April 26, 2024
In the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft, it was widely expected that Howie Roseman and the Philadelphia Eagles would trade up and select either an offensive lineman who would eventually take over at RT for Lane Johnson, or a cornerback.
The trade up never happened. Instead, the first 14 picks of the 2024 draft were on the offensive side of the ball, including six quarterbacks, which helped push players with first-round grades down to the Eagles at pick 22. Rather than move up, Roseman uncharacteristically sat tight.
"I think once we got towards the middle of the round, we saw that we were going to be okay and get a first-round player at our pick," Roseman said after the first round concluded. "I think it was unusual to not have action in that room. There were some really good players still left. We contemplated going up, but we kept going back to the fact that we felt like we had a really good chance to get a first-round player at a position of need where we were picking."
Several local and national reporters projected Mitchell to the Eagles, but they also concluded that the Eagles would have to move up to get him:
Field Yates of ESPN and Jeff McLane of the Inquirer had the Eagles trading up to 16 with Seattle to land him, for example. John McMullen had the Eagles trading up to 12 to land him.
A significant trade up would have very likely included one of the Eagles' second round picks, at 50th or 53rd overall. The Eagles were instead able to land a good prospect at a clear position of need while also keeping both second-round picks. Roseman and the Eagles correctly read the flow of the draft and their patience paid off.
As for Mitchell the player, his calling card is ball skills, as he finished second in the nation both in 2022 and 2023 with 19 pass breakups each season. He also has decent size at 6'0, 195, and outstanding 4.33 speed.
If there was one big concern about Mitchell it was that he did not face top tier wide receivers in college. However, he put some of those concerns to bed during Senior Bowl practices, where he was clearly one of the best players on the field.
"He had a chance to transfer out of Toledo last year", Roseman explained. "He stayed there. He came back. He got better. He went to the Senior Bowl. He really checked the whole offseason process boxes one by one off, which is important. And obviously he's got a lot to prove, as a small school player. The MAC is not the National Football League. We understand that. We've had tremendous success with big schools, so to take a player like this from the MAC, he has to be special, and we think he's a special person."
The other concern was that Mitchell didn't play a lot of press man coverage at Toledo.
"He played a tremendous amount the off coverage at Toledo," Roseman said. "When we talk about finishing the process you got to see him play press coverage at the Senior Bowl. That was an opportunity to see him kind of finish that and be well-rounded. So I think that really helped us see that he had a diverse array of skillsets there. That was one of the concerns when you see him play, that he's only playing a certain way and he is allowing his eyes to lead him to the ball.
"So when he got in people's faces at the Senior Bowl, we thought he was one of the best players at the Senior Bowl against really good competition, against a really good receiving class. We saw a bunch of them come off today and we will see a bunch of those guys come off tomorrow. That was important for us."
In college, Mitchell played both inside and outside, and excelled in both spots. It appears that the Eagles won't put a lot on his plate early on, and will allow him to just play outside initially.
"For us, the most important thing he focuses on one thing as a rookie," Roseman said. "That's [Vic Fangio's] and his staff's choice, but when we talk about him, we talk about him as an outside corner and kind of working from there. You do watch him and see him play some inside, so he's got that versatility. We'll get him in here and see what he's comfortable doing with our coaches and work from there."
Interestingly, it wasn't just Mitchell who unexpectedly fell to pick 22. So did Alabama CB Terrion Arnold. The Eagles had their pick of the two players and opted for the small school guy over the one who played a college football powerhouse. Personally, while I liked both players quite a bit, I probably would have leaned toward Arnold. It will be interesting to see how their respective careers play out.
Grade: A-
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