Mike Mayock: Eagles Should Take 'Really Hard' Look At First Round WR's
PHILADELPHIA, PA (CBS) — A national event will be taking place April 27-29 at the Philadelphia Art Museum, the NFL Draft, and right in the thick of it will be Mike Mayock, one of keenest talent evaluators in the country, working for the NFL Network during the course of that three-day period.
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Mayock recently addressed a few of the Eagles' needs as the draft nears. Two blatant areas that the Eagles may try filling through the draft are cornerback and wide receiver.
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But do the Eagles, whose first-round pick will either be No. 14 or No. 15 depending on a coin flip, take a corner or wide receiver? Where does the deeper talent pool lie?
The three prime receivers that should go first are Clemson's Mike Williams, John Ross, from Washington, and Western Michigan's Corey Davis.
"I think the wide receiver class is good, but I don't think it's as deep as corner," Mayock said. "So, if you're there at 14 or 15, I think the Eagles have to be looking really hard at all three of those potential first round wideouts. I think all three of them potentially go between 10 and 20, and I know people have some injury concerns about John Ross from Washington, but as a vertical threat, he's probably the best one in this draft."
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"So I think the Eagles have to be looking at all three. They're distinctly different. I think the Eagles have to figure out what their order of preference is, what kind of style they want. But they've got to be looking hard at all three of those guys and know up front whether or not if one or two or all three were available who they're going to take. Then I think they can drop back in the later round. It wouldn't bother me at all if they drafted a couple corners, and I think they could.
"I think they can get one and two, I think they could. It's so deep at corner when you start talking where's Gareon Conley going to go from Ohio State? There is a kid named Ahkello Witherspoon, 6'3," out of Colorado. People are talking about him in the fourth round. He's a good football player. Damontae Kazee if they want a nickel. Cam Sutton I can get through four rounds of quality corners, and I've never been able to say that before," said Mayock.
Can Williams, Ross or Davis be immediate impact players?
"Well, there are three distinctly different guys left," Mayock said. "And I think John Ross is intriguing to me from an Eagles perspective. So, again, he's got some medical. I'm just saying talent. You take the medical off the board for a second. He's probably the best vertical threat in the draft. I think that would help the rest of the Eagles underneath. They desperately need speed. If you're talking about a guy that's going to run 4.35, which I think he will, and he's also really quick. For instance, Fuller, Will Fuller of Notre Dame, went in the middle of the first round last year, and he's almost the same height and weight, and he ran 4.3. I think this kid can run just as fast as Fuller, but I think he's quicker and a better natural catcher than Fuller. So if you take the medical out of it and just say vertical stretch, quick, fast, good hands, he's really intriguing, I think, as an Eagles prospect. But then you have to look at the other two guys, and Mike Williams creates his own space. I mean, he's a big, physical dude. I think he welcomes press coverage. He uses his physicality. He catches back shoulders."
"Again, if you're looking from an Eagles perspective in scoring in red zone opportunities, he's probably the best guy as a wide receiver position in this draft in the red zone because of his catching radius and physicality. I have Corey Davis as the No. 1 receiver, because I think he's a better athlete with good size. Better run after the catch than Mike Williams. He's not going to be able to work out because he's injured at the combine. I think all three of them are in the conversation. They bring different things to the table. And, lastly, I think I'd struggle thinking that the three of them will struggle like Nelson Agholor did, who was another first round pick. I think they're going to be fine," said Mayock.
