The Eagles should draft an edge rusher first (again) and go all-defense on Days 1 and 2 (again)

In the interest of full disclosure, in 30 years of covering the Eagles’ draft adventures, I have correctly predicted their first draft pick exactly once: in 2021, when I foresaw them moving up to take DeVonta Smith, who, I believe, one day will prove to be the best receiver they’ve ever drafted. So that makes me 1-for-30, or about as good as most prognosticators, local and national.

My methodology for mocking the Eagles’ draft restricts itself to the first three rounds, since the permutations of available talent vary too widely to predict beyond, say, the first 100 athletes. My prognostication incorporates the Eagles’ philosophies, habits, and needs.

» READ MORE: NFL draft: Eagles trading tight end Dallas Goedert would be crazy

For instance:

They seldom spend high picks on safeties and running backs. They skew toward the trenches when their quarterback stable is full (it is). They’d rather draft top defenders and pay top offensive players; that’s how they got Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, and Jalyx Hunt last year. They tend to draft-and-stash with picks below, say, No. 15; that is, they generally don’t expect players from Nos. 15-60 to contribute until their second seasons, and players Nos. 60-100 to blossom by their third. They love to trade up and down (and so do I, especially this year, since they are expected to have two extra third-round picks and one extra fourth-round pick in 2026).

With all of that in mind, this is what the Eagles should do in the first round Thursday and the second and third rounds Friday.

If Ezeiruaku is still on the board at No. 32, there’s no chance the Eagles pass on him. In fact, I could see them trading up six or seven picks to take him.

He’s athletic, he’s smart, he’s from Williamstown, N.J., and he’s productive. He had 16½ sacks, 20½ tackles for losses, and forced three fumbles last season. He’ll play behind Nolan Smith and ... Hunt? Joshua Uche? You get the point. The departure of free agent Josh Sweat and the poor contribution by last season’s free-agent pickup, Bryce Huff, leaves the Eagles in a tight spot. They need a cheap pass rusher. That’s what this rookie is. Imagine him rotating with Smith and Hunt two years from now. Howie Roseman must be salivating.

They won’t expect too much from Ezeiruaku this season, much like they didn’t expect much from Smith when he went 30th overall in 2023.

Why isn’t Ole Miss defensive tackle Walter Nolen the pick here?

Number one, I’m bullish on Moro Ojomo, whose snap count surged past Jordan Davis’ in the final three playoff games, 79-44, just like his play. Number two, edge rusher is a greater position of need. Number three, if Nolen is as good as advertised, he’ll be gone much earlier than No. 32 or the mid-20s. Number four, there are concerns that Nolen has maturity issues that will affect his professionalism. Similar concerns clouded the futures of both Davis and Jalen Carter when the Eagles drafted them, and while both outgrew those concerns, both had legitimate concerns to outgrow.

» READ MORE: Like the Patriots and Chiefs, Jeffrey Lurie, Nick Sirianni, and the Eagles are focused on the next Super Bowl

When the Eagles drafted DeJean in the second round last year, they had no idea he would start as a rookie cornerback, much less return an interception for a touchdown in the most exciting play of their Super Bowl LIX win.

Similarly, when they draft Watts in the second round this year, they will hope that, sooner than later, he will contribute to the secondary. Until then, they will make do with stolid Reed Blankenship and combustible Sydney Brown. But they will expect Watts to be a major contributor when he settles in.

In his combined junior and senior seasons, Watts had 13 interceptions and was a first-team All-American each season. He’s levelheaded, smart, instinctive, and protective of the deep ball.

The presence of Georgia’s Malaki Starks, South Carolina’s Nick Emmanwori, and Penn State’s Kevin Winston might keep Watts on the board for the Birds at No. 64, but if they think he’s going to go, he’d be worth trading up at least (gulp) 15 spots in the second round.

This is the other reason I passed on Nolen; Pegues played next to him. Every time I watched Nolen on tape, Pegues popped just as much.

His character is impeccable, and while he’s a project, he has produced, too. He had 13½ tackles for losses and 3½ sacks last season, and he moved effortlessly for a 6-foot-2½, 325-pound interior lineman.

Little wonder.

He’s a former high school basketball player who went to Auburn as a tight end, converted to D-line, transferred to Mississippi in 2022, caught a TD pass as a tight end in his first year there, and scored seven touchdowns — seven — last season as a short-yardage ballcarrier.

If the NFL outlaws the Eagles’ unstoppable Tush Push, Pegues would be the perfect answer.

» READ MORE: 2025 NFL draft: Rating 16 potential first-round targets for the Eagles