What to expect from Eagles draft day trades

There are very few sure things in the draft. But there will always be trades. And there will always be Eagles draft day trades.

The Eagles currently have eight draft picks: 23 (1st round), 54 (2nd), 68, 98 (3rd), 114, 137 (4th), 178 (5th), 197 (6th). For 2027, the Eagles have all of their own picks in the first five rounds.

1st round

If the Eagles make a trade in the 1st round, it is almost certainly to move up. The five most recent trade ups from around 23 (as with all trades listed here, that don’t involve a QB) as they’re pretty indicative of what will cost:

2024: 23, 167, future 3rd for 17
2021: 23, 66, 86 for 14, 143
2019: 20, 52, future 3rd for 10
2018: 22, 65 for 16, 154
2018: 25, 125 for 22, 215

• The Eagles don’t just have two 3rds this year, they have two next year as well with the expectation of receiving a compensatory 3rd round pick for the loss of Jaelen Phillips. If it moves them ~10 spots up, giving up one of four 3rds over the next two seasons is a very easy price to pay.
• With an AJ Brown trade for what we expect to be a 2027 1st six weeks away, giving up a 2027 3rd becomes even more palatable.
• As we will see later, moving up from the 3rd to recoup a 2nd round pick isn’t likely.
• The only time that the Eagles under Howie Roseman have traded up in the 1st and received an additional pick was the Carson Wentz trade, when they gave up five picks and got two back. So don’t expect the Eagles to do a two for two or three for two deal.

We’ll get into who may or may not be willing to move back to 23 in another post, but it is worth pointing out that the Chargers, drafting at 22 have only five total picks and just one pick after the 4th, and that the Eagles have moved up on spot for Jalen Carter and Jihaad Campbell.

It is unlikely the Eagles move down, but not impossible.

2024: 24, future 7th for 29, 73
2023: 24 for 25, 160, 240
2022: 23 for 25, 130
2022: 21 for 29, 94, 121
2019: 22 for 25, 127, 197

• Of their last ten day 2 picks, the Eagles have moved up just one time, for Cooper DeJean. So moving back on Thursday so that they can add another option for moving up on Friday is not something that is going to have a lot of appeal to the Eagles.
• Moving back a few spots for a free late 5th/early 6th may look nice on paper but none of the teams directly behind the Eagles seem likely to make such an offer. At 24 are the Browns, who already have the 6th overall pick, so moving up may not interest them much; at 25 are the Bears, who have no 5th or 6th round pick to give; at 26 are the Bills, who have no 2nd round pick.

2nd round

As noted earlier, the Eagles don’t have much of a history of trading up on day 2 of the draft. A big reason for that is they usually move up in the 1st, having made trade ups in five of the last seven 1st rounds. Let’s assume for a moment that they stay at 23, then move up in the 2nd to not lose out on a run on a position, like when they stayed at 22 then moved up to 40 in 2024.

2025: 52, 82 for 35
2025: 48, 98, 135 for 37, 143
2025: 56, 62, 109 for 41, 72
2024: 52, 142, 155 for 46
2024: 52, 155, 2025 2nd for 39
2022: 53, 77, 192 for 42, 122
2021: 48, 121 for 43, 230
2019: 56, 101 for 45
2019: 49, 144 for 46
2018: 56, 101 for 45

Yes, you read that right, 52 and 155 were dealt twice in 2024. 52 wound up being Adonai Mitchell, who was traded in November. Cursed pick? 155 was traded for a third time, to the Eagles for Jeremiah Trotter Jr.

• 54 and 98 would be the price for a pick in the 30s, 54 and 114 to move up to the 40s.

Trading down here is an option.

2025: 51, 85, 122, 208 for 57, 75, 111, 230
2023: 55, 194 for 63, 122, 249
2023: 56 for 61, 136
2022: 50 for 54, 158
2022: 57 for 60, 180

• Move up in the 1st, back in the 2nd sounds like a good plan, but the Eagles have little history of trading up in the 1st and then trading back in the 2nd (if they still had their 2nd). They only time they have moved up in the 1st and back in the 2nd was 2023, when they already had made two 1st round selections.
• If there’s a move back from 54 expect it to not bring back much. That, in addition to it not being how the Eagles usually do their drafts, and the overall quality of this draft, may be reason enough to not make a move.

3rd round

68 – If it is not part of a larger trade in the 1st round, the Eagles are likely making a selection with the 68th pick.

• There is no significant difference between the late 2nd and early 3rd round, but teams seem to be reluctant to move a handful of picks back if it takes them out of the 2nd and into the 3rd. In the past five drafts, there were only two trades that took a team out of the 2nd and into the 3rd, and those trades moved the team five or fewer spots back. Over those same five years, there were seven trades in the back half of the 2nd round that moved a team 5 or fewer spots back within the 2nd round.
• Moving up to the top half of the 2nd round is unrealistic. Since the 2011 CBA only three times was a pick in the 60s dealt for a pick in the top half of the 2nd round:

2025: 56, 62, 109 for 41, 72, 240
2022: 68, 108, 124 for 44
2019: 62, 102, 2020 2nd for 48, 116

Teams just aren’t looking to move back that far.

98 – After this pick there are just two more left in the 3rd. You may hear someone proclaim that Howie Roseman loves to trade for the first pick in the 4th round, but he hasn’t done that since 2014.

Trade up

2025: 102, two 2026 3rds for 70, 182, 2026 6th
2025: 102, 142 for 89, 236
2025: 95, 2026 4th for 85
2023: 93, 132 for 80
2023: 102, 164, 222 for 87

Trade back

2025: 96 for 101, 2026 5th
2025: 97, 187 for 102, 142
2024: 102 (4th round), 235 for 121, 136, 207
2023: 96 for 122, 139, 168
2013: 103 (4th round) for 115, 165

• The takeaway here is that whether it be up or down, teams like to get creative and do multiple pick swaps at this point.

These expectations are for a normal draft, but the 2026 draft is an odd one. Many of the top players in it are at non-premium positions, while the players at premium positions lack clarity of value and pecking order. So we may see more moves than usual, and with that, some out of the box results.