How Jeremiah Trotter epitomizes Eagles' true goal in the NFL draft: It's not the future

PHILADELPHIA − It certainly sounded great when Eagles general manager Howie Roseman spent the weekend describing the potential of the nine draft picks.

Or the rationale about making an unprecedented eight trades during the course of the seven-round draft, an NFL record for trades since 1990. That included acquiring three more picks for the 2025 draft.

But as much as any draft is about the present and the future, the Eagles' draft was also about the past. As in, forgetting it.

That plan was put in place in mid-January, as soon as the Eagles' 1-6 collapse from a 10-1 start was complete.

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"We had kind of a philosophy that we wanted to have a mentality offseason," Roseman said. "We wanted to bring in people here who had a chip on their shoulder because we felt like we had a little bit of a chip on our shoulder. Not in a bad way. Just in a way like we felt like we wanted to do whatever we could to put ourselves in the best possible situation for this year because we had a bad taste in our mouth the last year.

"We wanted to bring in as many people ... that had that kind of same feeling."

It didn't matter what position they played. In fact, Roseman said he expected to take an offensive lineman early. But the Eagles ended up taking cornerbacks Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean in Rounds 1 and 2, respectively.

They and the others all had something to prove, whether it Mitchell proving he's worthy of being the first corner taken despite coming from a non-Power 5 school at Toledo; or DeJean overcoming a broken leg; or third-round pick Jalyx Hunt showing that a safety at Cornell could develop into an edge rusher at small-school Houston Christian, then get drafted.

"You don't just get here by accident," Hunt said. "You have to be very intentional with what you do. I always felt as if I could be an NFL player − whatever position I was at."

Or there was fourth-round running back Will Shipley maintaining a 4.0 grade point average at Clemson because, as Roseman put it: "He wants to beat everyone's ass at academics."

Then Roseman added with a laugh, referring to head coach Nick Sirianni's penchant for challenging prospective draft picks to a game of "rock, paper, scissors" or "H-O-R-S-E" in basketball: "(Sirianni) is doing it to find out how competitive people are.

"He wants to see when he beats them, are they mad or are they just like, ‘Oh, I don't really care.’ Because (Sirianni) is competitive. We're looking for that kind of thing. We're always looking for that, but it was important to us more than ever this offseason."

Again, that sounds great, but it doesn't necessarily translate to the football field.

And that brings us to fifth-round pick Jeremiah Trotter, the son of the legendary Eagles linebacker with the same name from two decades ago.

Trotter not only refuses to run away from comparisons to his famous father, he welcomes them. That extends to desiring to wear his father's No. 54 with the Eagles, and, of course, the elder Trotter's "Axeman" celebration.

"I don't feel like there is any pressure to live up to his legacy or anything," Trotter said. "I don't feel like there is a weight on my back. I’m just trying to get to work and just be the best I can be."

He will have to. Roseman said he isn't about making charity picks, to create goodwill among the fan base, just because Trotter Sr. was always a fan favorite.

"We can't make up a grade on any player just because we like them," Roseman said. "I make the joke a lot of times: You know, the best person I know in the world is my wife, and I don't want her playing linebacker for us either. I think for us, at the end of the day, you have to have a certain skill set to play at any position in the National Football League, and so we're looking for a skill set, and we're drafting players based on a skill set."

That will ultimately determine this draft class' success.

So don't tell Shipley that he's forever stuck behind Saquon Barkley; or receivers Ainias Smith (fifth round) and Johnny Wilson (sixth round) that they're stuck behind AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith; or interior linemen Trevor Keegan (fifth round) and Dylan McMahon (sixth) that they're stuck behind Landon Dickerson and Cam Jurgens.

Sure, they are. But that doesn't mean it's forever.

"Everyone we draft, we are drafting starters," Roseman said. "Your draft picks are so valuable. If you're not drafting guys that you think are starters, you're already kind of setting the limit on what they can do. That's why we talk a lot about tools in their body. That's why we talk a lot about development because we want guys that we feel like can step in and start.

"We know it's a long season. We're trying to play 20 games. ... At the end of the day, we're drafting guys based on how we value them like we're an expansion team."

In many ways, the Eagles played like an expansion team over the last seven games of last season.

The Eagles spent the offseason trying to change that. And that applied to the draft, which was as much about the future as it was about making sure the recent past doesn't happen again.

"All of us are pissed off at how that ended," Sirianni said. "But I do sense the unsatisfaction from everybody, and the determination to work their butts off."

Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on X @Mfranknfl