Zach Berman discusses the Eagles first round of the 2023 Draft. The Philadelphia Eagles certainly made a splash on Thursday night as the NFL kicked off the first round of the NFL draft. The team snagged Defensive linemen Jalen Carter with the 9th overall pick (after trading up) and then grabbed his Georgia teammate Nolan Smith with the 30th overall pick. Many draft analysts were floored that the Eagles managed to steal two of the top ranked players and only had to give up a 2024 4th round pick to do so.
You can add The Athletic’s Zach Berman to the list of folks who was shocked;
“The fact that they landed Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith, I would not have guessed that was a possibility. If you had told me a few months ago that they would get Jalen Carter, I would’ve said how many 1st round picks did they need to give up, because you’re talking about that kind of talent… For them to be able to land Carter and land Smith… the night could not have gone better.”
Many fans thought the Eagles would trade out of their 30th overall pick and try to recoup some assets and acquire some middle round picks. But they didnt. After edge rusher Nolan Smith fell to the Eagles, they pounced to take him. So why did he fall to the 30th overall pick? Zach weighed in.
“The body type is not for everybody, in that you’re looking at a sub-240 pound edge rusher, but the speed is out of this world… The size and the lack of prolific college production, you need to wrap your head around someone who’s never had more than 3 or 4 sacks in a season. But, if you just look at the track record of Georgia front 7 players, they’ve never had a double digit sack player under Kirby Smart, so some of that is schematic.”
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