The Philadelphia Eagles’ NFL mock draft theme is retooling without flexibility.
Howie Roseman hasn’t had many levers to pull this offseason, but that will change with the 2026 NFL Draft in a few days. The Birds are armed with eight draft picks even before any kind of A.J. Brown trade or Roseman’s notorious navigation of the board.
In this seven-round mock draft, the Eagles traded Brown to the New England Patriots for picks No. 31, No. 95, No. 125, and No. 191 in the 2026 NFL Draft. Boo away, “City of Brotherly Love.”
Using PFSN’s NFL Mock Draft Simulator, here’s how I navigated the board and positioned the 2025 Super Bowl champs for another run.
Kenyon Sadiq, TE, Oregon
Round 1, Pick 23
The carrot was dangled, and I chomped away.
PFSN’s NFL Mock Draft Simulator dropped Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq to No. 23 overall, and it felt like the changing of the guard that the Eagles offense is seeking.
Sadiq is only 6-foot-3, but at 241 pounds, his blazing 4.39-second 40-yard dash wiped away plenty of concerns about a lack of production this season in Eugene, where he only caught 51 balls.
Especially going into the 2026 NFL Draft knowing that I’m trading A.J. Brown, I love this pick. It will put Philly in more 12 personnel and help them get back to their run-first identity, and Sadiq is an obvious successor for what seems to be a future Dallas Goedert exodus.
Max Iheanachor, OT, Arizona State
Round 2, Pick 34 (via Cardinals from Patriots)
The Eagles landed the No. 31 overall pick from New England as part of our Brown trade, but the Arizona Cardinals dialed up the phone to move back into the first round, and I let them in order to acquire No. 104 overall in exchange for Philadelphia’s No. 169 overall.
With one of their first two picks, Philadelphia will likely invest in an offensive tackle. Lane Johnson is 35 years old and increasingly brittle, and they could always stash this player, Arizona State’s Max Iheanachor, at right guard for the moment.
Iheanachor went from a Senior Bowl sleeper to a potential first-round pick as many realized the Nigerian immigrant’s unusual foot speed and burst into his pass set is especially rare for someone who just got into organized football in 2021 while in junior college.
R Mason Thomas, EDGE, Oklahoma
Round 2, Pick 54
Roseman’s main objective in the draft is usually to select productive players from major schools. R Mason Thomas would qualify.
Thomas had 6.5 sacks as the leader of perhaps the FBS’s best defense, the Oklahoma Sooners, a season ago. For what the 6-foot-2 EDGE lacks in height, he makes it up and then some in bendiness, motor, and a refusal to quit.
I’m not the first one to kick the tires on a Thomas-to-Philadelphia connection. The team hosted him on a pre-draft visit last week.
Elijah Sarratt, WR, Indiana
Round 3, Pick 68
Life after A.J. Brown would be fine in this scenario. Philadelphia would pair DeVonta Smith, Dontayvion Wicks, and Hollywood Brown with Goedert and Sadiq at tight end. Here’s another helping hand.
Elijah Sarratt gives the Eagles a short-yardage, contested-catch maven similar to how they deployed Brown in 2025. The former Indiana star lacks burst or top-end speed, but this is an offense with plenty of home-run hitters.
Of course, Sarratt had 830 receiving yards for the eventual national champions. He’s a ready-made “X” receiver with plenty of experience for a team looking to win right now.
Bud Clark, S, TCU
Round 3, Pick 95 (via Patriots)
No safety projected to go in the first two days in of the 2026 NFL Draft had a higher PFSN CFB Safety Impact (SAFi) grade than TCU’s Bud Clark.
Clark is a tested ballhawk who has recorded at least three interceptions in each of the last four seasons for the Horned Frogs. He was a contributor as a freshman on the squad that got bludgeoned, 65-7, by Georgia in the 2023 national championship.
After a strong effort at the Senior Bowl in Mobile and an excellent 40-yard dash (4.41 seconds) at the NFL Combine, it’d be stunning if he escaped Day 2. The Eagles need a safety and prevent it from happening.
Logan Jones, C, Iowa
Round 3, Pick 98
I really can’t believe Logan Jones would escape Friday, either.
