The Philadelphia Eagles moved from the No. 12 pick to No. 10 in an trade with the rival Dallas Cowboys and chose Alabama receiver and Heisman Trophy champ DeVonta Smith on Thursday night in the 2021 NFL draft.
Obstructed in their offers to take a cornerback, the Cowboys exchanged their tenth pick and got back the twelfth pick just as the Eagles’ third-round pick. The Cowboys were high on cornerbacks Jaycee Horn and Patrick Surtain, who went to Carolina and Denver at Nos. 8 and 9, individually.
Dallas chose Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons with the twelfth pick.
“Really excited to get DeVonta Smith,” Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said. “He was really highly rated on our board, someone who we feel like is not only a great player but a great person and will come in and be ready to roll. We talked about it through this draft process, about getting guys in here who could help us build the type of culture we want. We had a plan that we talked about, and we had a list of guys that we were really targeting in this draft. And with the amount of picks that we had, the flexibility we had because of the picks, we felt like it was important to get one of those guys, and that’s why we made the trade up to go get him.”
Smith said he’ll be prepared to demonstrate the Eagles took the correct action exchanging up for him.
“Them moving up means that they see something in me that they want, and I’m excited for it,” he said. “They’re getting a guy who’s going to come in everyday and work hard, and I’m ready.”
Smith led the NCAA in gatherings (117), getting yards (1,856) and accepting TDs (23) in transit to winning the Heisman Trophy in 2020. All things considered, he was the third recipient chose in the draft behind LSU’s Ja’Marr Chase and Alabama partner Jaylen Waddle due to a limited extent to worries over his weight. He apparently tipped the scales at 166 pounds during his clinical registration at the NFL join recently in Indianapolis.
“Good players come in all shapes and sizes, and so we’re not going to discriminate based on any of those things,” general manager Howie Roseman said during his pre-draft process when asked about non-prototypical receivers.
The Eagles have spent first-round picks out the recipient position in consecutive years, choosing TCU’s Jalen Reagor last April.
Parsons, who opted out season, had 192 handles, 19 handles for misfortune, 6.5 sacks, six constrained bobbles and five pass diversions in 26 vocation games (13 beginnings).
It is the 6th draft-day exchange the Cowboys and Eagles have culminated since 1989.
“When you trade in the division, you understand that you’re not gonna get any values to that. It’s gonna have to work for them, as well,” Roseman said.
“They got who they wanted, and we got who we wanted,” he added. “It’s always been a good relationship. It’s respect for their organization, and certainly, Mr. Jones, Jerry, and Stephen, we have a lot of respect for them, as well, competing against them.”
