We are just a few weeks away from the first day of the NFL Draft (April 25) and every team is doing their due diligence on prospective draftees by bringing them in for pre-draft visits.
These visits are arranged to see if the prospect meshes well with the coaching staff and to judge the player's character. Each team is allotted 30 pre-draft private visits prior to the draft. These do not include the meetings at the Senior Bowl, East-West Shrine Game, and the combine. These are specific meetings where the prospect visits the team.
Meeting with a player can definitely signal interest from a team, but it could also be a smokescreen to try and get other teams to offer something for their draft pick.
Have the Eagles been meeting with future draftees in recent years? Have they been meeting with players they actually did not have a real interest in? Let's take a look at the past few years and which players were drafted from those visits. We'll start with 2016, when #HowieSZN came back in charge after the Chip Kelly debacle.
Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
2016
2016 was the start of a new era for the Eagles. Chip Kelly was finally gone and Howie Roseman was back where he belonged, making the roster moves as he had done prior to Kelly's "promotion".
Here's how he allotted his pre-draft visits during his first year back (with drafted team in parenthesis):
Carson Wentz (Eagles)
Dak Prescott (Cowboys)
Paxton Lynch (Broncos)
Jared Goff (Rams)
Ezekiel Elliott (Cowboys)
Paul Perkins (Giants)
Malcolm Mitchell (Patriots)
DeMarcus Robinson (Chiefs)
Mike Thomas (Rams)
Kolby Listenbee (Bills)
Yannick Ngakoue (Jaguars)
Deion Jones (Falcons)
Nick Kwiatkoski (Bears)
Steven Daniels (Redskins)
Cyrus Jones (Patriots)
Rashard Robinson (49ers)
Daryl Worley (Panthers)
Ronnie Stanley (Ravens)
Alex McCalister (Eagles)
T.J. Green (Colts)
They also held private workouts with Lynch, Christian Hackenberg (Jets), Kevin Hogan (Chiefs), Devon Cajuste (undrafted), Trevor Davis (Packers), Darian Thompson (Giants), and Justin Simmons (Broncos).
As you can see, out of all the visits and workouts, the Eagles only drafted two players they met with. One ended up being a pretty good pick. The other has never appeared in a game. So two players out of 20 visits, a whopping 10%. The Eagles also traded up to get Wentz (from 13 to 8 to, finally, 2) but we could all agree they did well with that decision.
2017
Prior to the 2016 season, the Eagles did not have a first-round pick in the 2017 draft due to their trade for Carson Wentz. However, the Minnesota Vikings sent the Eagles their first-round pick for quarterback Sam Bradford. That pick ended up being the 14th pick in the 2017 draft, just two spots behind where they would've drafted if they had their own first round pick.
So, did the Eagles draft more than 10% of the prospects they visited with? Let's see:
Marlon Humphrey (Ravens)
John Ross (Bengals)
Reuben Foster (49ers)
Dalvin Cook (Vikings)
Leonard Fournette (Jaguars)
Mike Williams (Chargers)
Corey Davis (Titans)
Ethan Cooper (Undrafted)
Obi Melifonwu (Raiders)
Shelton Gibson (Eagles)
Jamal Adams (Jets)
Gareon Conley (Raiders)
Malik Golden (Undrafted)
Damontae Kazee (Falcons)
Kevin King (Packers)
Ahkello Witherspoon (49ers)
Adoree Jackson (Titans)
Alvin Kamara (Saints)
Derek Barnett (Eagles)
Quincy Wilson (Colts)
Taywan Taylor (Titans)
Shaquill Griffin (Seahawks)
Corey Clement (Undrafted - signed with Eagles)
Chris Godwin (Buccaneers)
Ryan Anderson (Redskins)
Out of all of those visits, the Eagles drafted two players (Gibson and Barnett). They signed Clement after the draft. The Eagles met with Gibson in their visit and also another time. However, the Eagles only met with Barnett once. So two drafted out of 25. 8%. 12% if you include Clement, although he wasn't drafted.
2018
Ah yes, the defending Super Bowl champion draft class. The Eagles did not have a first-round pick in this one, as they traded back during the draft with the Ravens. But was this draft class filled with players that visited the Eagles?
Donte Jackson (Panthers)
Derrius Guice (Redskins)
Justin Reid (Texans)
Leighton Vander Esch (Cowboys)
Daurice Fountain (Colts)
Chukwuma Okorafor (Steelers)
Rashaad Penny (Seahawks)
Darius Leonard (Colts)
Chris Herndon (Jets)
James Daniels (Bears)
Tremon Smith (Chiefs)
Jermaine Carter (Panthers)
Mike Hughes (Vikings)
Rashaan Evans (Titans)
Uchenna Nwosu (Chargers)
Ronnie Harrison (Jaguars)
Jeremy Reaves (Undrafted - signed with Eagles)
Courtland Sutton (Broncos)
Jordan Mailata (Eagles)
Connor Williams (Cowboys)
Jaire Alexander (Packers)
Ronald Jones (Buccaneers)
22 visits. One pick. One undrafted signee. Granted, the Eagles did meet with three other draftees. They met with Dallas Goedert and Josh Sweat at the Combine, and met with Avonte Maddox at the East-West Shrine game. But they brought in 22 players for visits at their facilities and only deemed one draft worthy, 4% of players. Is 2019 the year where we see more players drafted that visited the team?
2019
The draft is a few weeks away and we are far from being done with official team visits. So far the team has used visits on:
Cody Ford
A.J. Brown
Amani Oruwariye
Hjalte Froholdt
L.J. Collier
Oshane Ximines
Karan Higdon
Chauncey Gardner-Johnson
Tytus Howard
Plenty of more prospects will go through the NovaCare Complex and meet with Doug Pederson, Howie Roseman, and the rest of the Eagles' staff. But when reading about these visits, don't automatically assume they're a lock for the Eagles during the draft.
Draft visit stats were borrowed from Brandon Lee Gowton over at Bleeding Green Nation.
