The Philadelphia Eagles are recognized as winners of the 2026 NFL Draft, successfully acquiring top talent including wide receiver Makai Lemon and Pro Bowl pass rusher Jonathan Greenard. General Manager Howie Roseman executed strategic trades to enhance the team's roster depth.
Key points
Philadelphia Eagles recognized as winners of the 2026 NFL Draft
GM Howie Roseman executed strategic trades
Drafted Makai Lemon and Jonathan Greenard
Enhanced roster depth with key selections
Philadelphia EaglesPittsburgh Steelers
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - NOVEMBER 05: General Manager Howie Roseman of the Philadelphia Eagles celebrates after defeating the Dallas Cowboys 28-23 at Lincoln Financial Field on November 05, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) | Getty Images
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - NOVEMBER 05: General Manager Howie Roseman of the Philadelphia Eagles celebrates after defeating the Dallas Cowboys 28-23 at Lincoln Financial Field on November 05, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) | Getty Images
***Letās get to the Philadelphia Eagles news and links ā¦***
NFL Draft 2026 winners and losers: Browns, Ravens, Eagles score; Panthers, 49ers reach ā The Athletic
Philadelphia Eagles: Howie Roseman does it again. An active and aggressive draft weekend saw the Eagles GM deal leapfrog the cross-state rival Pittsburgh Steelers to draft a highly coveted and dangerous wide receiver in Makai Lemon, later swing a trade for a Pro Bowl pass rusher in Jonathan Greenard, and then upgrade depth at multiple positions. Thereās a reason why the Eagles have ranked among the best in the NFC for the better part of the decade. It all starts with the crafty architect
5 NFL teams who got better in the 2026 Draft, and 5 who didnāt do enough ā SB Nation
THE GOOD ā Philadelphia Eagles. Took every bit of willpower in my body not to slam my computer against my desk like Jake Gyllenhaal in Prisoners while writing this. Itās insufferable listening to everyone go āHoWiE dOeS iT aGaInā after just⦠drafting good players who fell in his lap. But his season, Roseman and the Eagles did the equivalent of a Money in the Bank cash in, jumping in front of the Steelers to steal Makai Lemon from their grasp as general Manager Omar Khan was on the phone with the former USC star. They then selected Vanderbilt tight end , who will serve as an instant upgrade over and an eventual replacement for and got offensive tackle Markel Bell at the beginning of the third round after a trade with the . To go three-for-three in the first three rounds of the draft is a job well done.
Roseman has had a knack for unearthing jewels in places very few others do. was not a part of the IPP, but was taken in the 7th round of the 2023 Draft and, over the last two years, has turned into one of the teamās most valuable defensive linemen, piling up six sacks and 12 QB hits in 17 games last year. With the Bernard pick and Weru signing, the Eagles did exactly what youāre supposed to do in the 7th round. Theyāre taking a chance on their coaching staff being able to teach totally raw but tremendous athletes how to play American football. Recent history says they can.
The team that now has a surplus of starting-quality safeties, in my opinion, is the Browns, with , , and rookie second-round pick Emmanuel McNeil-Warren. Maybe Delpit and/or Hickman could be available. If Iām the Eagles, I might also check in on the availability of the Panthersā and TreāVon Moehrig, after Carolina selected in the fourth round last year and Zakee Wheatley in the fifth round this year. Ultimately, the Eagles are probably going to have to trade for a safety, because there arenāt any realistic answers on the street.
TE DaeāQuan Wright ā 6-4, 246 ā Productive throughout career. Caught 113 passes. As a senior he started all 15 games (39-635-16.3, 5 TDs). Good effort blocker, both in-line and on the move. Has quiet hands. Catches the ball smoothly. Good RAC ability. Good downfield receiver. Shows a good feel for getting open. Didnāt do athletic testing at Combine or his Pro Day. Looks athletic on tape, but would be good to have numbers to compare to others. Hurt his shoulder in the season opener and played through the injury all year. That shows toughness, especially for a guy who will block. Big question for me is route-running. Ole Miss used him in space quite a bit and also got him open via play design. If Wright can prove he can consistently get open against good man coverage, he absolutely has an NFL future. I had him rated as a fourth rounder. Others had him a bit lower, but surprising he went undrafted unless there is a lingering medical issue. [BLG Note: I really enjoyed watching this guy play. Dude looks like he wants to run through a brick wall. Early camp crush favorite.]
Makai Lemon isnāt quite 6 feet tall. Heās not 200 pounds. He doesnāt run a 4.30. Based on his measurables, you wouldnāt expect Lemon to be one of the top players in the 2026 draft. But then you actually watch him play. And as Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said, Lemonās competitiveness ājust kind of oozed off of his tape.ā The Eagles on Thursday night, traded up three spots from 23 to 20 to draft the Biletnikoff Award winner and the first thing they talked about was his competitive nature. Thereās a ton of other things the Eagles like about Lemon but thereās probably a reason this comes up a bunch. Sirianni said Lemon is āinsanely competitive.ā āHe plays the game with a chip on his shoulder,ā USC WRs coach/co-OC Dennis Simmons said just after boarding his flight home from the draft in Pittsburgh. āI think that comes from his competitive edge. His motto is, āIām going to make the throw right. Iām going to make the quarterback right.ā So when the ball is in the air, itās my job to catch it no matter where he puts it. I think thatās one of those things, he becomes ⦠very quarterback friendly. He becomes like the guy in the park throwing the stick out to his dog. That dog is always going to go up and get it and bring it back to you.ā And shortly after the Eagles drafted Lemon on Thursday night, Lemon in a national interview had a message for Eagles fans: āTheyāre gettinā a dawg.ā
If there was a pick I scratched my head a bit over, it was Eli Stowers in the second round, 54th overall. Yes, after bringing back Dallas Goedert on yet another lower-money one-year deal (if sticks around much longer heāll be paying Howie to play here) the Eagles needed to look to the future at tight end. Is Stowers a tight end, really? Heās a big pass receiver who was a quarterback a few years ago. He doesnāt do a lot of tight endish things, like, say, block people, ever. Is he a tight end in the way that Michael Scott declared bankruptcy on The Office? Apparently, the answer there is that all will become clear when the new, magical offense of coordinator Sean Mannion is installed. Weāll see how Stowers can be a weapon all over the field. Lemon will help make into a quarterback who throws over the middle on more than just the odd quick slant, and the offensive line will be much healthier and wonāt need ready-to-play reinforcements because of outside zone blocking, or something.
