It’s official. The Eagles have traded two of their first round picks this year in exchange for the Saints first round pick this year and next year. In addition to this, the Eagles are also getting an extra second (2023) and third round pick (2024) in upcoming drafts. As an afterthought, the Eagles will also give their sixth round pick this year for the Saints seventh round pick this year. In essence, the Eagles are basically receiving a future second round and third round pick by swapping two of their first round picks this year for two of the saints first round picks. Getting two high value draft picks just by deferring one of your first round picks to next year sounds like a great move for the Eagles.
It was clear to most Eagles fans that Howie Roseman would not be keeping all 3 first round picks from the get-go. Howie Roseman has a tendency to trade picks for other picks all of the time. Last year the Eagles moved back in the draft for first round picks this year with the Dolphins. The Eagles also famously traded up for Carson Wentz in the 2016 draft. And watching the 3rd day of the draft is always fun as an Eagles fan cause there’s always going to be some trades Howie makes. This decision making all stems from the common GM ideology that draft picks are of uncontested value. Although, we’ve seen GM’s disregard from this ideology that draft picks are important, most notably being the Rams last year, the majority of GM’s still will choose picks over anything. Howie Roseman has got to be near the top of the totem pole when it comes to valuing picks based on this.
Another reason why it was smart for Howie to make this trade is that the NFL draft this year doesn’t have a lot of great players to choose from. There’s no star wide receivers or quarterbacks that could fall into the Eagles hands with a mid-first round draft pick.