"You think you lose out" - Eagles' Jason Kelce dishes info on Philly's Jalen Carter, D'Andre Swift plan
Jason Kelce's Philadelphia Eagles have had a busy offseason, drafting Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith and others and trading for D'Andre Swift. Before the draft, many pundits expected the team to land top running back prospect Bijan Robinson 10th overall.
Jason Kelce detailed on New Heights how the team ended up taking Carter and then trading for Swift later.
He said that since Robinson had been drafted eighth overall and Carter's slide continued to nine, Howie Roseman couldn't resist moving up for him:
"We already had a great running back room but everybody in Philadelphia wanted Howie to draft Bijan Robinson. And that was what everybody's take was. Sports talk radio, shout out to WIP. And I think everybody's looking forward to that being the pick. But nobody expected Jalen Carter to fall and when Bijan got taken eighth, Jalen Carter was still on the board."
Kelce continued, adding that the move for Carter made the most sense, but that Roseman had a few more tricks up his sleeve:
"Everybody was like, 'Hey, this is a no brainer. Let's get Jalen Carter.' I mean, let's take him. Yeah, but you think you lose out on acquiring an explosive running back. Not today, Howie Roseman trades a couple of late round picks and acquires an explosive running back out of the Detroit Lions and out of Georgia and adds another Bulldog to the offense. So we end up getting an explosive running back."
Despite things possibly not going quite to plan, the combination of Swift and Carter is probably better than just having Bijan Robinson on the roster.
What did the Eagles trade for D'Andre Swift and Jalen Carter?
The Philadelphia Eagles knew that they could get D'Andre Swift when the Detroit Lions selected Jahmyr Gibbs 12th overall. With Gibbs and David Montgomery on the team, Swift became expendable.
The Lions sent Swift and a seventh-round pick (pick 249 in the draft) to the Eagles in exchange for a 2025 fourth-round pick and pick 219 in the 2023 NFL Draft.
Ultimately, Howie Roseman paid two fourth-round picks (in 2024 and 2025) and a sixth-round pick to get Carter and Swift. The swap from 10 to nine in the first round only required an extra fourth-round pick.