The Eagles came away from the first round with some big additions in the form of Georgia’s Jalen Carter and his teammate Nolan Smith shortly thereafter.
While the Eagles were originally scheduled to pick at 62, they had only 66 and then a pair of seventh-rounders that left them without many picks on day three of the draft.
Attempting to change that, the Birds traded out of pick 62 and sent it to the Texans in exchange for 65, 188 and 230.
The move gave the Eagles picks at 65, 66, 188, 219, 230 and 248.
At their new positioning at 65, the Eagles selected Alabama tackle Tyler Steen.
They drafted Illinois safety Sydney Brown shortly after that.
Steen was originally a defensive linemen at Vanderbilt and transitioned to play both right and left tackle with the team before transferring to Alabama for his last season.
Steen may be considered a bit of a reach, but he’s a smart player with some good strength and size. He has some technique challenges, but if Jeff Stoutland thinks he’ll work out who is anyone else to judge?
The Eagles are in need of some OL depth with only Jack Driscoll and Brett Toth having seen some real game action among their current backups. Luckily, Steen should be versatile to cover multiple positions.
Although there were other defenders like Kelee Ringo and Ji’Ayir Brown still on the board, the Eagles liked the Illionis product Sydney Brown who is coming from a secondary that already had two other defensive backs drafted with earlier picks.
Brown is a physical and strong player that seems to have the instincts and mindset to be able to succeed, but scouts project he will need to be a special teamer in order to make a roster out of the gate due to a lack of top-end speed that could hurt in the passing game and poor success when tackling that will hurt his run game.
All that said, Brown did record six interceptions and 13 defensed passes along with 59 tackles and a forced fumble last season, so his shortcomings didn’t seem to hinder his production there. Tackling technique should also be something the Eagles could teach.
Brown may not be a day one starter, but the Eagles are lacking at the safety spot with Terrell Edmunds and Reed Blankenship seemingly being the starters with no one behind them guarantees a place on the roster let alone the backup role.
With the pair of picks, the Eagles have used their only day two picks.
Unless they trade back up, they will not be active until late in the process tomorrow during the sixth round.
