With the 2020 Eagles season nearly behind us, one positive fans can look to is the draft.
As it stands now, the Birds have the sixth-worst record in the NFL. They can finish anywhere from third-worst to tenth-worst, depending on the outcome of this weekend’s games.
They have had just two top-10 picks over the past 20 years: Lane Johnson, fourth overall in 2013, and Carson Wentz, second overall in 2016.
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Currently, the Eagles have seven picks. They added a second-rounder in a trade with Baltimore (the Ravens selected QB Lamar Jackson) in 2018, and traded away their seventh-round pick in 2018 to move up to draft OT Jordan Mailata.
One thing the Eagles don’t need in the 2021 Draft is a quarterback, no matter your opinion about them. Next season, it’ll either be Wentz, or Jalen Hurts as your Week 1 starter.
Looking at various mock drafts, as many as six quarterbacks are listed as first-round caliber: Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields of Ohio State, BYU’s Zach Wilson, Mac Jones out of Alabama, Kyle Trask out of Florida, and Trey Lance, from Wentz’s alma mater, North Dakota State.
Lawrence and Fields will likely be gone even before the Eagles would be on the clock at 6, but that leaves four QBs for the taking.
NFL
This kind of puts the Eagles in a powerful position. There are a few teams who could benefit from moving up in the draft to select their future franchise QB.
The Lions (currently 7th) have Matthew Stafford, but he’ll be 33 in February, and Detroit could look to groom a rookie for a year under Stafford before turning him loose.
Denver (10th) has had no luck at quarterback since Peyton Manning retired following the 2015 season. They’d be silly not to work the phones in the hopes of moving up in the draft to get a signal-caller they could plug in for the next ten years.
The Patriots (14th) have a similar hole to fill, now that Tom Brady is a Buccaneer. They also have an extra second-round pick, courtesy of a draft-weekend trade last year with the Bears.
Moving down a handful of spots wouldn’t kill the Eagles - especially if it would add multiple picks to their arsenal.