PHILADELPHIA — After baffling their fan base Friday night with the second-round selection of quarterback Jalen Hurts, the Eagles went a more conventional route when the NFL draft resumed Saturday: They took Clemson safety K’Von Wallace with the 127th overall pick.
They executed a pair of trade-backs and ended up drafting one more time in the fourth, nabbing offensive lineman Jack Driscoll, of Auburn, 146th overall.
Then the Eagles traded for 5-foot-9, 183-pound veteran wide receiver Marquise Goodwin, who has played seven NFL seasons for Buffalo and San Francisco. Goodwin, who competed in the 2012 Olympics as a long-jumper, is known for his 4.27-second 40, and also for having suffered an assortment of injuries. He has appeared in a full 16 games only once, in 2017 with the 49ers, when he caught 56 passes for 962 yards.
First-round pick Jalen Reagor and Goodwin give the Eagles a speedier wide receiving corps, though fans might have been expecting more from this supposedly talent-rich wideout draft. Maybe Boise State’s John Hightower, a speedy wideout the Eagles took 168th overall, will be a diamond in the rough.
The Wallace pick was notable. The Eagles let Malcolm Jenkins walk in free agency and their other 2019 starter, Rodney McLeod, turns 30 in June. They hadn’t drafted a safety since Blake Countess in 2016. Wallace becomes their highest-drafted safety since Temple’s Jaiquawn Jarrett in 2011.
Wallace is known as a blitzer and a hitter, not so much for his pass coverage. NFL.com projected him as a fifth-round pick and a backup, special teams-type player. The Eagles obviously are hoping he can be more than that.
Driscoll, the offensive lineman, finished up at Auburn after graduating from UMass.
At 6-foot-5, 306, Driscoll is known as a cerebral player who probably lacks the size to dominate at tackle in the NFL and might project as an athletic guard, something the Eagles prize. The Eagles let Halapoulivaati Vaitai and Jason Peters go into free agency this offseason.
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