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According to recent speculation from Sports Illustrated‘s Albert Breer, the Philadelphia Eagles might have actually been thinking ahead when they decided to trade down from the sixth to the 12th overall pick in this year's NFL draft. Says Breer:
“…with the Eagles believing there is a pretty good chance the [Cincinnati] Bengals will take LSU’s Ja’Marr Chase at five…Philly felt comfortable with the difference in talent between six and 12…”
Philadelphia has been hurting for any talented, healthy playmakers on the offensive side of the football, especially at the wide receiver and offensive line spots. If they trust either their current line's availability going forward or Jalen Hurts' evasiveness to give their wide receivers time to run routes, the Eagles are apparently comfortable with the talent gap between presumptive number one wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase and the rest of the field (Alabama's duo of Devonta Smitha and Jaylen Waddle).
Even if Philadelphia decides to add depth and youth on the offensive line, they are confident that at least one of the top three prospects in the draft (Penei Sewell, Rashawn Slater, or Alijah Vera-Tucker) will fall to them because of this as well.
The more interesting story is a possible reunion between the Bengals' sophomore quarterback Joe Burrow and who the Eagles are speculating Cincinnati to take with the fifth pick, Ja'Marr Chase. The Bengals to this point have been highly presumed to take one of the aforementioned linemen in order to protect Burrow, who missed the last half of the 2020 season due to injury.
But according to Breer, Burrow gave Cincinnati's front office a glowing recommendation of Chase, who was one of Burrow's favorite targets while he was in Baton Rouge.
Cincinnati, it should be noted, is hurting a little for weapons, as well as help on the line. Tyler Boyd and Tee Higgins are fine young players, but neither are true number one's at the position and if your star quarterback has built-in chemistry with the top WR prospect in the draft, you would be hard-pressed not to reunite the two. They absolutely lit the world on fire in Burrow's magical 2019 season, and Chase has only matured and grown since then.
With this knowledge, it seems that the Bengals will be a bit of a wild card going into the draft, especially given how shaken up the top three picks are to be. With the Jaguars, Jets, and 49ers all projected to pick their next franchise quarterbacks and the Falcons going for either an heir to Matt Ryan or another weapon, the Bengals will have their pick of the litter.
More updates to come as the story unfolds.
