6 Defensive Tackles Worth Watching For Eagles In The Draft

It is NFL Combine week, which means it is finally not too early to discuss the draft. Eagles fans have been fortunate to not even have time to think about the draft, with the Eagles in the middle of a run to the Super Bowl. But now that the Eagles have lifted the trophy and we have partied down Broad Street, we can divert our attention to the draft and who the Eagles will add to their Super Bowl-winning roster.

One position we know they will likely be looking at is Defensive Tackle. They could still re-sign Milton Williams, which would change how much they need a DT. But in the likely event that Milton Williams does walk, DT will be near the top of their needs.

Howie Roseman has been the Eagles GM/ President of Football Operations since 2010. There was one year he was banished by Chip Kelly, but he was in charge of the other 15 drafts in that time. Over those 15 drafts, he has taken 3 DTs in the 1st round, and 10 total in the draft. It is clearly a position the Eagles value highly.

With the Eagles pick at 32, their options will be limited. Mason Graham, who is by far the top DT in the draft, is not going to be there. But here are some names you should keep an eye on.

Nolen is a bit of a pipe dream. Most mock drafts have him going earlier than the Eagles pick at 32. But some mocks have him falling as low as 24. That is striking distance for a trade. It seems unlikely he will get there, but no one thought Quinyon Mitchell would make it to the Eagles last year.

Nolen has explosive traits and a high motor. He is capable of being a game wrecker vs both the run and the pass, with 6 Sacks last season and 26 Run Stops. Some scouts ding him for playing a bit out of control, over-pursuing, and taking himself out of plays. But you would rather have someone you need to reign in, than someone you need to rev up.

Nolen next to Carter would be a nightmare for opposing teams. In college, he was winning by pure physical traits, but if Clint Hurtt could refine his pass-rush moves, you could have a Superstar DT to pair with Jalen Carter.

At 6ft3 and 343 lbs, Grant is a massive man. You would think that would make him more of the NT mold like Jordan Davis, where he is a run stuffer. But Grant can get after the QB, proven by his 6.5 sacks in the last 2 seasons. There is work for him to do as a pass rusher, but it is easy to see him developing.

He is the type of guy who will likely pop at the combine. For a big guy, he moves exceptionally well. By this time next week, he could be out of reach after people fall in love with his traits.

He can be an immediate star as a run stuffer and has the potential to grow into an impact pass rusher. Playing next to Carter would help. But many might see him as another Jordan Davis, and prefer someone who can more immediately impact the game as a pass rusher.

If you are looking for a pass rusher to replace what Milton Williams gave the Eagles, Harmon could be the guy. He led all DTs going into this draft with 55 total pressures and 43 hurries. He also had 7 QB hits and a shiny 17.6% win rate as a pass rusher. His 7.1% run-stop win rate also ranks near the top of the league.

Harmon is 6ft5 and 310 lbs. He is what you might refer to as a people mover. He also brings the type of versatility the Eagles love, being able to hold up in multiple fronts and from multiple spots on the line. One NFL Executive compared him to Cam Heyward, "but bigger" when talking to NFL.com.

If you want pure power, Williams is the way to go. In high school, he broke a 19-year-old Shot Put record. That strength transferred to the Football field where he was one of the best run stuffers in the league, with an elite 7.8% Run Stop Rate.

When Williams got to Ohio State, he was 360 Lbs and needed to lose weight. By year 3, he had slimmed down to an explosive 326 lbs.

Consistency is an issue, and he can benefit from some coaching up, but the potential is through the roof. Right now he is already a great run defender, but he has the power to be a great bull rusher against the pass too, and he even flashes some finesse occasionally.

It is worth he played a ton of snaps in college, so we know he is capable of being more than a rotation guy despite his massive size.

If you are looking to replace Milton Williams, why not draft a guy drawing comparisons to Milton Williams? Like Williams was coming into the NFL, Sanders is a bit undersized but makes up for it with explosive traits.

Sanders had 11 sacks in college, including 5 in each of his past two seasons. His pass rush win rate of 12.6%, and his run stop win rate of 8.8% both rank near the top for DTs in college last season.

Put him next to Carter, maybe he could have similar success to Milton Williams. He might be the most refined pro-ready pass rusher of this group and was the most productive in college. What he lacks in size he makes up for in tools and skill. Put him next to Carter, maybe he could have similar success to Milton Williams.

The Eagles had luck once drafting from Toledo, so why not make it a trend? Alexander is an athletic freak and his analytics were elite across the board. He ranked near the top for all DTs in both Pass Rush Win Rate and Run Stop Win Rate and had 11 sacks and 6 batted passes in the past 2 seasons.

