The Philadelphia Eagles got their No. 1 cornerback this offseason in Darius Slay, arguably the best cornerback to play for the franchise since Asante Samuel (who last played with the team in 2011). Acquiring Slay didn't come cheap, as the Eagles parted ways with a third-round pick (No. 85 overall) and a fifth-round pick (No. 166) -- taking them from 10 picks to eight in the draft.
The Eagles didn't address the wide receiver position in free agency, thanks to a weak free agent class and not wanting to give up a first or second-round pick to acquire a veteran in a trade. The draft class at wide receiver is the most talented it has been in years, leaving the Eagles with several options to upgrade the position next week.
Philadelphia could put all its eggs in the basket and trade up from the 21st overall pick to draft a No. 1 wide receiver. Even though the Eagles have fewer picks as capital to leverage in a deal than when the offseason started, that won't stop general manager Howie Roseman from attempting to move up.
"I think when we are moving up in any round -- first round, second round, third round, fourth round -- I think we just look at the value of the player, where the board drops off," Roseman said in a conference call Thursday. "If we see a big gap and there's a big drop off, then we'll look at that. If we feel like there's a group of guys that we really like that we can choose from, then we'll probably stay put or move back.
"I think that when we look at that trade (the Slay deal), we valued that trade based on the other option to us that was there in free agency, how many we were going to have to spend the first three years of that deal, and then what we can get with the money that we kind of saved, and was that worth the value of the draft picks."
CBS Sports colleague Cody Benjamin looked at potential deals the Eagles could make to trade up, including parting ways with their first-round pick (No. 21) and their second-round pick (No. 53) to move up as high as No. 10 overall. That should position the Eagles to select one of the "big three" wideouts of CeeDee Lamb, Jerry Jeudy, or Henry Ruggs.
Philadelphia would not have a selection until the third round (No. 103 overall) if the Eagles trade into the top 11. Roseman has a contingency plan if the Eagles decide to be aggressive, citing his first draft as past experience.
"I remember in 2010 when we traded up for Brandon Graham and then we moved back in the second round and got some of those picks back," Roseman said, when the Eagles traded back in the second round twice to acquire more picks. "There's ways to do that, there's different ways to go through this draft process, and we'll be ready for all those opportunities."
The Eagles certainly appear poised to make a more into the top half of the draft if need be, with Roseman admitting he'll "have fun making some mock trades" during the league's mock draft Monday. They'll be prepared for a blockbuster move if need be.
