Philadelphia Eagles GM Howie Roseman is allowing a peek into what motivated him to make a deal with the Dolphins last week, and he's making a statement about the depth, or lack thereof, at the top of the 2016 NFL Draft class at the same time.
Philadelphia sent linebacker Kiko Alonso and cornerback Byron Maxwell to Miami last week, and the teams swapped first-round picks in the trade. The Eagles moved up to No. 8, and the Dolphins moved down to No. 13.
From Roseman's perspective, the 5-spot jump in Round 1 gives his team a chance to get an impact player the likes of which wouldn't have been available had they stayed at No. 13.
"In the past few drafts, often we'd be picking lower in the first round, and we'd just miss out on a guy we had targeted," Roseman told MMQB. "This year we felt there was a big dropoff after 10 players, so I talked to people about trying to move into the top 10."
Now, that's the opinion of one GM out of 32 and teams don't always view an individual player or a draft class as a whole in the same way. But if Roseman has company when it comes to that belief, then teams with the ammo for a trade-up are likely at least doing their due diligence on what it would take to get into the top 10.
As for whom the Eagles could be targeting at No. 8, there's a belief that the deal with the Dolphins might have been fueled by the Eagles' desire to beat Miami to the punch for Ohio State's Ezekiel Elliott. Both teams have a need at running back, and Elliott is the No. 1 player at the position. For Philly, Elliott could replace DeMarco Murray, who was dealt to the Tennessee Titans last week.
Of course, it's possible that a team drafting ahead of the Eagles could snatch Elliott -- NFL Media analyst Charles Davis has him going No. 4 to the Cowboys in his most recent mock draft.
If Elliott is indeed Plan A, Roseman's Plan B, according to the GM's comment, will still be a lot better than the idea of standing pat and drafting outside of the top 10.
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