News update: Philadelphia Eagles eight draft picks, four fifth-round selections.

OBILE, ALA. — This year’s Senior Bowl is especially interesting because the Philadelphia Eagles are expected to have eight picks in the draft, including two second-round selections and four fifth-round selections. Now let’s discuss the notes.

• Typically, two to four Senior Bowl participants are selected in the first round of the draft. There ought to be a minimum of six this year, if not more. NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah unveiled his initial top-50 prospect ranking for the upcoming draft on Tuesday. Here in Mobile, fourteen of them guys are competing.

Oregon State’s Taliese Fuaga, OT
Tyler Guyton, Oklahoma, overtime
Toledo’s Quinyon Mitchell, CB
Laiatu Latu, UCLA’s ED
Bo Nix, quarterback, Oregon
Arizona’s Jordan Morgan, OT
Oregon’s Jackson Powers-Johnson, iOL

1. I was surprised that BYU OT Kingsley Suamataia didn’t make Jeremiah’s top 50, but he’s here, too.

   • My focus today was on the offensive tackles. I think it’s a near lock that the Eagles will take an offensive tackle early this year, and very possibly in the first round. Why?

   1. Lane Johnson turns 34 in May, he has had injuries, and while he was still an elite player in 2023 there was some decline, in my opinion. To be clear, by “decline,” I should note that I have thought of Johnson as a top 20 type of player, league-wide, over the last half decade. He was still an All-Pro this season, and deservedly so, but I did not think he was a top 20 type of player.

   As you should all be aware by now, the Eagles like to establish early and sometimes even extra early succession plans along the offensive line.
   There is a ton of quality at offensive tackle in this draft. In the second round, when they might not usually fall that far, you might be able to acquire an OT at or around pick 22, which would not typically be accessible. Stated otherwise, the value at that position should be in relation to the draft position.

   The measures of Suamataia were a little underwhelming. He was listed by BYU at 6’6, 325. As it is, he is 6’4 3/8″ tall with 34″ arms. Tyler Guyton of Oklahoma, on the other hand, measured 6’7, 328, while Patrick Paul of Houston, another player regarded by some as a top 50 talent, is 6’7.

2.