In less than a month, the Philadelphia Eagles will pack up their things, grab a plane at Pittsburgh International Airport, and fly back to the City of Brotherly Love having successfully selected the next generation of Birds.
That’s right, as the final pro days come off the calendar, last-minute top-30 visits get booked, and scouts try to work every possible angle to get the best information on some 400 players, Howie Roseman will reside in the Eagles war room with those closest to him, strategizing about the best possible outcomes at each pick.
Where does each player fall on the Eagles’ big board? Who are potential trade-up partners if a blue-chip player starts to fall, or who could want to move up themselves that Philadelphia could consider facilitating for the right price?
Needless to say, there will be enough WarGames-style scenarios run in the Jefferson Health Training Complex over the next few weeks to make Matthew Broderick blush, but what are some truly wild opportunities that may seem excessive on the outside but could just be crazy enough to work in the Eagles’ favor? Well, while many pundits have draft boards that look relatively similar at this time of the year, especially near the top, there are some opportunities for the Eagles to lean into what’s been working around the NFL and potentially reap massive rewards if they can roll the dice and get lucky, especially when it comes to the composition of their offense.
Steve Roberts-Imagn Images
Draft two tight ends like the Packers in 2023
Over the past few years, the Eagles’ offense has been overly focused on the run game almost to a fault.
With AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith both expressing concerns about their usage and yet another offensive coordinator brought in to be good enough to architect a Super Bowl-caliber offense but not so good that they leave for a head coaching gig the following January, the Eagles have been forced to walk a very thin line that doesn’t leave too much room for error in any direction.
As a result, players like Jahan Dotson, Johnny Wilson, and even Dallas Goedert at times have become afterthoughts, leaving just two clear top options for Sean Mannion to build around for the future, assuming the South Dakota product truly does ride off into the sunset of free agency after this season.
Could the Eagles refill the cupboard with a new wide receiver like Jordyn Tyson? Most assuredly so, and if he is on the board in the first round at No. 23 overall, Roseman and company will almost assuredly select the Arizona State product unless they have something else cooking, but what if this year’s Big 3 are off the board before the Eagles are on the clock? What if Carnell Tate, Makai Lemon, and Tyson are all gone? Sure, the Eagles could take a shot on Omar Cooper Jr. or KC Concepcion, who are both considered fringe first-rounders, but in a draft without many blue-chippers, those both feel like a reach at No. 23.
No, if the Eagles aren’t able to add a difference maker at wide receiver, they should strongly consider embracing the NFL’s current trend and instead invest heavily in not one but two of the top tight ends available in this year’s class, making 12 personnel their de facto base offense under Mannion.
A crazy idea? Maybe a little bit, but Mannion’s old team, the Green Bay Packers, selected future starter Tucker Kraft in the third round after picking Luke Musgrave in the second of the very same draft in 2023, and that decision has paid incredible dividends now that the former has become the team’s long-term starter.
If the Eagles can’t get an elite wide receiver early on, why not draft a receiving threat like Vanderbilt’s Eli Stowers, who can be a supersized slot in the second round, and pair him with a player like Stanford’s Sam Roush, who can block with the best of them deployed from the line in the third round? After watching the Rams dominate with multiple tight end lineups, why not add that look to a team that already loves to run the ball with the best of them and force opposing teams to play the Eagles game, instead of the other way around?
© Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports
Draft a quarterback in the third round
With Tanner McKee set to enter the final year of his rookie contract, the Eagles will soon have to prepare for life with a new young quarterback on their roster, especially if they trade the Stanford product before Week 1 of the 2026 season.
On paper, that proposition should be easy enough. The Eagles drafted McKee in the sixth round, and that worked out pretty darn well, and while Kyle McCord didn’t stick as last year’s sixth-rounder, investing a late Day 3 pick on a developmental quarterback is a pretty easy ask for any NFL team.
Could the Eagles go down that route once more? Sure, but after watching this year’s QB class go from considered elite to a one-man show, there are plenty of interesting options who could be available in the third round, where the Eagles have a compensatory pick in addition to their own selection, who could become ideal QB2s behind Hurts.
At one point, LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier, Miami’s Carson Beck, Clemson’s Cade Klubnik, and Penn State’s Drew Allar were all considered top-32 prospects in this year’s class, but after they each had one issue or another brought to light in 2025, at least one of them should still be on the board at pick No. 98 when the compensatory selections go on the clock. Some, like Nussmeier and Allar, are coming off of injuries, others, like Klubnik, had down years, and others still, like Beck, have skillsets that might not cleanly translate to the NFL level, but what does that quartet have in common? There’s a non-zero chance they could become starters at some point in the future if everything clicks perfectly at the NFL level.
Even if Hurts remains the Eagles’ unquestioned starter for the next four years, having a high-upside backup for the next four seasons unquestionably makes the Eagles a better team than relying on Andy Dalton types in their mid-30s.
Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Facilitate a Ty Simpson trade-up
Considering the Eagles appear firmly committed to building through the draft for the foreseeable future, what with the contracts owed to Hurts, Brown, Smith, and beyond, the idea of trading out of the first round entirely would seem rather counterproductive, right?
On April 23rd? Most certainly. But long-term? It might just help the Eagles for years to come.
While most fans consider the 2026 NFL Draft a one-quarterback class, there is a growing expectation that Alabama’s Ty Simpson will slip into the first round just like Jaxson Dart last year. He could go to the New York Jets at 16, or the Pittsburgh Steelers at pick 21, but what happens if a team really likes Simpson but is worried that the Cleveland Browns could pick him 24th overall? Well, they might just give the Eagles a call and make them an offer they can’t refuse.
Say the Arizona Cardinals take a liking to Simpson and want him badly. If they call up the Eagles and offer pick 34, next year’s second round pick, and other late-round picks as compensation, the quality of player Philadelphia could land at 34 and 23 really might not be that different in this year’s class. If anything, some positions, like safety and guard, are considered hard sells in the first round because of how expensive their fifth-year options are versus the market, making that prospect attractive in this rather weird draft class.
Considering the 2027 NFL Draft is considered absolutely loaded at both quarterback and beyond, adding a second-round pick from a team that isn’t expected to be particularly good is a classic Howie Roseman move, even if it would make the first round of this year’s draft somewhat anticlimactic.
The post Wild but brilliant move Eagles must make in 2026 NFL Draft appeared first on ClutchPoints.
