Philadelphia Eagles 2020 NFL Draft: Final Grades, Analysis and Context

The 2020 NFL Draft is finally over. Find out how much better the Philadelphia Eagles are after this weekend and where the team goes from here. Individual round draft grades, context for each pick and more.

With the pick 233 in the 2020 NFL Draft, the Philadelphia Eagles have officially cemented this year’s rookie acquisitions in the record book. Whether history looks kindly or not on this year’s draft haul will largely depend on each player’s performance in the regular season. Without having seen a single NFL snap from these players, let’s grade how each pick worked out for the team and where we go from here.

For some context, it will be important to discuss which positions were a priority for the front office to draft this year and how these players will impact the roster in the 2020 season.

Going into the first round on Thursday night, general manager Howie Roseman was under a lot of pressure to deliver a game-changing player on Day One. Since the team’s miraculous Super Bowl 52 victory, sports media have crowned the Eagles to be one of the front-runners to play in the NFC Championship game the last two seasons. After the Philadelphia Eagles went 13-3 in the second season of the Carson Wentz/Doug Pederson regime, many assumed the good times would continue to roll.

The roster was recognized as one of the best in the NFL for two seasons in a row. So fans were left disappointed two postseasons in a row when the Eagles were eliminated in relatively close games. Not to mention two regular seasons of confusing, frustrating losses have left fans wondering just what caused these titanic rosters to sink to such pedestrian levels.

For starters, there is some disconnect in the fan community between what was expected of the Eagles in 2018 and 2019 versus what they actually accomplished. To some fans, it was an incredibly disappointing two seasons of close losses and bitter playoff defeats. In another light, the last two seasons have been a success, as the team has overcome heartbreaking losses and record-level injury rates to make the playoffs three seasons in a row.

Considering what the roster had to overcome each of the last two seasons, it is a sort of a miracle they even saw the postseason both years. Circumstances could have easily gone the other way, leaving the Eagles on the outside looking in during the playoffs. And while the front office can be blamed for some of the roster issues in recent years, it is improbable that any other general manager could have produced better results.

The biggest issue Roseman had to tackle in the 2020 NFL Draft was restocking a roster depleted by retirements and losses in free agency. Roseman held on to key players from the Super Bowl season, in hopes of keeping the core group together long enough to make another run. In hindsight, Roseman may have bet too much on this possibility. But with the fickle nature of Super Bowl windows and player turnover, it is doubtful any other general manager would have acted differently.

But this season the Eagles are entering a new chapter of its franchise. Instead of betting all its assets that this season is THE season to win a championship, they must build a sustainable roster to match its harsher cap situation. Gone are the days of Roseman signing multiple big-name free agents in March. While signing Wentz to an extension right away saved cap space down the road, there is no denying Roseman will have a dramatically different roster-building philosophy going forward.

Roseman made some controversial picks in the 2020 NFL Draft, some that fans lauded and others scorned. Day One and Day Two were especially controversial and require a deeper dive. In this article, we’ll explore each draft pick the Philadelphia Eagles made this past week. We’ll explore the context of the pick, the effect it will have on the roster and a specific grade for each pick.

For more analysis and information regarding the 2020 NFL Draft, check back with NFL Mocks, as we’ll be grading every team’s draft selections from top to bottom this week. Not only that but we’ll start laying the groundwork for the 2021 NFL Draft, including a mock draft and storylines from next year’s draft to watch for.