After landing Alabama linebacker Jihaad Campbell in Round 1, the Philadelphia Eagles were quiet on Day 2, making just one selection in Texas S Andrew Mukuba, and then trading back twice out of Round 3.
Pick 64: Andrew Mukuba, DB, Texas
Mukuba was a favorite of mine throughout the draft process, and a very clear fit in Vic Fangio's scheme. He is primarily a safety, but he doubles as a slot corner, in a similar mold as C.J. Gardner-Johnson. He is smart, tough, instinctive, and a ballhawk, as he had 5 INTs and a forced fumble in 2024. He's also a hitter. Watch his highlight reel. He sees the field so well, and has outstanding anticipation of where the ball is going.
"It's really hard to find cover safeties," Howie Roseman told reporters on Friday night. "Guys who have the ability to come down and play over the slot, play in the middle of the field, have natural instincts, play the ball. He was a slot corner at Clemson before he transferred to Texas. He plays with a mentality. He plays an Eagles brand of football. I think for us, the value fit the need. Through the process, this guy just checked all the boxes. That was really what we're looking for at that position."
The downside? The short answer (no pun intended) is that he's small.
About 99 percent of NFL safeties since 1999 have weighed more than him, and 94 percent have had longer arms.
The concern could be that because Mukuba is a physical player but also so small, he could get hurt.
"It's a physical game and injuries happen, but he's been durable (Howie knocked on wood here), and he's a heck of a player," Roseman said. "I think our fans are going to love his play style."
- MORE EAGLES
- Philadelphia Eagles 2025 NFL Draft board
- 16 players who make sense for the Eagles in Round 4 of the 2025 NFL Draft
- Philadelphia Eagles 2025 depth chart
So let's view this pick in terms of value, need, and scheme fit.
Value
Roseman said that the value fit the need.
Draft analysts did not agree that Mukuba was worthy of the 64th overall pick. Dane Brugler of The Athletic had him ranked 109th. Daniel Jeremiah had him 76th. Mel Kiper had him 70th. So, this was not the same kind of perceived value that the Eagles got in Round 1 when Campbell fell all the way to pick 31.
Roseman did even acknowledge that the Eagles considered trading back at that spot.
Personally, I had Mukuba in Round 3 in our Eagles-only mock draft, version 3.0.
Need
"He's going to start in the safety room, and at the end of the day we're looking to add competition to that position," Roseman said, when asked if he would play safety or slot corner.
After trading C.J. Gardner-Johnson, the Eagles had one definite starter in Reed Blankenship, and then a question mark at the other spot. The leader in the clubhouse to start at safety in 2025, heading into the draft anyway, was Sydney Brown.
Brown tore an ACL in the regular season finale against the Giants in 2023. He missed the entirety of training camp last summer as well as the first four games of the 2024 season.
Brown was a core special teamer as a rookie in 2023 who only played 335 snaps in the regular defense, despite the team suffering quite a few injuries at safety. He was oddly buried on the depth chart early in the season behind Band-Aids like Justin Evans and Terrell Edmunds, playing just 16 snaps the first three weeks of the season before missing the next three games with a hamstring injury. When he got extended action in games later in the season, it was typically out of position at slot corner, where he was filling in for Avonte Maddox and Bradley Roby, after guys like Mario Goodrich and Josiah Scott proved to be ineffective.
In 2024, Brown was once again oddly behind Tristin McCollum on the depth chart for the entirety of the season. He played just 79 snaps in the regular defense, more than half of which came in the Eagles' meaningless regular season finale against the Giants. For whatever reason, the Eagles haven't trusted putting him on the field.
A couple weeks ago, I watched all of Brown's snaps during the 2024 season, hoping to write a player review ahead of the draft, but I just didn't have the time. That'll come out shortly after the draft. But, spoiler, it was concerning.
If I were to handicap who is going to win that training camp competition today, I'd have Mukuba pretty far ahead.
Scheme fit
I have little doubt that Vic Fangio rubber-stamped this pick. Because Mukuba is smart, he sees things before they happen, and he can play a wide variety of roles, he is a player who will help Fangio's efforts to confuse opposing quarterbacks.
Overall
If the Eagles were in building mode, I would not love this pick. Mukuba's ceiling probably isn't super high because of his pure physical limitations. But on a Super Bowl roster, he is the type of highly intelligent player who has a really good chance of stepping in and starting competently very early in his career. B.
TRADE: The Eagles traded back from pick 96
The deets:
| Eagles got | Falcons got |
| Pick 101 | Pick 96 |
| 5th round pick in 2026 |
The Eagles now have a projected 12 picks in the 2026 draft.
TRADE: The Eagles traded back again from pick 101
The deets:
| Eagles got | Broncos got |
| Pick 111 | Pick 101 |
| Pick 130 | Pick 134 |
| Pick 191 |
If you waited up all night to see who the Eagles were going to pick, I imagine you were annoyed when they traded out twice.
I'm not going to give these trades a letter grade, but if the Eagles have a bunch of players lumped together closely in value and they think they can still get one of them while adding more assets, then sure, why not?
Follow Jimmy & PhillyVoice on Twitter: @JimmyKempski | @thePhillyVoice
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports
Add Jimmy's RSS feed to your feed reader
