Eagles 'open for business' on trading first-round pick

The Eagles are not complaining that they have the last pick in the first round or no other picks until the fourth round.

That was the result of the Eagles winning the Super Bowl, both in having the 32nd pick and trading their second- and third-round picks in order to acquire players who helped them win the NFL's championship game.

So the Eagles will enter the NFL draft next week in the unenviable position of having to add to a roster without a pick from No. 32 until their fourth-round pick at No. 130.

That is, unless they decide to trade out of the first round in order to acquire extra picks.

"We’re open for business in every round," Eagles executive vice president for football operations Howie Roseman said Thursday. "If we think it makes sense for our team, we’re going to do it. But at the same time ... we’re ready to pick. We’ve got 32 guys that we feel really good about.

"We can’t operate under the assumption that we’re going to bail out, so we’re ready to roll."

The first round will be held next Thursday night. The second and third rounds will be held April 27, followed by Rounds 4 through 7 on April 28.

So as it stands now, the Eagles don't have a pick on Day 2 of the draft.

"It doesn’t make it any easier ... to sit there on Friday and potentially have a golf outing," Roseman said jokingly about not having a pick on Day 2. "It’s not great."

The Eagles are in this predicament because they traded their second-round pick this year, along with picks in 2016, to Cleveland in order to move high enough to take quarterback Carson Wentz in 2016.

Last summer, the Eagles traded their third-round pick, along with wide receiver Jordan Matthews, to Buffalo for cornerback Ronald Darby. Then last October, they sent one of their three fourth-round picks to Miami for running back Jay Ajayi.

All three had significant roles in the Eagles' success last season. Wentz, for example, was an MVP candidate until he tore two ligaments in his knee last Dec. 10. Darby was a starter after returning from a broken ankle midway through the season. And Ajayi eventually became the Eagles' lead running back.

"The balance of some of the discussions we had during the season were the pains of potentially sitting out Friday versus the pains of potentially having some disappointing Sundays," Roseman said. "For our team, for our fans, we felt like we had to do whatever it took to give us the opportunity to win each Sunday."

That means vice president of player personnel Joe Douglas could have his work cut out for him in finding late-round picks who can contribute.The Eagles have two fourth-round picks (No. 130 and No. 132), and picks in the fifth (No. 169), the sixth (No. 206) and seventh (No. 250) rounds.

"We look at the glass half full because we’re excited that we have five picks on Saturday as it stands right now," Douglas said. "When you look at the Super Bowl, there were 22 starters [on both teams] that were third-round picks or lower. And of those 22, 18 were fourth round or lower. So 18 starters in the Super Bowl this year were fourth-round picks or lower, including six who were undrafted free agents."

The Eagles have had some success there in recent years. Cornerback Jalen Mills was a seventh-round pick in 2016, and running back Corey Clement, who scored a touchdown against New England in the Super Bowl, was undrafted.

Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles, who replaced Wentz as the Eagles' quarterback, was a third-round pick by the Eagles in 2012. 

Of course, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who set an NFL record with 505 passing yards in the Super Bowl and has won five championships, is the poster child for success in the late rounds. He was a sixth-round pick in 2000.

But the Eagles are also looking to find players who can contribute both right away and in the long term. That becomes especially important over the next two seasons when many veterans will either price themselves out of their contracts or lose effectiveness.

In addition, Wentz will also be eligible for a big payday in the spring of 2020, thus forcing the Eagles to have younger and cheaper players around him.

"We want to draft guys who can help the team," Roseman said. "We’re not sitting there wherever we’re drafting and just saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to redshirt guys.’ We’re excited about this draft because it gives us another opportunity to help our team on the field in 2018."

That also means the Eagles can go in many different directions when it comes to their first-round pick. They won't be drafting for need because they don't have any pressing needs.

For example, they can draft a left tackle for the future like Notre Dame's Mike McGlinchey knowing that Jason Peters is 36 years old and coming off knee surgery. Peters, a perennial Pro Bowl player, has a capable backup in Halapoulivaati Vaitai, and the Eagles are strong at right tackle with Lane Johnson. But all of that can change in 2019.

Or they can go for a running back like LSU running back Derrius Guice, knowing that he can rotate in with Ajayi and Clement. The same is true at the defensive positions, particularly in depth at safety behind veteran starters Malcolm Jenkins and Rodney McLeod.

Regardless, the Eagles have options, and they know they might have to be creative, whether that means trading players such as linebacker Mychal Kendricks or Foles, to get extra early-round picks, if not this year, then in the future.

"Maybe the perception is that the draft is the last opportunity that you have to improve your football team," Roseman said. "And what we’ve committed to is that we’re going to attack it in the draft. We’re going to attack it in June. We’re going to attack it in August. We’re going to attack it at the trade deadline. … This is not the end of talent-acquisition season. It’s only just starting."

Eagles learn date of London game

The NFL announced that the Eagles' game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London will take place on Oct. 28. The NFL released the international portion of their schedule Thursday morning.

The rest of the schedule was to be released Thursday night. The Eagles, like every NFL team, know their opponents. But as defending Super Bowl champions, the Eagles also know they will open the NFL season with a prime-time game Sept. 6 at Lincoln Financial Field. The rest of the league opens Sept. 9 and Sept. 10.

Roseman on Worley's release

Roseman, speaking for the first time since the Eagles released cornerback Daryl Worley following an early-morning arrest last Sunday, said the move was made "in the best interests of the Philadelphia Eagles."

Worley was acquired in a trade last month for wide receiver Torrey Smith. He was expected to provide depth in the secondary. Worley faces six charges, including driving under the influence, possession of "an instrument of crime" and resisting arrest.

"We did do a lot of legwork on it," Roseman said about acquiring Worley. "It’s hard to predict incidents like this. We did do a lot of background. Going forward, we felt it was the best interest of our football team [to release him]."

Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.