Five years ago, the Eagles were coming off a Super Bowl win without a ton of draft capital. They owned the 32nd overall picks as Super Bowl champs but didn’t have much else to work with that year. That didn’t stop Howie Roseman from drafting three Pro Bowl caliber players and one of the better slot corners in the league with just five picks.
Here’s a look at the haul that Roseman reeled in five years ago.
- Dallas Goedert – 2nd Round (49)
- Avonte Maddox – 4th Round (125)
- Josh Sweat – 4th Round (130)
- Matt Pryor – 6th Round (206)
- Jordan Mailata – 7th Round (233)
The only pick in the group that wasn’t a total hit was Pryor in the 6th, and even that pick was still a hit, given the draft slot. Pryor has played in 60 games over the last five years with 24 starts. You’re taking that level of production out of any 6th-round pick you make ten out of ten times.
Dallas Goedert hasn’t made a Pro Bowl yet, but he is right on the cusp. Had it not been for his injury this year and inexplicably not being on the ballot as a result, he might have made it this year. He was the 4th highest-rated TE by PFF among TEs with at least 50 targets this year, behind only Travis Kelce, Greg Kittle, and Mark Andrews. That’s pretty good company. Given all the weapons the Eagles have, making a Pro Bowl could be a challenge because it’s a stats-dominated world, but to those who know ball, it’s clear he’s one of the best tight ends in the league. The Eagles have him signed for another three seasons.
Avonte Maddox has had trouble staying healthy of late, but when he does, he’s one of the best slot concerns in the league. Maddox ranked 23rd in coverage grade by PFF among all cornerbacks in the NFL in 2023 – higher than both Daris Slay and James Bradbury. He’s played 60 games with 36 starts in five years and has been getting better every year. After an up-and-down few seasons to start his career, Maddox has registered 70+ PFF grades in each of the last two seasons.
Josh Sweat was one of the biggest steals of the 2018 Draft and one of the best steals of Roseman’s career. There were some very real health concerns about Sweat, but Roseman trusted the team’s medical evaluation and took a calculated risk on Sweat becoming the pass rusher everyone thought he’d be at Florida State before the injuries. He’s been selected to back-to-back Pro Bowls and racked up 18.5 sacks in the last two years. Absurd value from a 4th round pick. Roseman locked Sweat up to what looks like a pretty team-friendly deal now too.
Roseman might not ever hit on two big gambles in the same draft again as he did with Sweat and Jordan Mailata. The risks with each were very different, but both had high risk/reward qualities. And both were absolute hits. Mailata has developed into one of the better young tackles in the league despite never playing American football before being drafted. Mailata has been so good that people stopped talking about how ridiculous it was that he just picked up football and became great at it. Mailata was the 10th best-rated OT in PFF grades in 2022 which earned him Pro Bowl alternate status. The crazy thing is, he’s still getting better.
Five picks and five years later, four of them are vital cogs on a roster that just finished just short of being Super Bowl champions. All four are signed for at least the next two seasons as well. The hit rate of this class was ridiculous, but so too was Howie’s ability to realize they were all hits early and lock them up to what are now team-friendly deals.
The fact that the weakest hit in this class was a 6th round pick that still turned into a serviceable, starting-caliber tackle in the league is wild. It’s insane to think that Howie had this class immediately before the ill-fated JJaw and Reagor draft classes,