Jones won the Rimington Trophy for the nation’s top center. He blew the doors off the Combine with a 1.75-second 10-yard split, 32″ vertical jump, and 9’2″ broad jump. What more does the guy have to do to compete for title of best center in the class?
Roseman will appreciate his college pedigree, and the Eagles’ offensive line adds depth. Cam Jurgens probably isn’t going anywhere soon, but he did miss three games due to injury last year.
Kage Casey, OT/G, Boise State
Round 4, Pick 104 (via Cardinals)
As arms get shorter on both sides of the line of scrimmage, Kage Casey (32 and 1/4″ arms) might as well be Tyron Smith.
For that reason, I can’t rule out the draft’s only early declaration from a Group of 5 school playing tackle at the next level. Casey popped with excellent angles, footwork, and decision-making on big Ashton Jeanty runs a year ago, but he just doesn’t have ideal lateral movement in pass protection.
Casey could contribute significantly to an Eagles team that struggled at guard a year ago. Neither starter cracked the top 50 in PFSN’s Offensive Line Impact (OLi) metric.
Emmett Johnson, RB, Nebraska
Round 4, Pick 114
Quietly, the Eagles missed Kenneth Gainwell a year ago. They didn’t have a great third-down option, even if Tank Bigsby took some early-down and garbage-time carries away from Saquon Barkley.
Emmett Johnson caught 46 passes on 54 targets for Nebraska last year, so that box is checked immediately. Johnson also ran for 1,450 yards in the heart of the Big Ten.
Before a horrible Combine workout that included a 4.52-second 40, Johnson was in the mix for the class’s RB2 spot. Teams might be slowly coming around to the idea that he’s a potential steal on Day 3 if the testing numbers were just a bad day at the office.
Chris McClellan, DT, Missouri
Round 4, Pick 125 (via Patriots)
I’m not really sure what Chris McClellan is other than a violent, big, disruptive football player.
McClellan split time between 1-technique and 3-technique for a Missouri front that also featured Zion Young. Though he struggles to play with leverage at nearly 6-foot-4, he’s got a tremendous hand speed to shed blocks with huge arms and hands to corral rushers trying to escape into lanes.
That length could help in the kicking game, too. I think he’d be a good fit as a pass rusher from the nose tackle position, spelling Jordan Davis on later downs and longer distances.
Michael Taaffe, S, Texas
Round 4, Pick 137
I know Roseman has watched Michael Taaffe’s tape. He took his running mate, Andrew Mukuba, in the second round a year ago.
Taaffe seems like a traditional Day 3 grinder where you hope he works his way past mediocre athleticism (4.50-second 40 at 6-feet tall) with experience and work ethic. He played 53 games for the Longhorns, intercepting a pass in the Texas A&M rivalry game both years after the school joined the SEC.
In terms of football character, you’re also talking about a guy who won college football’s Wuerffel Trophy in 2025 for community service.
Bryce Boettcher, LB, Oregon
Round 5, Pick 178
Like Taaffe, Oregon’s Bryce Boettcher is another experienced depth pick for a team that aims to compete for an NFC Championship this upcoming season.
Boettcher is a household name thanks to racking up tackles in huge games. These are the opponents that he recorded double-digit tackles against in 2025: Penn State, USC, Washington, Texas Tech, and Indiana (twice). The senior leader always rose to the moment.
I also took Boettcher in the fifth round of my Jacksonville Jaguars’ seven-round mock draft. For any team that needs linebacker help, it’d be insane to pass on him at this stage despite the suboptimal physical tools.
Tyreak Sapp, EDGE, Florida
Round 6, Pick 191
Vic Fangio’s three-man front could get the most out of Tyreak Sapp if they play him at the right position.
The Florida defender is typically seen as an EDGE in a four-man front, which doesn’t exactly do justice to his glacial first step or stiff upper body.
At 273 pounds, I think he’s actually best projected to add mass and be deployed similarly to how the Eagles use Jalen Carter to penetrate the backfield from that spot.
Sapp was a projected top-100 pick after a 7.0-sack campaign in 2024, but 2025 didn’t go according to plan whatsoever. You still see these flashes of dominance as a power rusher that are beyond worth gambling on in the sixth round.
