NFL Draft countdown: Focus on Eagles' first-round pick at No. 32

For a team that lost DT Milton Williams and OLB Josh Sweat to free agency and DE Brandon Graham to retirement, a player with Sawyer’s pedigree could be difficult for general manager Howie Roseman to pass up.

LB Jihaad Campbell | Alabama

Roseman likely knows about Campbell, who grew up in Erial, New Jersey, a small town roughly 17 miles south of Philadelphia. ESPN analyst Field Yates calls the 6-foot-3, 244-pound linebacker “the best inside linebacker in the class” and had the Eagles taking him in an early mock draft.

Campbell played in just nine games as a freshman but had 66 tackles and an interception in 2023. He followed that up with 119 tackles (55 solo) in 2024, earning a first-team SEC nomination and registering five sacks, two forced fumbles and another interception.

The Eagles re-signed middle linebacker Zack Baun to a three-year, $51M contract this offseason. Still, Sawyer could fill in for outside linebacker Nakobe Dean, who suffered a torn patellar tendon in the wild-card round of the 2024 playoffs.

S Xavier Watts | Notre Dame

The Eagles could use some help at safety after trading C.J. Gardner-Johnson to the Titans, which leads PFF’s John Kosko to believe they’ll take Watts, a player he believes is “the best ball-hawking safety in this class thanks to his intelligence and ability to break on the football.”

Altogether, the two-time first-team All-American had 134 total tackles, 13 interceptions, 14 pass breakups, nine tackles for loss and two forced fumbles in four years with the Fighting Irish and currently ranks as the second-best safety and 39th-best prospect overall by PFF.

DT Walter Nolen | Ole Miss

In his latest mock draft, ESPN’s Mel Kiper notes the loss of Williams and reminds readers that Nolen’s selection would mark the third time in four years that the team drafted a defensive tackle in the first round. He rates Nolen as the draft’s second-best defensive tackle between Michigan prospects Mason Graham (1) and Kenneth Grant (3). 

Nolen had 66 tackles and five sacks in two years with Texas A&M before leaving for Ole Miss, where he had a career-high 48 tackles and 6.5 sacks. He may not come from Georgia like potential linemates Jaylen Carter, Jordan Davis and Nolan Smith, but as Kiper points out, Nolen keeps the Eagles' direct line to SEC defenses alive for one more year.