The consensus is gone, Philadelphia Eagles fans.
Once, it looked like the Eagles could pretty much write in Kenyon Sadiq’s name in pen at the No. 23 overall pick. The Eagles had yet to re-sign Dallas Goedert, their offense was in desperate need of a young, ascending playmaker, and, logistically speaking, were arguably the one team picking in the first round that could describe tight end as their biggest need.
At the time, it was hard to find a mock draft where the Oregon tight end wasn’t the pick, but slowly but surely, the offseason has shaken out, and the chances of Sadiq coming off the board – or even being on the board – at No. 23 have become borderline unimaginable.
First, Sadiq increased his stock significantly by running the best 40 time of any tight end in NFL Combine history back in February. Sadiq was always considered a great athlete, but his ability to beat out other tight ends like Eli Stowers by two-tenths of a second turned him into an even more intriguing player in 2026, with some suggesting he could go as high as No. 9 overall to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Now granted, could Sadiq still fall to the Eagles at pick No. 23? Sure, Todd McShay isn’t convinced he goes in the top-20, and if he begins to fall, Howie Roseman might just start working the phones to make a small move to get a true chess piece for Sean Mannion’s offense in 2026.
As a result, mock drafts are pretty all over the place less than two weeks before the 2026 NFL Draft, with some believing the Eagles will land a new offensive weapon, others believing the trenches are the play, and others still suggesting that Roseman could shake things up in a major way and make Ty Simpson the 23rd player selected in this year’s class, even if he doesn’t ultimately land in Philadelphia when the weekend comes to an end.
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Quarterback Ty Simpson, Alabama
Whoa, while the usual round of Jalen Hurts hit pieces have circulated over the offseason, would the Eagles really consider drafting a Nick Saban recruit while they have a nine-figure contract on a massive extension?
Well, while that has happened in the past, with Hurts on the other end of that particular move, in this case, NFL.com’s Rhett Lewis has the Eagles taking Simpson as a sort of placeholder, allowing them to trade him to another team after the selection.
Now granted, that’s a very NBA way of thinking about things, as for the most part, if a team wants to trade up for a player like Simpson, they will do so before the pick is announced so he can walk onto the stage – or share a moment with his family remotely – in the hat of the team he will actually suit up for. If the Eagles were to draft Simpson as a chess piece, what if everyone else had left the game, leaving them with a rapidly depressing asset who could make things incredibly awkward for a Super Bowl contender? That might just go down as one of the more questionable moves of this otherwise fantastic era of Eagles drafting.
Will the Eagles draft Simpson at 23? No. Could he be the pick at spot No. 23, to the New York Jets, the Arizona Cardinals, or another team? If the offer is right, Howie Roseman should absolutely make that move, as it could set the team up for long-term success in this somewhat underwhelming draft year.
Petre Thomas-Imagn Images
Offensive Lineman Max Iheanachor, Arizona State
Mel Kiper Jr., ESPN; Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz, USA Today; Mike Mulhern, NBC Sports
If there is anything close to a consensus forming about who the Eagles could draft in the first round of this year’s class, it’s probably an offensive tackle, as they’ve pretty much locked up every other position one way or another through free agency or a trade.
Some like Kadyn Proctor, the massive tackle from Alabama who may end up playing guard at the NFL level. Others like Monroe Freeling, who tore up the track in Indianapolis at the NFL Combine after a career at Georgia. Caleb Lomu is a popular option after a successful run at Utah. And then there’s Max Iheanachor, the Arizona State product who has been a popular pick at No. 23 or as a trade-up candidate at the end of the round, in the case of Mike Mulhern from NBC Sports’ mock.
Standing 6-foot-6, 321 pounds, Iheanachor looks every bit the part of a starting offensive tackle, but he’s relatively new to the position, having only started playing football deep into his teens as a member of the JUCO East Los Angeles College. As a result, Iheanachor will occasionally make mistakes a more experienced player may avoid, even if he has the athleticism to make up for it more often than not.
Would it be more encouraging to see the Eagles take a player like Iheanachor with a veteran coach like Jeff Stoutland in place as the team’s offensive line coach? Most certainly so, as he has one of the greatest resumes in the business, but with a chance to slowly learn the NFL game behind two of the best tackles in the game, Chris Kuper could highlight his own prowess as a talent evaluator by making Iheanachor Philly’s right tackle of the future.
© Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
Wide Receiver Denzel Boston, Washington
Peter Schrager, ESPN; Danny Kelly, The Ringer
As the 2026 NFL Draft gets closer, wide receiver might just be the most volatile position grouping with less than two weeks to go. While Carnell Tate has effectively locked in the No. 1 spot and will likely be off the board in the top-10, players like Jordyn Tyson, Mekhi Lemon, Omar Cooper Jr., and Denzel Boston have moved up or down boards with rhyme or reason, with no clear consensus on how many players will hear their names called in the first round, let alone where they will go.
In two recent mock drafts, the Eagles were handed one of these playmakers in the form of Boston, who is getting hot at the right time.
Standing 6-foot-4, 212 pounds, Boston is a big, long wide receiver who isn’t afraid to take on contact to move the chains. Boston is a weapon as both a punt returner and in the endzone, where he scored 21 times over his final two seasons with the Huskies and has plenty of experience playing against future NFL players during his time in the Big Ten, including big games against Ohio State, USC and Michigan.
Is Boston the fastest player around? Probably not, as he hasn’t run during the pre-draft process, but for a team that won a Super Bowl with Alshon Jeffrey aligned out wide more often than not, Boston could bring a similar set of skills to Mannion’s offense as Philadelphia looks to add another trophy to their case during his rookie contract.
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Safety Dillon Thieneman, Oregon
And last but not least, what if the Eagles decide that they want to add a Cooper DeJean-caliber performer to fix their secondary once and for all and are willing to trade up with the New York Jets to make that happen? Well, in Tim Crean’s latest mock draft, that’s what happened, with the Eagles replacing Reed Blankenship with Dillon Thieneman before he could land with the Minnesota Vikings at pick No. 18.
Much like Sadiq-to-Philly back in January, Thieneman has been the consensus pick for the Vikings for pretty much the entire process as the ideal long-term Harrison Smith replacement. Thieneman is an athletic wonder, a ballhawk, and the kind of player who can fill any safety role at the NFL level, be that deployed deep, dropped into the box, or even in the slot, where DeJean has things locked up for the Eagles long-term.
Would it be cool to see Thieneman and DeJean produce absolutely wicked optionality for Vic Fangio’s defense? Absolutely, as opposing quarterbacks would have no idea who is going to deploy where if both Thieneman and DeJean began every play lined up on the interior. And yet, unless the cost is absolutely nothing, it’s hard to see the Eagles making a trade up for a position they clearly don’t value like safety. No, it’s more realistic that the Eagles would take Emmanuel McNeil-Warren if he fell to 23, or better yet, wait until Day 2 or even Day 3, when Roseman has been more historically willing to invest in the position.
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