The Philadelphia Eagles moved from the No. 12 choose to No. 10 in a commerce with the rival Dallas Cowboys and chosen Alabama receiver and Heisman Trophy winner DeVonta Smith on Thursday night time within the 2021 NFL draft.
Thwarted of their bids to take a cornerback, the Cowboys traded their 10th choose and obtained again the 12th choose in addition to the Eagles’ third-round choose. The Cowboys had been excessive on cornerbacks Jaycee Horn and Patrick Surtain, who went to Carolina and Denver at Nos. eight and 9, respectively.
Dallas chosen Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons with the 12th choose.
“Actually excited to get DeVonta Smith,” Eagles common supervisor Howie Roseman mentioned. “He was actually extremely rated on our board, somebody who we really feel like is just not solely an important participant however an important individual and can are available in and be able to roll. We talked about it by way of this draft course of, about getting guys in right here who may assist us construct the kind of tradition we would like. We had a plan that we talked about, and we had an inventory of fellows that we had been actually focusing on on this draft. And with the quantity of picks that we had, the flexibleness we had due to the picks, we felt prefer it was necessary to get a kind of guys, and that is why we made the commerce as much as go get him.”
Smith mentioned he’ll be able to show the Eagles made the fitting transfer buying and selling up for him.
“Them transferring up signifies that they see one thing in me that they need, and I am excited for it,” he mentioned. “They’re getting a man who’s going to return in on a regular basis and work laborious, and I am prepared.”
Smith led the NCAA in receptions (117), receiving yards (1,856) and receiving TDs (23) en path to successful the Heisman Trophy in 2020. Nonetheless, he was the third receiver chosen within the draft behind LSU’s Ja’Marr Chase and Alabama teammate Jaylen Waddle due partially to issues over his weight. He reportedly weighed in at 166 kilos throughout his medical check-in on the NFL mix earlier this month in Indianapolis.
“Good gamers are available in all sizes and styles, and so we’re not going to discriminate primarily based on any of these issues,” common supervisor Howie Roseman mentioned throughout his pre-draft course of when requested about non-prototypical receivers.
The Eagles have spent first-round picks on the receiver place in back-to-back years, deciding on TCU’s Jalen Reagor final April.
Parsons, who opted out final season, had 192 tackles, 19 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks, six pressured fumbles and 5 cross deflections in 26 profession video games (13 begins).
It’s the sixth draft-day commerce the Cowboys and Eagles have consummated since 1989.
“While you commerce within the division, you perceive that you simply’re not gonna get any values to that. It is gonna should work for them, as nicely,” Roseman mentioned.
“They obtained who they wished, and we obtained who we wished,” he added. “It is all the time been a superb relationship. It is respect for his or her group, and positively, Mr. Jones, Jerry, and Stephen, we’ve got a variety of respect for them, as nicely, competing in opposition to them.”
ESPN’s Todd Archer contributed to this submit.