’ current cloud.

Leading the next group might be Day 1-ready interior offensive lineman Graham Barton of Duke in a potential trade-down scenario.