Like with Mitchell last year, the concern is the level of opponent he went up against. But also like Mitchell, he got the chance to show off at the Senior Bowl vs better opponents, and he popped. He might even be an option in Round 2 for the Eagles. So if they do not go DT in round 1, maybe they come back around to at Dt at pick 64.

The 2024-2025 Eagles season was one of the most special seasons any Philly sports teams have ever had. As a city, we are used to being underdogs. We are used to having to scratch and claw. The first Super Bowl the Eagles won, they were the ultimate underdogs. They had a backup QB playing, along with several other backups, and they were facing down Tom Brady. The team literally wore underdog masks.

That was not the case this time. They might have been slight underdogs on the betting line, and people in the media picked the Chiefs to win. But everyone paying attention knew how good this team was, and they went out and proved it.

It was an absolute rout of the Chiefs to stop the 3-peat ensued. They made Patrick Mahomes have the worst game of his career. Jalen Hurts picked apart Spags' defense. By the 3rd quarter, the Chiefs were crying uncle, and fans were leaving their homes early to make sure they could get to Broad Street to celebrate.

Related: The Real Reason the Eagles Won Super Bowl LIX

We are not going to forget this anytime soon. It might go down as the greatest season in Philly Sports history. The biggest competition would be the 83 Sixers, but a lot of current fans, myself included, were not alive to witness that.

The next Eagles season is about to start. We have to turn the page. But before we do that, let's look back on the magical season that it was. The biggest moments, the eye-popping plays, and the times we started to learn that this team was destined for greatness.

Eagles- Browns was close at the end. They were up just 4 points with under 2 to go. If they had to punt, things feasibly could have gone sideways. The Eagles did something some might call ill-advised, they took a deep shot. Traditional thought says you should run it there, run the clock, and force the Browns to use their final timeout. Or at least if you are going to throw it, go with something safe. Instead, they went deep, but it worked.

The perfect throw, the perfect catch, the perfect way to end the game. It was a good reminder that Hurts and Brown have an amazing deep-ball connection. Did going for that make sense in that moment? Not really. If it had failed, there would have been loads of complaints, but the fact it worked, and sealed the win, made it an amazing moment worthy of this list.

The Eagles completely outplayed the Jacksonville Jaguars. But some questionable decisions by Nick Sirianni, and an incredibly questionable fumble return for a TD, made it a 1 score game at the end. The Jaguars moved down the field to the 14-yard line and were a TD away from erasing the Eagles' lead. But then Nakobe Dean did this.

At this point, it was not yet completely clear how great the Eagles were. If this game had gone sideways, things could have played out much differently. But the Eagle survived, thanks to Nakobe Dean making an incredible play on the ball in the End Zone.

The Saints game was a bit of a mess. The defense played great, and the offense moved the ball, but the Eagles still trailed 12-7 late because Nick Sirianni routinely left points on the board, Jake Elliott missed a FG, and Jalen Hurts turned it over twice in or near FG range. Meaning that at the end of the game, with under 2 minutes to go, the Eagles needed a TD. Dallas Goedert did not score that TD, but he did set it up by doing this.

Saquon Barkley ran it in the very next play and then got a 2 point conversion for good measure after that. By the way, it didn't crack this list, but shout out to Reed Blankenship who truly sealed the win with a pick 2 plays later.

This whole list could have been Saquon moments. But I had to include some other players, so I cut it down to just 4 Saquon moments. The first of which is him breaking 2000. Should this be higher?

Maybe, considering only 8 other players have ever done it. But 4 of the 5 plays ahead of this were playoff moments, which makes them better, and the other is perhaps the greatest thing I have ever seen on a Football field, so Saquon making history somehow only came in 6th place. If you think that is crazy, I kind of agree with you, but I am stubborn enough to stick with it.

There are so many long Saquon runs that it is hard to decide which ones to pick. Given the time and moment, and the pure esthetic of the field being coated in snow, I went with this one.

At the time we thought it was the end of the game. Things got a bit tight from there, and we will get to a play that followed a bit later, but this run was a thing of beauty, it was true art. It also did end up being vital for the win given the Eagles only won by 6 points.

We have the Double Doink, but what about the Double Stuff arm? Dallas Goedert made Carrington Valentine his little brother when the Packers came to Philly for the Wild Card game.

First, he ran through him to break the initial tackle. Then he threw one stiff arm, only to throw another. The second one didn't even feel necessary, it was just mean. But you have to respect it. It was an exclamation point run, that put an exclamation point on that game.

Few people are harder to tackle in the open field than Derrick Henry. The only RB that might surpass him in that regard is on the Eagles. It would be even harder if you are a rookie corner, a position not exactly known for their tackling ability.

