The Eagles made the right selection.

Even better, they did not have to make a trade to do so.

The Eagles selected Toledo University cornerback Quinyon Mitchell with he 22nd pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. It was the first cornerback the Eagles drafted in the first round in 22 years (they selected Lito Sheppard in the first round in 2002). 

The 6-foot, 195-pound Mitchell was one of higher-rated cornerbacks coming into the draft and was projected to go much earlier. CBSSports’ Pete Prisco projected Mitchell to be drafted at No. 17 by the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“I feel like right now, I’m with the right fit, I’m with the right organization with the right players, the right city,” Mitchell said after being selected. “I’m with the right organization, with the right players, right city, so I feel good about this draft pick right here.”

Mitchell is considered to have tremendous speed, size, technique and physicality. He is arguably one of the most disruptive players in this draft class with 37 pass breakups and six interceptions over the last two seasons at Toledo.

Based on the player, based on the totality of the circumstance with the player, his talent, his character, and his position, we felt like it was the right pick for us,” Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said.

There was no doubt the Eagles needed a cornerback in the first round. That was my top position of choice. I did not care about the old narrative of “pick the best available.” If you look around the league, most of the top corners were selected in the first round. 

The Eagles absolutely needed to go CB, and Roseman was brilliant once again. 

And, again, Mitchell was projected to go earlier. I thought the Eagles would need to make a trade to get him or Alabama’s Terrion Arnold. 

This past season, the Eagles allowed 253 passing yards per game. which the second worst in the NFL. The Eagles were the eighth team in NFL history to allow 35 or more touchdown passes and intercept less than 10 passes.

The Eagles were TORCHED in the secondary.

The Eagles brought back safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, and cornerback Isaiah Rodgers, who put together a great campaign in 2022 but was suspended last season, recently got reinstated and will join the Eagles this season. That’s a solid three new pieces back there, and hopefully there is more to come.

The Eagles recently re-signed Avonte Maddox, but he has trouble staying healthy. I like him as a player, but he needs to stay on the field.

Darius Slay, who is 33, and James Bradberry, who will be 32 when the season starts, will not be here forever. Bradberry was also terrible last season, and who knows what to expect this season. I hope he gets back to form, but who knows. But Kelee Ringo and Eli Ricks also showed some promise last season, so the hope is they make the next step.

More on Mitchell

Mitchell did not play much press-man coverage at Toledo, but he has speed f he gets beat off of the line of scrimmage. He ran the 40-yard dash at the NFL scouting combine in 4.33 seconds.

Mitchell finished his collegiate career with a 6.3% missed tackle rate, according to Pro Football Focus. He only missed three tackles last season.

The Eagles seem to be confident Mitchell can make an imediate impact, which the origination needs.

“At the end of the day, with how good of a player he was, the thing that kept coming up was how good of a person, how good of a teammate, how hard of a worker, how competitive, and those are things you want here,” Eagle coach Nick Sirianni said.