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22 hours ago
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There’s always trade buzz surrounding GM Howie Roseman and the Philadelphia Eagles come NFL Draft time, but it feels especially palpable now with the calendar flipping to April.
There’s been plenty of speculation around the future of players like tight end Dallas Goedert and EDGE Bryce Huff, a pair of starters with large cap hits in 2025 who feasibly could be moved.
When it comes to Philly’s first-round pick later this month, No. 32 overall, draft analysts have predicted everything under the sun, from trade-back scenarios to improve the team’s overall capital, to more bold moves up the board to add yet another ascending star to a roster already chalked full of them.
Eric Edholm, a lead draft writer for NFL.com, released his latest projections for the draft’s first 33 picks, including a number of trades. One of them was Philadelphia climbing eight spots in a trade with the Minnesota Vikings to add another intriguing young playmaker to Vic Fangio’s secondary.
Edholm predicts the Eagles will trade up for rock-solid Georgia safety Malaki Starks, a player who’s been a popular pick for Philly in draft speculation this year. Here was his take:
Will it surprise anyone if Howie Roseman a) moves up aggressively to fill a top need and b) drafts a Georgia player? Starks is a cerebral defender with a lot of fans in league circles. First-round safeties are always a gamble, but there's no team better equipped to take that risk. — Edholm
There’s a reason Starks-to-Philly has been a popular first-round projection. The team has a number of former Georgia Bulldogs currently entrenched on the roster, most notably Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith Jr., Jordan Davis and Nakobe Dean. Starks actually spoke on how special it would be to play with those guys during a session with reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine.
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The Eagles also have an obvious void at safety after trading away C.J. Gardner-Johnson this offseason. They still have a leader for that group in Reed Blankenship, and there’s some talent in reserve in Sydney Brown and Tristin McCollom, but safety feels like a spot worth adding to, especially given the allure of adding another young star to a secondary that includes Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean.
A potential deal with the Vikings makes sense, considering Minnesota's league-low four selections in this draft. Philly holds eight selections, with four of them in the middle of the fifth round. Those picks could be used as ammunition to make a bold move on Day 1, and Starks is a name firmly on the radar as a potential target.
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