Philly’s 2nd-Round Pick Raises Eyebrows: Stowers Over Elite McNeil-Warren

This pick of Eli Stowers is really questionable on two fronts for me as an Eagles fan. Don’t get me wrong, I like the pick, but the first question is, why did Philadelphia not go for Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, who would get picked a couple of picks later by the Cleveland Browns at 58, at 54? Because that would’ve been a perfect pick to help the safety depth, in my opinion. More later on that. 

But Stowers is not a blocking TE; he’s more of a Jimmy Graham type of player. I like that he’s reliable in the receiving aspects, but he needs to work on his blocking a lot. I like it, but I question everything about the strategy a little bit. But I trust Howie Roseman, as he did do something to the defense that I love with a huge trade that will be out in article form later from me. But let’s break down Stowers to Philly. 

What Stowers Brings to Philadelphia 

Stowers is coming off a great season receiving for the Vanderbilt Commodores, as he had 62 receptions for 769 yards and four touchdowns last season with Diego Pavia as his quarterback. I also love his ability to catch the football and be a vertical type of threat at the tight end spot, but he needs to work on the blocking a lot to be a great Dallas Goedert replacement if Goedert does leave after 2026. But that’s not my major issue with the pick, this is… 

WHY NOT GET McNeil-Warren

Let me give you a quick bulleted list on why McNeil-Warren made sense for the Eagles at 54 in my head

• He was a teammate of Quinyon Mitchell (Eagles All-Pro Cornerback), so the recent success of Toledo secondary players would’ve been helpful for Philly once again
• Secondly, McNeil-Warren had 77 total tackles, three forced fumbles, and two interceptions last year for the Rockets, as he would’ve been a great playmaker to go alongside Andrew Mukuba in that secondary. 
• Lastly, WE NEEDED SAFETY DEPTH HUGELY AND ONCE AGAIN ROSEMAN DEVALUES THE SAFETY POSITION!!!

I do love Stowers as a player, don’t get me wrong, but we didn’t need him with that pick over EMW, and it’s a disappointing pick in that situation for Philly fans like myself. I hope Stowers performs well in this offense in the overall grand scheme of things, but McNeil-Warren would’ve been amazing, top-notch drafting from Roseman like Mukuba as last year. 

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