There was virtually no drama for the Eagles in the first round of the 2016 NFL draft. And yet, there was a ton of excitement. The entire world knew the Rams would pick California quarterback Jared Goff with the number one overall selection, leaving the Eagles with their preferred choice of North Dakota State prospect Carson Wentz with the second overall pick.
Wentz, even if he isn’t the starter in 2016, is the future for the Eagles, who surrendered their first-round pick in 2017 and second-round pick in 2018, in addition to their third and fourth-round pick in 2016, plus a flipflop of first-round picks. Now the goal is surrounding the newest Eagles’ player with as much talent as possible.
Even though the Eagles have just one pick combined in the second, third and fourth rounds, they still have six picks over the final six rounds of the 2016 draft. The primary focus for the Eagles is figuring out which position to upgrade with their sole day two pick. Below I took a look at five primary targets for the Eagles in the third-round of Friday’s draft.
1 – Carl Nassib, DE, Penn State
Carl Nassib is the player I mocked to the Eagles in the third round a few days ago. He’s still on the board heading into day two and there’s every reason to believe he’s a player the Eagles could be interested in. At 6’7 and close to 280 pounds, he’s an absolutely massive prospect, a defensive end with a wingspan like few players in the league. He led the nation in sacks last season and was compared to former great pass-rusher Jared Allen by NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah.
On CBS Sports, Nassib is compared to Connor Barwin, the NFC leader with 14.5 sacks in 2014 and a player the Eagles would like to get one more effective season from before his tenure in Philly comes to an end. Nassib, the younger brother of current Giants backup quarterback Ryan, could rotate with Vinny Curry, Brandon Graham and Barwin as a rookie before competing for a starting spot in 2017.
2 – Le’Raven Clark, OT/G, Texas Tech
Thanks to Chip Kelly’s negligence of the offensive line over the last two drafts, the Eagles had to scramble to fix their offensive line by adding a pair of guards, Brandon Brooks and Stefan Wisniewski, through free agency. At this point, the Eagles could enter the season with Jason Peters, Brooks, Jason Kelce, Wisniewski and Lane Johnson as their five starters. But an upgrade at right guard would still be preferred, especially since Wisniewski is more comfortable playing center. Le’Raven Clark is a day two prospect, probably more likely to go in the second round than the third, but if he’s on the board at pick 77, the Eagles should quickly grab the versatile tackle/guard from Texas Tech. Depth has been an issue on the Eagles’ offensive line since Chip Kelly became head coach in 2013, and Clark is a player who could fill in at four of the five positions on the offensive line if needed.
3 – Devontae Booker, RB, Utah
Running back is the position the fans seem to want from the team in the third round, and there sure are a lot of targets to choose from. Paul Perkins, CJ Proisse, Jordan Howard and Jonathan Williams are all players the Eagles will likely be keeping an eye on in the second day of the draft. But the most intriguing option, assuming he is available in the middle of the third round, is Utah’s Devontae Booker. Even though Booker’s age (24) isn’t appealing, he’s a north-south runner who can catch passes out of the backfield and split carries with Ryan Mathews in 2016 before taking over as the every down runner in 2017.
4 – Kolby Listenbee, WR, TCU
The Eagles added a lot of wide receivers this offseason, signing Rueben Randle from the New York Giants, Chris Givens from the Baltimore Ravens and T.J. Graham from the Buffalo Bills. The only problem? None of these players are actually good. Randle, the best of the three, will probably make the roster as the third or fourth receiver, but none of the three improve the position in the long run.
One thing the Eagles desperately need on their roster, specifically at wide receiver, is speed. Jordan Matthews is a solid receiver and Nelson Agholor is expected to take a big step forward in his sophomore season, but nobody on this offense can take the top off the defense. Listenbee is purely a deep threat. He’s not a blocker, he’s not going to fight for contested catches across the middle and he isn’t effective from the slot. But if he can carry his 19.4 yards per catch average from the college ranks to the National Football League, he’ll at least be a legitimate deep weapon for newly drafted Carson Wentz.
5 – Cyrus Jones, CB, Alabama
Cornerback is quietly the biggest need on the Eagles. Yes, the Eagles added a number of players at the position during the offseason, but there’s no one who even remotely resembles a number one corner. Eric Rowe and Nolan Carroll are solid players. Leodis McKelvin is a veteran who might have one more solid season of production. JaCorey Shepherd and Denzel Rice theoretically have some upside. But help is needed. That’s pretty obvious.
The Eagles hosted Cyrus Jones on a pre-draft visit several months ago. A converted wide receiver from Alabama, Jones is not a great athlete, testing in the bottom 15th percentile in five different spider chart categories. He’s just 5’10, 197 pounds and he was arrested on domestic violence charges last August (later dropped). There are definitely some concerns. But Jones is a confident, physical corner with the tools to succeed for the next several seasons at nickel corner, which was a major area of weakness for the Eagles in 2015. He also returned four punts for a touchdown as a senior, meaning he could be an eventual replacement for veteran Darren Sproles.
