Philly Takes Corner In Fourth Round

By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor

After taking a game-braking receiver and solidifying the future of the offensive line with their first two picks, the Eagles selected an athletic defensive lineman with a high ceiling.

Following those picks, the team entered day three of the draft with eight more picks to leverage in this draft.

While fans were almost certainly watching and hoping for linebacker Jabril Cox, he went to the Cowboys before the Eagles made it to the podium.

With the biggest and most obvious steal off the board, the Eagles turned to the secondary and took corner Zech McPhearson.

The Eagles had some good opportunity to scout McPhearson prior to 2020 as he spent the first three seasons of his college career at Penn State.

While some scouts believe he has the potential to play inside and outside in the NFL, it is concerning that he had to transfer out of the B1G to the Big 12 in order to move up the depth chart, but that may be attributable to a scheme fit.

That said, his lone season at Texas Tech resulted in 53 tackles, six defensed passes and four interceptions. He was selected to the All-Big 12 first team.

The biggest knocks against him are size (5′ 11″) and some penalty issues.

The Eagles hope that he can develop into an outside corner, a position of great need for the team.

Jonathan Gannon is known as someone who can develop the secondary, so McPhearson has a coach and raw talent to do just that.

The Eagles have seven more picks left in the 2021 NFL Draft.