NFL Draft Invites Extended: Who Slides, Who Joins the Eagles?

The Philadelphia Eagles have taken a player who attended the draft in three of the last four years, but Nakobe Dean had to slip to the third round to keep that streak going

Seventeen college prospects have been invited to the NFL draft, set to begin on April 27 in Kansas City.

One of them will likely become a member of the Philadelphia Eagles later that night.

It’s happened that way in three of the last four drafts and may have happened in four straight if not for the COVID-19 draft in 2020 forcing the proceedings to be held virtually.

There’s a chance, too, that one of them will slip out of the first round.

It happens, and when it does, it’s uncomfortable to watch as the television cameras pan in on a prospect sitting in the green room surrounded by family, friends, and agents. His face, so full of excitement and nerves at the start of the draft, begins contorting into concern and bewilderment, the chip on his shoulder growing larger.

Georgia linebacker Nakobe Dean was in this situation last year. He wasn’t alone.

Mississippi quarterback Matt Corral sat there until the third round before hearing his name as the 94th overall selection by the Carolina Panthers, who are expected to take another quarterback with the first overall pick in this draft.

Dean went just 11 picks before Corral, taken 83rd overall by the Eagles. He is expected to start this season.

He dropped to the third round due to a medical report released on the first day of the draft that said his shoulder needed surgery. It did not.

“That was the thing that was so surprising and mind-boggling,” Dean said after the Eagles picked him. “It was never … I went to doctors, got second opinions and everything, and nobody, nobody said I should have surgery. Nobody had told me I had to have surgery.

“So, for that to come up and for teams to be saying that and waiting until the day of the draft to say something like that, that was kind of crazy to me.”

Dean said the chip on his shoulder his even bigger now than it was.

“You know, listening to things that are not true and it's costing me a lot of money, and just seeing my mama’s face, and for me falling and to hear things like that, that was just the biggest thing,” he said last April.

There was no such slide for DeVonta Smith, the Alabama receiver who the Eagles traded up to take No. 10 overall in 2021 as he sat in the green room waiting to hear his name called when the draft was held in Cleveland.

In 2019, the Eagles stopped the slide for Washington State offensive tackle Andre Dillard, trading up three spots with the Baltimore Ravens to get ahead of the Houston Texans. Dillard was supposed to replace Jason Peters at left tackle at some point, but Jordan Mailata won the job, and Dillard left this offseason for a three-year free-agent deal with the Tennessee Titans.

The Eagles traded out of the first round in 2018 and took tight end Dallas Goedert in the second round as their first pick of that draft.

In 2017, they selected Derek Barnett 14th overall. Barnett attended the draft that was held in Philadelphia that year.

Here is the list of prospects expected to attend this year’s draft in Kansas City:

Invited to 2023 NFL Draft

WR Jordan Addison, USC

EDGE Will Anderson, Alabama

DB Brian Branch, Alabama

DT Jalen Carter, Georgia

WR Zay Flowers, Boston College

CB Christian Gonzalez, Oregon

OL Paris Johnson, Ohio State

QB Will Levis, Kentucky

CB Joey Porter, Penn State

QB Anthony Richardson, Florida

RB Bijan Robinson, Texas

WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Ohio State

QB C.J. Stroud, Ohio State

EDGE Keion White, Georgia Tech

EDGE Tyree Wilson, Texas Tech

CB Devon Witherspoon, Illinois

QB Bryce Young, Alabama

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Ed Kracz covers the Philadelphia Eagles for SI's EaglesToday.

Please follow him and our Eagles coverage on Twitter at @kracze.

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