The NFL is changing, and Howie Roseman is making sure the Eagles are changing right along with it.
The Eagles’ last four drafts have seen an unprecedented – literally unprecedented – focus on defense, and Howie Roseman explained over the weekend that as offensive players league-wide have gotten faster and more explosive, his priority has been to answer with defensive players who can keep up.
Since 2022, the Eagles have drafted 12 players in the first three rounds, and 10 of them have been on defense, including Jihaad Cambell and Andrew Mukuba this year.
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SIGN UP HERE This is the first time in franchise history – and the draft goes back to 1936 – that the Eagles have selected as many as 10 defensive players in the first three rounds in any four-year span.
The only offensive players Roseman has taken in the last four drafts on Day 1 or Day 2 are interior offensive linemen Cam Jurgens in the second round in 2022 and Tyler Steen in the third round in 2023.
This is the first time since 1978 the Eagles haven’t taken at least one offensive player in the first four rounds. It’s the second time in a row the first three players they selected are on the defensive side of the ball.
As for those 10 defensive players Roseman has taken, all are still on the roster, and most will be starters this coming season or will be competing for a starting spot.
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But look at this defensive nucleus: Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Nolan Smith, Dean, Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, Hunt, Campbell and Nukuba were all early draft picks. Kelee Ringo was a 4th-rounder but is also a potential starter.
NFL offenses have gotten faster and more explosive and this defense was built as an answer to that trend.
“We need to have as many explosive, fast players that we can have and I don't think that's like a headline or anything, like, ‘G.M. wants fast physical explosive players,’” Roseman said.
“These guys are so fast in this league and they are such explosive players and explosiveness comes in different ways. It doesn't come as just speed. It comes in power. It comes in change of direction.
“So at the end of the day, there's nowhere that you can be slow on defense. Certainly that's our goal, to keep adding players who fit that description.”
Youth equals speed, and it’s insane how young this defense is now after the offseason defections and additions.
Among players who are roster locks, only 29-year-old Zack Baun is older than 26. Reed Blankenship is 26 and Davis, Brown and Dean are 25. Everyone else is 24 or younger.
Incredibly, there isn’t a single defensive player on the roster who was here before 2022. Jordan Davis has been here longer than any other defensive player. He was drafted four years ago Monday.
If Vic Fangio’s primary lineup is Smith and Hunt at edge, Davis, Carter and Campbell inside, Baun and Dean at linebacker, DeJean, Mitchell and Ringo at corner and Blankenship and Nukuba at safety, those 12 guys will have an average age of 23.9 on opening day.
The Eagles had the No. 1 defense in the NFL last year, but Roseman had a goal of making it much younger and much faster and the past few days were a huge part of that process.
Going even deeper, since 2022, 14 of 19 players Roseman has taken in the first five rounds have been on defense, including five of six this weekend.
Roseman has given Fangio a defense loaded with young, fast, explosive, versatile homegrown players.
“Offensively, we have a bunch of starters under long-term contracts, starters who are in the prime of their career, so it allows you to really, on the fly, get young on that side of the ball,” Roseman said.
“And we needed it a couple of years ago. I'd say this year's draft, we were open to whatever the board told us at where we were picking. We really felt like we were taking the best guys. We were really sticking to the board in terms of where we are.”