Coming into this offseason, the Eagles made it a priority to find a way to move up into the top 10 of April’s draft.
So when they saw a chance, they jumped.
That opportunity came this week, when the Eagles traded Byron Maxwell, Kiko Alonso and the 13th overall pick to the Miami Dolphins for the eighth overall selection.
Why the need to get into the top 10?
“The way we looked at it, we felt there were 10 players that really stood out to us,” Eagles vice president of football operations Howie Roseman said Thursday. “Picking 13th, we felt like if we were in position to get one of those 10 guys, there was tremendous value in that.
“And to do it before draft day and spend more time vetting all those guys would really help us. Doing it before the draft, before draft day, we’ve seen here over the years that it’s not always easy to move up on draft day. Being able to get that and have it in our pocket as we got it started here would help us in our offseason.”
When asked, Roseman wouldn’t rule out trading the eighth pick, citing that they’ll do anything to get better.
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But it appears very likely the Eagles will stay at No. 8 and make a pick.
“We’re very comfortable picking at eight,” Roseman said. “For us, we know we’re going to get a really good player. We’re just going to go into it with best available player and we know whoever falls to that spot is going to have a chance to be Pro Bowl caliber, which is really exciting for us.”
Roseman also wouldn’t rule out selecting a quarterback with the eighth pick, if that’s the player who is the best available when they’re on the board.
Whoever the pick is, the team feels confident they’ll get a good player. That’s good news for a first-time head coach in Doug Pederson.
“Anytime you can get in the top 10, I think it’s tremendous,” Pederson said. “It definitely gives you some options.”
The trade with Miami was born at the combine last month. Roseman and Dolphins vice president of football operations Mike Tannenbaum — the two go way back — were staying two suites away from each other in Indianapolis and began to work on the deal.
While reports surfaced on Wednesday morning that the deal might die because of Maxwell’s shoulder injury, Roseman claimed the Eagles were never concerned.
Roseman acknowledged that the salary cap comes into play with every move the team makes, which means shedding Maxwell’s salary in the deal and DeMarco Murray’s in another certainly played a role.
But he also said the deal with the Dolphins wasn’t about Maxwell or Alonso being bad fits in defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz’s scheme. It was about the compensation.
“This was about value for the Philadelphia Eagles and for us, when you talk about getting into the top 10 on the first trade, you gotta pay a price,” he said. “You’re not getting into the top 10 for nothing. We had to give up good players to get there. In the end we thought that was the best thing to do.”