The Philadelphia Eagles had a very good NFL Draft.
Sure, not every pick went their way. Players the Eagles liked came off the board before they selected in every single round of the draft, and as a result, Howie Roseman moved down more than he moved up, leaving the weekend with ten players plus future ammo after entering the weekend with eight.
And yet, the weekend wasn't perfect. The Eagles, for one reason or another, didn't land a new tight end despite being very open about their desire to move on from Dallas Goedert. They didn't add any offensive weapons for Jalen Hurts, for that matter, with the lone offensive player who doesn't operate in the trenches being Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord.
And yet, the Eagles almost drafted one of the most exciting and polarizing players in the entire 2025 class in Shedeur Sanders, who went off the board one pick earlier at 144 to the Cleveland Browns and forced Philadelphia to instead take developmental slot cornerback Mac McWilliams.
Would Sanders have been a polarizing player? Yes. Would the Eagles have been in the news much more, even if they didn't necessarily want to be? Yes as well. But if Hurts suffered an injury, would they have been in a better position to remain competitive with Sanders playing over Tanner McKee? Yes, which is why tipping their interest in Sanders was the biggest mistake of the Eagles' 2025 NFL Draft.
Ian Rapoport believes the Eagles wanted Shedeur Sanders
Right when it broke that Sanders was heading to Cleveland, Ian Rapoport noted on the NFL Network's draft coverage that there were rumblings all day that the Eagles would pick the Colorado quarterback and that the Browns had to jump them to get their guy in the fifth.
“There have been rumors all day that the Philadelphia Eagles were interested in Shedeur Sanders,” Rapoport said via SI. “It would be a perfect landing spot for him – a veteran quarterback room, a team with a really good backbone, a really good culture. The Cleveland Browns just traded over the Eagles. I wonder here, I wonder did the Browns do this thinking the Eagles would take Shedeur?”
Would the Eagles have absolutely taken Sanders at 145? No, but it sure does sound like that was the plan, and for good reason. In 2024, the Eagles struggled when Hurts was unable to play, with Kenny Pickett turning in a 1-1 record as a starter while McKee won his lone start against a Giants team that was already on vacation. Bringing in Sanders would give the Eagles arguably the best backup quarterback in the NFL in the short term, while opening things up for them to recoup their assets in a year or two via trade. No offense to McWilliams, who seems like a solid dime option, but that's value unlike almost any other Day 3 player in this or any NFL Draft class, even a quarterback like McCord, who was “better” in college.
Philadelphia had the support system for Shedeur Sanders
Why did Sanders fall in the 2025 NFL Draft? Well, part of it was that his style of play didn't fit every scheme, but a close second was that he simply rubbed teams the wrong way with how he carried himself.
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After the first and second rounds went on, teams wondered if bringing in Sanders as a backup would be more trouble than he was worth, especially if, after a game or two where someone struggled, Deion Sanders would be blasting the head coach and GM for playing a bum over his son.
In Philadelphia, that probably wouldn't have happened, as Hurts is coming off a Super Bowl MVP season and is locked in as one of the premier starters in the NFL today.
Would Sanders have liked to start in Philadelphia? Sure, but he certainly would have understood that this wasn't his team and that, if he wanted to get that chance, he would need to show he could be the kind of player who fits into an NFL ecosystem, fills his role, and help out around the organization, with an endorsement from Roseman a potential key to a future opportunity.
Shedeur Sanders' value would have only gone up in Philly
Unless Sanders somehow pulled a Nick Foles and/or Hurts and took over the starting spot long-term from an injured or struggling starter, his tenure in Philadelphia likely would have ended in a trade.
Imagine, if you will, what would have happened if any starter across the NFL went down in 2025 with an injury; no matter which team they currently play for, headlines would arise the very next day, wondering if *Insert GM X* should trade for Sanders in order to save the season.
On paper, this would make sense; Sanders' contract is worth well under $1 million, his pedigree remains the same, and he would still be signed for four years, all of which his new team could maximize if things worked out. While he was drafted for a fifth-rounder, he could have easily netted a Day 2 pick sight unseen before Week 1, and if he proved he could be a good teammate as a member of the Eagles, there's no reason those same offers wouldn't have been presented in the spring of 2026, the summer of 2026, or the fall of 2026 for that matter, too.
Is Sanders a perfect prospect? No, but he would have remained a viable one for the entirety of his rookie contract unless he really struggled on the field, giving Philadelphia a break-in-case-of-emergency option worth as much on the field as on the trade block. That fact isn't true for McCord, McWilliams, or any other player on the Eagles' roster unless they really blow up in a major way, which Sanders doesn't need to do in order to be coveted once Philadelphia has a new QB2 lined up.
