Inside the Eagles' Draft Day Decision of Quinyon Mitchell

The Eagles thought they might have to go up and get Quinyon Mitchell. Instead, the talented Toledo CB fell to them.

Apr 25, 2024; Detroit, MI, USA; Toledo Rockets cornerback Quinyon Mitchell poses after being / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

PHILADELPHIA – It was almost the midpoint of the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft when Eagles general manager Howie Roseman realized he probably wasn't going to have to be as aggressive as usual to get what he wanted to accomplish.

A record 14 consecutive offensive players to start the draft meant the defenders were falling and Roseman had his eyes on the two best cornerbacks in the process: Toledo's Qunyon Mitchell and Alabama's Terrion Arnold.

The thought coming in was that Philadelphia would have to move up to get either. Instead, the offensive obsession did the Eagles a favor and Mitchell was there at No. 22 overall.

"It was the highest-ranked player on our board at a position we'd like to get some younger players here," Roseman said. "I think the most important thing is we didn't jump the board. This guy was standing out on our board. He was the highest-ranked guy. It seemed like a pretty easy pick. But the only reason it was (also) a hard pick was because there were a bunch of good players that we liked, and would have been happy to select."

Mitchell marks the first time the Eagles have drafted a cornerback in the first round since 2002 when they took Lito Sheppard at No. 26 overall. That said, the team has been very interested in the position in recent years. Carolina's Jaycee Horn and Denver's Patrick Surtain were high-profile targets back in 2021 and the Eagles had similar feelings with Derek Stingley, Jr. of Houston and the New York Jets' Sauce Gardner a year later.

In each case, the stars didn't align for the Eagles as they did with Mitchell on Thursday night.

At 6-foot-195 pounds with press and off-man coverage capabilities, Mitchell projects as a starting outside cornerback early in his career with a high ceiling. His presence could mean a trade or an outright release of veteran James Bradberry, a former 2022 All-Pro coming off a very disappointing season.

"(Darius) Slay is coming off Pro Bowl year and James is working to get back to how he was two years ago," Roseman said. "I think when you talk about corners, O-linemen, D-linemen, you can never have enough of those guys. Throughout the course of the season, having guys that can cover people is so important.

"Obviously we’ve been in position over the past few years where we haven't had enough of those guys ... I think (competition), that's a good problem to have. It shows its way through."

Mitchell ended up where he was expected to be from the standpoint that he was the first cornerback selected in a draft. His name was called later than expected, however. Arnold ultimately went two picks later to Detroit while Clemson's Nate Wiggins went 30th to Baltimore.

Two other potential first-round CBs -- Iowa's Cooper DeJean and Alabama's Kool Aid McKinstry were not selected on Day 1.

One of the bigger concerns for Mitchell was his competition level at Toledo, a Mid-American Conference team that doesn't get the same kind of wide receivers that Power-5 schools do.

"Obviously, he's got a lot to prove as a small-school player," Roseman admitted. "The MAC is not the National Football League. We understand that. We've had tremendous success with (players from) big schools. So to take a player like this from the MAC, he has to be special.

"And we think this is a special person."

The Eagles had a bit of an inside track when it came to Mitchell's evaluation. Toledo's head coach is Jason Candle, a former teammate at Mount Union of Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni. The Rockets' defensive coordinator is Vince Kehres, the son of long-time Mount Union coach Larry Kehres, Sirianni's mentor.

"You get the information on guys," Sirianni said. "I was able to get some of the information there, just with my ties there. At the end of the day, with how good of a player he was, the thing that always coming up was how good of a teammate, how good of a person, and how hard of a worker, and how competitive (he is). And those are things you want to hear."

From Mitchell's perspective, he called the Eagles "the right fit" and noted he has always modeled his game after Slay, the Eagles' veteran Pro Bowl corner.

"I have some vets in front of me I can really learn from, really slow the game up," Mitchell said. "Darius Slay, that’s somebody who I model my game after, and James Bradberry. It doesn’t matter where I play, I just want to help the team."

MORE NFL: Eagles Sign Superstar To Massive Extension Ending Possibility Of Trade