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ESPN urges Eagles to draft freak defensive star

Originally posted on NFL on ClutchPoints
By Daniel Locke | Last updated Apr 18, 2025 1:44 PM ET

With the NFL Draft approaching, the Philadelphia Eagles are looking to reload and compete for another Super Bowl Championship in 2025. The Eagles have been linked to South Carolina football safety Nick Emmanwori.

ESPN NFL Draft Analysts Matt Miller and Jordan Reid are confident the Eagles should take Emmanwori in this year’s draft.

Miller believes that the Eagles would be filling one of their biggest needs if they were able to add Emmanwori to their roster.

“The Eagles’ secondary was good enough to win a Super Bowl, but it could use a playmaker at safety,” Miller wrote. “Emmanwori has the over-the-top range and speed to take away outside rushers, which fits well in Philly.”

Reid believes the Eagles would have the potential to get a lot of value out of their pick if they were to draft Emmanwori.

“We’re in agreement to end the first round,” Reid wrote. “Emmanwori is ranked No. 33 on my board, and scouts are excited about his jack-of-all-trades skill set. He had six interceptions over the past two seasons.”

The Eagles are still figuring some things out for next season, but selecting Emmanwori could help them plan for the future as well as the present.

Eagles using succession plan

Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni holds up the Vince Lombardi trophy during the Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl celebration in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. William Bretzger-Delaware News Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

One of the reasons the Philadelphia Eagles have manages to sustain their success for so long is their ability to keep developing players. They use their older talent to do so.

“To have the guy in there, whether it’s Jason Kelce with Cam, or whether it’s Fletch with Jalen Carter or Jordan Davis, whether it’s BG with Nolan (Smith), to be able to watch that tape to show the standard of what something looks like and hey, ‘This is exactly the way we want this play to look like here, watch BG right here,'” head coach Nick Sirianni said via Eagles.com.

“Now, to be able for Nolan to be able to go, or (outside linebacker) Jalyx (Hunt) to be able to go to BG and say, ‘Why did you do it that way? I saw what had happened, take me through that process.’ That is a huge, huge tool and advantage that we’ve been able to have here for the past, since I’ve been here, because of the great players that we have.”

This plan has worked so well for the Eagles, they have two recent Super Bowl rings to show for it.

This article first appeared on NFL on ClutchPoints and was syndicated with permission.

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