After months of anticipation, the NFL Draft is finally upon us in just over 24 hours.
The Philadelphia Eagles have already made a bold move, trading up to the top of the draft to select their future franchise quarterback, who will be Carson Wentz barring any last minute changes from the Rams' war room.
While quarterback is the first order of business for the Birds to attend to, the club still has many other areas of need that will have to be addressed with the team's six remaining picks in the later rounds.
What are the team's top remaining needs? Let's take a look.
Running Back
Arguably, this is the greatest area of need that the Birds have at the moment.
Currently the backfield features a couple of aging veterans in Ryan Mathews and Darren Sproles, and unproven Kenjon Barner as the third-string back.
Mathews has never been able to stay healthy in his career, and even when healthy, he merely possesses an average skillset. Sproles has always been limited to being a role-player, and given the amount of time he's been in the league, there's concern over how much he has left in the tank.
The Eagles need to get younger, and more dynamic at this position. Paul Perkins could be the team's best solution at the position, he should be on the board when the team picks again in the third round.
Linebacker
With the switch back to a 4-3 scheme, the Eagles are once again shuffling their linebacking corp. While Jordan Hicks, Mychal Kendricks, and newcomer Nigel Bradham are firmly entrenched as starters, the team has a lack of depth behind them.
Connor Barwin and Brandon Graham will be used primarily as defensive ends, there's a lack of talent at the position behind the starters.
Both Hicks and Kendricks have been injury-prone throughout their football careers, so it would be wise for the Eagles to beef up the talent behind them.
Offensive Line
Chip Kelly thoroughly ignored the offensive line position, having failed to add one through the draft in each of the last two years.
That will likely change this year, though the team doesn't need to target one until the later rounds. Brandon Brooks and Stefen Wisniewski were signed to upgrade the guard positions, so the team's focus can come away from finding a guy that can step in and start right away this year, and instead channel their efforts into upgrading their depth.
Defensive Tackle
Starters Fletcher Cox and Bennie Logan are as solid as they come, but both have expiring contracts and the team has little depth behind them.
Mike Martin was just signed this week from Tennessee to provide some veteran depth, but he's no lock to make the roster. Neither is Beau Allen, a holdover from the last two seasons who was a somewhat serviceable backup nose guard in the 3-4 scheme.
The Eagles need to create more competition at this position, as well as prepare for a scenario next season in which either Cox or Logan departs in free agency.
Denny Basens is a contributing writer for Eagledelphia. Follow him on Twitter @DennyBasens.
