Eagles Select Edge Rusher They 'Love' in Peter King NFL Mock Draft

Agreeing with Sports Illustrated's previous mock draft, NBC veteran insider Peter King predicts the Philadelphia Eagles will draft Georgia pass rusher Nolan Smith.

With teams picking 1-4 boasting new head coaches and nine of the top 11 clubs being run by primary decision-makers in their first or second year, Thursday's NFL Draft is anything but predictable. And don't get us started with the quarterbacks, who - depending on the day, or even hour - fluctuate in some order of of Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Will Levis and Anthony Richardson.

The volatility and suspense is, of course, mesmerizing. In a way, it makes mock drafts simultaneously less and more important than ever.

With that said, allow long-time NFL insider Peter King to throw his mock hat into the confusing ring. The NBC veteran produces only one mock, and it dropped this week with the Philadelphia Eagles choosing ...

No. 10 - Georgia EDGE Nolan Smith

That's a pick, ahem, some of us here tend to agree with wholeheartedly.

King says he gave long consideration to giving the Eagles Northwestern offensive lineman Peter Skoronski - to protect newly minted quarterback Jalen Hurts. But, writes King:

Two things happened Sunday. A GM who’s always smart when I do this exercise told me he knew the Eagles love Smith. And someone else told me Skoronski’s very likely to play guard, and check out where the Eagles have drafted starting guards, or guards-to-be. Okay. Cam Jurgens, Landon Dickerson, Isaac Seumalo went 51st, 37th and 79th overall, respectively. And then I looked at the ages of the Eagles’ four most prominent ends or edge players: Brandon Graham, Haason Reddick, Derek Barnett and Josh Sweat average 29 years, 7 months old as of September. Okay. I talked myself into a 238-pound edge player who runs a 4.39 40-yard dash.

Other mock drafts agree that the Eagles will wind up selecting an edge rusher, but instead of Smith maybe Adetomiwa Adebawore of Northwestern or Iowa's Lukas Van Ness.

And, of course, there's always the lure of the best running back in the draft - Texas' Bijan Robinson. Eagles' fans likely ramped up those dreams this week when the versatile Longhorns' star said he would love to play alongside Hurts.

---

Follow Richie Whitt on Twitter

Want the latest in breaking news and insider information on the Philadelphia Eagles? Click Here.

Want even more Philadelphia Eagles news? Check out the SI.com team page here