Where should the Eagles go with their first pick?

It’s no secret that the Eagles have some definite holes to fill in their current roster. It’s also no secret that most of these holes fall on the defensive side of the ball. I have yet to see a mock draft in which the Eagles draft an offensive player with their first pick. If they did, I’d assume he would be an offensive lineman or maybe CJ Spiller fell to them, but that’s it.

So if/when the Eagles decide to draft a defensive player with their pick, where will they go? Everyone knows they need to fill in the holes on defense, but there are multiple holes. Come draft day, the Eagles will be looking to draft players at defensive end, linebacker and safety early in the draft. There will be a few factors that will determine exactly where the Eagles decide to go with this pick.

One of the biggest factors will be whether they make any impact in the free agency market. For example, if they decide they really want to go after Julius Peppers and end up signing him, it won’t be as important for them to draft a defensive end early in the draft. Peppers is definitely the biggest name in free agency this year, but a lot of teams will be tired because of his age. I’m sure the Eagles will at least look at Peppers, but his history with older players makes me think they’d rather address the position in the draft.

At safety, the Eagles would love to get their hands on Eric Berry, but that won’t happen unless they crack the top five. After Berry, there are Earl Thomas and Taylor Mays, who also project in the first round. There are a lot of questions about Mays and his coverage skills and it’s starting to slip. However, he’s a tremendous athlete and I’m sure he’ll have a solid combination and probably drag a bit. I think Thomas is a solid player, but he may not be around when the Eagles draft. If so, he could see the Eagles take him.

We all know the trouble the Eagles had with linebackers this year, so you have to believe this is a big priority for them. Brandon Graham, Sergio Kindle, Sean Weatherspoon and Navorro Bowman are possible first-round suitors the Eagles could take.

At defensive end, many mock drafts have the Eagles taking Carlos Dunlap out of Florida. He is a big boy and could definitely have a lot of potential. Everson Griffen out of USC could be another possibility.

This is definitely going to be an important draft for the Eagles and I hope they can do it successfully. We’ll have more detailed coverage of possible prospects after the combine.