Thumbs up or down on the Eagles drafting Ty Robinson? Our writers weigh in.

The Eagles selected Nebraska defensive tackle Ty Robinson in the fourth round of the NFL draft on Saturday. Here’s how our writers evaluate the pick:

The Eagles may have not forced a need when it came to depth and developmental pieces at tight end and other offensive skill positions, but they didn’t neglect spots at which they were thin on the defensive side. It took four rounds, but they added an interior lineman in a draft that was said to be deep at defensive tackle.

From everything I can gather, they got decent value in selecting Robinson with pick No. 111. NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah had him rated as his 103rd-best prospect. ESPN’s Mel Kiper had the Nebraska prospect as his sixth-best defensive tackle at one point during the predraft process. Jeremiah had him at No. 12. Robinson ended being the 14th to go at his position.

He has good size and athletic attributes. Robinson moves well at 6-foot-5, 288 pounds. He had a good get-off and made of ton of plays as a pass rusher in college.

He played smart and beat offensive linemen to spots but could struggle to get off blocks at times. He’ll need to get stronger in the NFL, especially as a run defender. Vic Fangio doesn’t ask his linemen to two-gap much, but he does want them to hold blocks to free up his linebackers. Robinson has some similar traits to Milton Williams when he came out. Williams made himself into a solid run defender. Robinson isn’t quite the same athlete, but there’s no reason to think he can’t improve under assistant Clint Hurtt’s guidance.

I like that he didn’t miss a game in his last four seasons. But there’s a little extra wear, since Robinson played over six years. He turns 24 on Saturday — a little on the older side for the Eagles. But I think he can contribute in his rookie season as a rotational reserve. He plays with great effort and seems to have the necessary mental makeup to be a professional. Does he have great upside? Maybe not. But Robinson made sense in the fourth round.

The Eagles were so frequently connected to Walter Nolen in mock drafts that it’s almost jarring that they didn’t draft a defensive tackle until the fourth round. It obviously was a position of great need with Williams gone and Jordan Davis’ long-term future in Philly a bit unclear.

In Robinson, the Eagles took one of the best athletes at his position in the draft. That alone would give this pick a thumbs-up from me because the other stuff tends to be coachable. Howie Roseman loves the phrase “tools in his body” when talking about a prospect, and few players fit that mold the way Robinson does. He’s tall, fast, and has great burst. He could maybe stand to put on a few pounds — he weighed in at 288 pounds at the combine — but an NFL weight room can easily help with that.

It’s not like he wasn’t a productive college player, either. Robinson led the country in quarterback hits by a defensive tackle with 11 and also had seven sacks in 2024. He was a premed major at Nebraska and plans to eventually attend med school. I can’t imagine the Eagles won’t be able to teach him to improve his deficiencies. And there’s enough depth at the position right now that he won’t need to play a ton right away. Jalen Carter eats snaps. Davis and Moro Ojomo figure to rotate situationally. Robinson and Thomas Booker would be next up.

Robinson likely get on the field in 2025 barring injury, and we’ll know soon what kind of player the Eagles have. Until then, it’s hard to think of this fourth-round pick as anything but a thumbs-up addition.

With their fourth-round pick, the Eagles took a step toward filling the void left behind by Williams.

The 6-foot-5, 288-pound Robinson is a versatile, physical defensive tackle with the ability to line up at just about every position along the line of scrimmage. Regardless of alignment, Robinson is extremely disruptive, capable of displacing offensive linemen in the run game and beating them in the passing game in multiple ways.

One of those methods is using his brute strength. Robinson mustered 28 reps on the bench press at the combine, which tied for second among defensive tackles (and just one off of the leader, Miami Dolphins fifth-round pick Jordan Phillips). That strength shows up on tape. Rep after rep in the run game, Robinson overpowers his opponents on the offensive line to help eliminate rushing lanes.

But Robinson doesn’t exclusively win with power. He brings a striking amount of finesse to his pass-rush game for a big man. He uses his hands to deftly swat away opposing blockers on his way to the quarterback, hence his career-best seven sacks in 2024. Robinson held his own against some of the draft class’ best this past year, including Ohio State’s Donovan Jackson, the Minnesota Vikings’ No. 24 overall pick.

An added bonus is that Robinson was used in a fullback role on a handful of Nebraska’s red zone plays. He said the team scored on seven of those possessions in which he cleared the way for the ballcarrier. If the Tush Push gets outlawed, could the Eagles find a use for Robinson in short-yardage situations?

Given his versatility as a defensive tackle and his ability to play both sides of the ball, Robinson could be an entertaining prospect to follow as he develops.

In the aftermath of draft weekend, Roseman explained the varying approaches the front office took into each round, which feels instructive for the Robinson pick. The first round was for players with elite, Pro Bowl upside, the second was for plus starters, and the middle rounds were for, as Roseman described it, players who could become “solid starters.”

That word “solid” is relevant for Robinson, who is a prospect better defined by his high floor rather than his limited ceiling, considering he went in the fourth round. He doesn’t have elite physical traits or length, but should contribute right away because of his versatility to play from multiple alignments and play with the type of motor that befits this iteration of the Eagles defense.

Especially with Carter and Ojomo likely to take most of the pass-rushing opportunities, Robinson should be able to handle some of the dirty work on early downs — he is difficult to move and happy to chase plays down. That may not be as flashy as some of the interior rushers available in the first couple rounds, but it fills a need for the team nonetheless.

My sole reservation comes down to Robinson’s age. He turns 24 next week and is unlike most of the defensive tackle prospects the Eagles have selected in recent years as a result, but what’s noteworthy is that his lone year of high-level production came last season as a sixth-year senior. That makes it easy to wonder how his transition to playing against bigger, older players will go, but the play strength and energy he showcased throughout his career should earn him a spot-on the Eagles’ rotation either way.