Eagles GM Howie Roswman Sends Bold Message With Safety Pick

The Philadelphia Eagles made one pick and two trades on the second day of the 2025 NFL draft, selecting Texas safety Andrew Mukuba at the end of the second round, building of the momentum of their highly-praised first round move to pick Alabama linebacker Jihaad Campbell.

Eagles General Manager Howie Roseman then traded the 96th overall pick to the Atlanta Falcons for the 101st overall pick and a 2026 fifth-round pick. He wasn’t done dealing, as he moved the 2025 third-rounder acquired from Atlanta to the Denver Broncos along with the 134th pick of the 2025 draft for the 111th pick, the 130th pick and the 191st pick of this draft.

Roseman told reporters about the trades, “As we got closer to our pick, we had a couple of opportunities there that we felt like maximized where we were on our board and getting that pick next year, I think we’re going to be at 12 or 13 picks next year and a lot of them in the first five rounds.”

He added, “And so, I think obviously that’s exciting. Not saying we don’t have things we want to improve on this football team right now because we do. But we then felt like the move down to tomorrow gave us an opportunity in the fourth round here to kind of sleep on it and kind of get our board set and ready for tomorrow.”

Eagles GM Howie Roseman Said About Andrew Mukuba ‘We’re Looking to Add Competition’

Roseman told reporters, “It’s really hard to find cover safeties and guys who have the ability to come down and play over the slot, play over the middle of the field, have natural instincts, play the ball. … He plays an Eagles brand of football.”

He added, “He’s going to start in the safety room. And I think at the end of the day we’re looking to add competition to that position.”

Mukuba joins Reed Blankenship, Tristin McCollum, Sydney Brown, Lewis Cine and Andre’ Sam as safeties in the Eagles organization heading into the season.

Philadelphia Head Coach Nick Sirianni Added ‘I Just Love Tough Players’

Eagles Head Coach Nick Sirianni added about the competition at safety, “I liked the room before we even got into the draft tonight, the pieces that we have in that room and obviously Andrew adds to that. I’m really excited about that room and the competition that we’re going to get there.”

He said about Mukuba, “This guy can run and hit and he has a knack to take the football away. You can tell the football is constantly on his mind, whether it is in coverage or coming after a tackle, being the second man in on a tackle and getting a strip attempt, it’s constantly on his mind. I just love tough players and it just oozes off the tape how physical he plays, how tough he plays. … I love that about him.”

The Eagles have six picks on the third day of the draft on Saturday, starting with the ninth pick of the fourth round.

Roseman told reporters, “Having six picks tomorrow, great opportunity to improve our football team on the third day. It’s a really fun day for us. We just felt like it made sense to make those two moves with where the board was at.