The Eagles haven’t drafted a cornerback in the first round since Lito Sheppard was selected out of Florida at No. 26 overall in 2002.
That's a factual statement but when history is presented and accepted without the necessary context, it can overwhelm the nuance.
Had Jaycee Horn and Patrick Surtain not gone back-to-back at picks Nos. 8 and 9 in 2021, and fallen to the Eagles, the narrative of no cornerbacks in two decades wouldn't exist.
This year it could be Illinois CB Devon Witherspoon, according to Daniel Jeremiah, the former Eagles scout and lead draft analyst for the NFL Network.
The Cliffs Notes version of all of these draft tropes is it's always about the player and had Christian McCaffrey been available in 2017, Howie Roseman of all people would have even taken a running back.
The game changes as well which is why RB is currently the least-valued position in 2023 after arguably being the most valued in 1973.
Defensively, as linebackers have fallen on harder times, cornerback is a bull market with the thought being you need edge rushers and corners to deal with the explosive modern passing games.
To that end, Jeremiah went CB at No. 10 overall to the Eagles in his pre-combine mock draft, projecting Witherspoon as a potential replacement for second-team All-Pro James Bradberry, who most believe will probably be too expensive to keep for an organization that has a number of bills due.
“I just think Witherspoon is a stud,” Jeremiah said during his pre-combine conference call Friday.
A former west-coast scout for the Eagles from 2010-12 Jeremiah understands the Eagles' way of doing business better than most.
"I think having been in that building and having seen Asante Samuel there, I think you could make an easy comparison there with just the play-making ability, taking the ball away," Jeremiah said of Witherspoon "We’ll see what Bradberry ends up doing in the offseason. I imagine he probably ends up getting paid somewhere. So if they don’t re-sign him, there’s going to be a need there as well.
"There’s a zillion free agents they’ve got to navigate around but (Bradberry is) one I would think would be hard to retain.”
The Eagles saw firsthand how important it was having two top-tier outside CBs in the 2022 season and would like to try to duplicate it in a more cost-effective manner by teaming Pro Bowl selection and team captain Darius Slay with a younger player at a fixed cost for a few years.
“I think if you’re where the Eagles are right now, you’re thought process going into a draft, it’s not the division anymore, it’s not even the conference,” Jeremiah said. “It’s what do we have to do to win a Super Bowl?"
In Jeremiah's mind that means dealing a little bit better with Patrick Mahomes or perhaps Joe Burrow or Josh Allen in the coming years.
"What do we have to do to get off the field when we’re going to have to go up against Patrick Mahomes or whoever else is coming out of the AFC? Be it Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, those are the guys you’re going to have to go through to win a championship," the former scout said.
It's all about matching up with the elite quarterbacks.
In many ways, the only difference between the Eagles' Super Bowl LII winner vs. losing this year against the Chiefs was the inability to make the one defensive play to turn the game like Brandon Graham against the Patriots.
“In that game (the Super Bowl LVII loss to the Chiefs), they couldn’t get off the field and I think they’ve got some really good pieces up front and I think finding somebody on the back end who could take the ball away, that could help their cause as well," Jeremiah said.
"That’s kind of my thought process there. Everything is about winning the Super Bowl and trying to beat these elite quarterbacks. And you do that with pass rushers and corners.”
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