Philadelphia Eagles 2022 mock draft: Landing three elite prospects
By Evan Bachman
CB. player. Pick Analysis. Georgia. Derion Kendrick. 2. 54. Scouting Report
With Darius Slay, Steven Nelson, and Avonte Maddox the Eagles currently have a solid trio of corners. However, Nelson and Maddox are both free agents after this season and Darius Slay will be 31 in January, so corner will be an offseason priority for them.
There are plenty of good cornerback options in the first round, so it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if they used one of their first-rounders on a corner, but in this scenario, they look to the second round to add one.
Derion Kendrick isn’t a perfect prospect by any means, but he does check a lot of the boxes that you want to see in cornerback prospects. He is a smooth mover, he’s good technically, and he’s got a lot of experience playing high-level college football as he started two years for Clemson before transferring to Georgia, where he is now also starting for the Bulldogs.
3. player. 54. Scouting Report. Pick Analysis. LB. LSU. Mike Jones Jr.
Arguably the biggest need for the Philadelphia Eagles heading into the offseason is linebacker as they are already pretty weak at linebacker and have a lot of free agents. With the Eagles’ third-round pick here they select yet another Clemson transfer.
At Clemson last season, Mike Jones Jr. was a pretty versatile defender as he lined up at defensive end, in the box, and in the slot and he was impressive in coverage recording two interceptions.
However, his desire to play more of an inside linebacker role caused him to make a decision to transfer to LSU. Ultimately, how he plays this season will decide what type of role he’ll play in the NFL, but he did show enough ability at Clemson to warrant a mid-round draft pick.