10) In moving up for receiver Makai Lemon and trading for edge rusher Jonathan Greenard ā along with WR earlier in the month ā the Eagles definitely improved the roster. Throw in TE Eli Stowers and OT Markel Bell, and it was a productive weekend. Even if Bell is more of a down-the-road pick ā along with QB Cole Payton, S Cole Wisniewski and DT Uar Bernard ā the heft up top should be enough to put Philly in a good spot. It was an uneven draft class, with a 110-pick gap between picks in the middle rounds, but the approach appeared worthy. Even with the impending trade, the Eagles have done enough to put them back in contention if Jalen Hurts can rebound.
There are so many intriguing storylines for this football team, right? The quarterback position has three veterans and a rookie in Cole Payton, an athletic young man from North Dakota State. The wide receiver room is absolutely loaded, so how will that shake out? Tight end, the same. The Eagles have a bunch of edge rushers for Vic Fangioās defense, and thatās fun to see. The offense is looking to develop some young offensive linemen as, letās face it, a transition of sorts could be taking place in the trenches. A Nigerian from the International Pathways Program, Uar Bernard, is a defensive tackle with freak athletic ability who has never played the game. āA blank slate that you are able to teach things to,ā Head Coach Nick Sirianni said. Could he be? Will he be the next ā¦ā Time will tell. It always does. āI think I probably need to get some perspective on that, to answer that question accurately,ā Roseman said when asked what he thinks heās accomplished to this point in terms of the roster. āI will take some time and put together a plan on how to address some things. Again, our work isnāt done. Weāre not going on vacation. Weāre going to do whatever we can to put the best possible team forward.ā
What will the draft compensation be if the Patriots, who didnāt select a wide receiver, trade for A.J. Brown? No two trades are the same, but one of the most recent high-profile receiver deals was for , who was acquired by the in exchange for a package that included a late first-round pick. So it makes sense that the Eagles might hold out for a first-round pick, even if it means waiting for 2028 or the pick is conditional on Brown reaching certain performance-based markers. The Patriots, however, could point to the 2024 deal that sent from Buffalo to in a package that included a second-rounder as the top chip.
āI donāt really pay much attention to who Iām talking to,ā Jones said when asked about trading within the NFC East. āAl Davis, probably the first thing he tried to put in my head was, āDonāt even answer a call from your division. Jerry, this is all about strategizing against your division opponents because you play them twice and you canāt forget that edge there. Thatās a very strategic edge.ā So I didnāt take that lesson from Al.ā
S : This one is easily the best pick of the draft, and maybe not just for the Cowboys. Caleb Downs was the pie-in-the-sky target for many fans, but it seemed unlikely heād be there. Considered by some the most likely player in this entire draft to become a Hall of Famer, Downs is a do-it-all defensive back with legitimate blue-chip value. Heās drawn favorable comparisons to the likes of and . Not only did the Cowboys manage to land Downs, they did so without jeopardizing the rest of their draft. After the Giants ā whom many believed to be infatuated with Downs ā passed on him for a tackle, Dallas moved up from 12 to 11 to ensure nobody would snipe him. The best part: they gave up two fifth-round picks, which were replenished (and upgraded) later that same night. Downs will immediately start at the all-important nickel position in Parkerās defense, a major indicator of success for the defense as they go through this rebuild. Grade: A+
No doubt the most common objection in the comments section will be my decision to list drafted rookie ā almost universally regarded as a slot receiver ā as the starting wideout opposite . This is a considered decision made for a few reasons, but the weightiest of them is that GM Adam Petersā comments about Williams in his Friday night press conference focused almost exclusively on Williamsā 2024 season and his abilities playing outside, mentioning his ability to play the slot as āflexibilityā. At the moment, the Commanders have other options at slot receiver, but lack a clear starter opposite McLaurin. Based on the general managerās comments, I think he believes he has drafted a player who can fill that role ā at least unless/until the team acquires a player better suited to the role.
The 2026 NFL Draft is over. Nobody really knows who did well and who did not. Snap NFL Draft grades, though, are a part of life. Below, how NFL analysts believe the New York Giants did in their first draft with John Harbaugh and Joe Schoen working together.
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Q&A
Who did the Philadelphia Eagles draft in the 2026 NFL Draft?
The Eagles drafted wide receiver Makai Lemon, Pro Bowl pass rusher Jonathan Greenard, and tight end Eli Stowers among others.
What trades did the Eagles make during the 2026 NFL Draft?
The Eagles traded to leapfrog the Pittsburgh Steelers to select Makai Lemon and also acquired Jonathan Greenard through a trade.
Why are the Eagles considered winners of the 2026 NFL Draft?
The Eagles are seen as winners due to their successful acquisitions of high-impact players and strategic trades that improved their roster.
How has Howie Roseman impacted the Eagles' draft strategy?
Howie Roseman has been instrumental in the Eagles' draft strategy, known for making aggressive moves and selecting valuable talent.
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