Why the Eagles traded back to draft Ty Robinson, Myles Hinton, Cameron Williams: Mike Mayock Q&A
The Eagles used a series of draft-day trades to load up on players in the trenches
Mike Mayock, the NFL draft analyst, former Raiders general manager, and Philadelphia native tells unCovering the Birds how he analyzes the Eagles trading back and picking defensive tackle Ty Robinson in the fourth round and offensive tackles Myles Hinton and Cameron Williams in the sixth round.
The Eagles lost Milton Williams at defensive tackle. This was said to be a deep draft at that position, so they finally hit a defensive tackle after they traded out of the third round twice. It seemed like maybe they missed offensive tackle Charles Grant, a guy they brought in on a top-30 visit, after they traded back the first time. We’ll never know for certain but it just seemed like that because when Grant went after they traded back, then they traded back out to the fourth.
A: Howie [Roseman] traded down twice, from No. 96 to No. 111, which effectively is half of one round. [By also using his other fourth-round pick to trade back a third time], he picks up two extra picks in this year’s draft and another one next year. So he picks up three extra picks and/or players, however you want to look at that. I love that.
And it’s one thing to say maybe he lost out on Charles Grant, but every time you trade down 15 or 16 spots, there’s going to be a player or two you really like. That’s part of it. There’s a bigger picture of, OK, I can play to that defensive tackle position because of all the depth and probably still get my guy and pick up three more players. So whether or not Charles Grant was in the conversation ... I love the upside of Charles Grant, but he’s two years away from seeing the field and I thought in the sixth round they got two other [offensive] tackles that are two years away from seeing the field that have just as much upside if not more.
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The guys they got — the Michigan kid [Hinton] and the Texas kid [Williams] have length, ability. They might not have as good feet as Charles Grant, but they’re much bigger and longer and I think have just as much upside. And I think they go to [Jeff] Stoutland University, and one of them’s probably going to be Lane Johnson‘s successor two years or three years from now.
That’s how I look at Howie trading down twice — trading into the strength of the draft, which is D-tackle. Getting his guy Ty.
Ty Robinson, Nebraska defensive tackle, you’ve done some study of him. What do you think of him?
A: Again, what I love about this guy — three in a row now [with top two Eagles picks Jihaad Campbell and Andrew Mukuba] for Vic Fangio — you’re talking about incredible versatility. You can line him up at nose, anywhere around the nose. You can line him up at that 3-technique, the defensive tackle, which is what Jalen [Carter] plays. You can line him up at the 5-technique, which is outside the tackle. So he’s a tackle-to-tackle guy, can play any of those positions in there.
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He tested really well. ... The best way to give you a synopsis of this kid was the tape I did against Ohio State. He played against Donovan Jackson a lot of the snaps, who was the 24th pick of the draft to Minnesota. And in that game, Jackson was still a guard. There were 19 pass reps in that game, and he was lined up against the first-round pick the whole time. And it kind of encompassed for me what he is. I saw first-step quickness — high level. Really quick and violent hands. The ability to get in a body, shake a guy, disrupt the play. You can see so many times he pushes and gets into the backfield on all his tapes, and that’s because of the first step and the violent hands. Relentless play-style. Power, once he sinks his hands to control a player opposite him. Disrupts plays. Love all of that.
Now, despite the fact that he’s 6-foot-5, 300 [pounds] or so, he doesn’t have great length, which sounds like a contradiction but it’s not. For that size — 6-5, 295 — you ought to have 34-plus and he has 32 1/2-inch arms. And, people go, who cares? Well, I don’t care if it doesn’t show up on tape. But if it does show up on tape, I do care. In 19 pass snaps against Ohio State, there were four or five where he gets stuck. And by stuck, I mean the offensive guard or tackle gets a hold of his inside breast plate, and now, what does he do to get away? How does he disengage? Or does he have the length with his inside arm to keep the guy off of him? So he can get stuck with length on the offensive line side. And he’s going to have to continue to learn, and I think he will because the Eagles teach so well, how to mitigate that lack of length with continued development of his hands and feet. Various times, you’re going to lose. The guard or tackle is going to sink their hands and win when you don’t. How do you disengage from that?
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The kid started 47 games at Nebraska. I watched his interview after he got drafted, was highly impressed — pre-med kid, really impressed, talked about earning the respect of the defensive line room, which is exactly what he should be saying. I think he’s going to come in, work his [behind] off, and become a part of that rotation. And it’ll be interesting to see how many snaps he earns. I mean, Jordan Davis just got his fifth-year extension. They’re going to pay him $12 million, and he played 37 percent of the snaps, which was exactly the same amount that Moro Ojomo did. So it’s really interesting. I think there’s an opportunity for this kid to come in and carve out a piece.