The Dolphins, 49ers, and Eagles pulled off a couple of insane trades that reshaped the beginning of the 2021 NFL Draft. The 49ers seem to be positioning themselves for a quarterback and the Dolphins are likely targeting a big-time offensive talent for second-year quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
However, this move signals a full-on rebuild for the Eagles. The Eagles were strapped for cash this offseason and have only signed four free agents (Anthony Harris, Joe Flacco, Andrew Adams, Hassan Ridgeway) to one-year deals without a lot of money attached. Their inactivity in free agency is mainly due to the fact that they’re still currently over the cap according to Spotrac.
This is where the trade down comes in. This team is not all that close to competing for a playoff spot, even in the NFC East. The roster is maxed out and they need more cheap, long-term contracts as they continue to rebuild over the coming years. Draft picks are an easy way to do that. And the Eagles now have four picks in the top 100 selections of the draft and 11 picks overall. They also have the Dolphins’ first-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.
The NFL might not see a major cap spike until the 2023 season and since the Eagles restructured a handful of players already, they might be strapped for cash again next offseason.
Now that the Eagles are (currently) sitting with the 12th pick, they have a good amount of options available to them as head coach Nick Sirianni dives into his first year with the team. If they want to give Jalen Hurts some help, they’ll be able to choose from wide receivers and offensive linemen that fall out of the top 10 due to a run on quarterbacks. They’ll also have a chance to add to their secondary with cornerback prospects like Caleb Farley, Patrick Surtain II, and Jaycee Horn.
The 2020 Eagles will be a bad football team, no doubt, but this team now has the draft capital to add multiple impact players over the next couple of draft classes.
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