So when Cooper DeJean and Derrick Henry met in the open field this season, most people expected DeJean to be left looking like Wile E Coyote after a run-in with the Roadrunner. That was not the case. In fact in this case it was Derrick Henry laid out on his back.

Henry has 50 lbs on DeJean. This shouldn't have been how that interaction ended. But here we are.

When I think of this season, this memory comes up a ton in my mind. It is an "I Am Here" moment. It was DeJean declaring he is not just some rookie cornerback, he is the real deal. Mind you, it didn't make the list, but he did this same thing to Ja'Marr Chase earlier in the season too.

The guy just has a knack for making open-field tackles. I know the song says "Cooper DeJean is not a safety" but he sure does hit like one.

I had to be something to do with the amazing 55-23 win that sent them to the Super Bowl. The question is which play. One of the 3 fumbles? The game-sealing pick? 1 of Jalen Hurts 4 TDs?

To me, one play described the whole game. Even though it took place quite early, and things were still quite close for a bit afterward, the Saquon Barkey 60-yard TD really defined the difference between the Eagles and the Commanders in an instant.

The Commanders opened the game fighting tough and nail for every yard. They eventually got into the Red Zone, only to settle for a FG despite multiple 3rd Down conversions, and 2 4th down conversions. They did all of that, and then in a blink of an eye it was erased by Saquon Barkley just casually running for 60 yards on the Eagles' first offensive play of a game.

It set the tone for the whole game and made it clear these teams were just in different weight classes. One team was ready for the moment, and was team was not.

The Divisional Round Game was coming down to the wire. The Rams were moving the ball with ease in the snow. Even after the Saquon run we already talked about, the Eagles playoff life was on the line with the Rams in the Red Zone down 6 late in the game. The defense looked tired, and the snowy field clearly was hurting the ability to play the level of D they had all season long. That was when Jalen Carter put the team on his back.

He was not done there though. That set up 4th and long. But the Rams could certainly have converted that, and there were WRs open. But Jalen Carter stepped up again, putting pressure on Matthew Stafford, forcing the errant through, and effectively ending the game.

The Eagles went out on the field, knelt down, and advanced to the NFC Championship game. But who knows if that would have happened, or if the Eagles would even be Super Bowl-bound if Jalen Carter didn't take over on those 2 final plays.

The game was over at this point, which kept this play from being 1 or 2. But this was the moment everyone knew without a doubt that the Eagles were winning the Super Bowl. The defense had just forced a turnover on downs. The Eagles were up 27-0. People assumed the Eagles would run the clock out. Instead, they went for the dagger.

On the first play of the drive, Hurts threw a dot deep downfield to Devonta Smith. In an instant, the Eagles were up 34-0, and celebrations began. Any hope of a miracle comeback was dashed in an instant. 27-0 was a mountain to climb. 34-0 was impossible.

I still don't understand how Saquon Barkley pulled this off. A juke, into a spin move, into a backward hurdle, sticking the landing, then picking up several more yards. It is one of the most eye-popping plays in NFL history.

The image of him leaping over Jarrian Jones is now iconic. People have put it on shirts, I have it hanging up in my room. It is a singular moment that is hard to beat, just because it is probably the most impressive feat any of us have ever seen on a Football field. There was a time when normal hurdles were shocking, but they have almost become commonplace in the modern NFL. But Saquon found a way to make it interesting again.

I can not speak for others, but I don't think I am alone in saying this. The Cooper DeJean pick 6 is what I will think of when I look back on the Super Bowl and this season. It is the Philly Special, and it is Matt Stairs ripping one into the night.

10-0 was not exactly a comfortable lead. Patrick Mahomes had been down 10 in every single Super Bowl he ever won, including 57 vs the Eagles. 17-0 is a different animal. Cooper DeJean getting his first-ever interception, on his Birthday, and in the Super Bowl, was great enough. But for him to then return that for a pick 6... it was when I realized this was real. The Eagles were winning this game.

It was preceded by the D-Line getting back-to-back sacks. Mahomes looked rattled. The DeJean pick proved it. The normally calm Mahomes was nowhere to be found. The Mahomes that was out there, had no hope of erasing a 17-0 deficit. This was not the man who had magic running through his veins.  He was a nervous wreck who was hearing footsteps and seeing ghosts.

The DeJean pick 6 will go down as one of the most memorable Eagles plays ever. It passes up the Patrick Robinson pick 6. It passes the many memorable Eric Allen pick 6s. Because while those were great, Dejean did his in the Super Bowl. Cooper DeJean can coast off that play with the fans in Philly for the rest of his life. In 9 months there will be a lot of babies being born who are named Cooper.