
The Eagles won a Super Bowl by being bold, but at the end of the first round last night, they decided to punt and play field position.
The Eagles traded the final pick of the first round to the Ravens, who were eager to get quarterback Lamar Jackson. But the Eagles saw it as a chance to add future flexibility more than anything they can use now.
The Eagles sent the first and their fourth-rounder (132 overall) to the Ravens for a second (52) and a fourth (130) and a 2019 second-rounder. The alternative might have been another mid-round pick next year, but General Manager Howie Roseman is emboldened by that trophy they just won, so he was willing to wait.
The Eagles still have just six picks, including one tonight, that 52nd pick.
“Our balance was the short term vs. the long term on the trade offers,” Roseman said, via Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “And we decided that it’s just too hard to get a second-round pick. When we look at the draft, the difference in value when you’re picking in the second round vs. even when you’re picking in the third round.
“It’s too good. It gives you a lot of flexibility. . . . We had a group of guys at 32 that we would have been really excited about picking. Will they be there at 52? I don’t know. But that helped us make the trade because we felt like there was a cluster of guys grouped together for us.”
The Ravens weren’t the only team to call, as the 32nd pick had extra value with the fifth-year option on the rookie contract that comes with the first round.