Eagles acquire No. 2 draft pick from Browns

The Eagles on Wednesday acquired the No. 2 overall pick from the Cleveland Browns, putting them in position to select one of the top two quarterbacks in the draft.

They gave up the No. 8 pick, a third-round pick (No. 77), a fourth-round pick (No. 100), a 2017 first-round pick, and a 2018 second-round pick. The Eagles also received a 2017 fourth-round pick back in the deal.

The Eagles are expected to pick Cal's Jared Goff or North Dakota State's Carson Wentz -- whichever the Los Angeles Rams don't select at No. 1.

"Let me be clear – Sam Bradford is our starting quarterback," Howie Roseman said in a Wednesday afternoon news conference at the NovaCare Center. "We've told Sam that. We intend to support him, and the moves we've made this offseason we believe will give us a chance to compete this season.'

Roseman said he, owner Jeffrey Lurie and head coach Doug Pederson met with Bradford to inform him of the trade before the Eagles stepped onto the field for minicamp practice Wednesday. Roseman said Bradford, signed to a two-year, $35 million contract earlier in the offseason, will not be traded.

Roseman confirmed that the Eagles will draft a quarterback with the second pick. At one point he denied knowing whether the Rams will take Goff or Wentz, but later in the session, Roseman indicated the Eagles do know which QB they'll get. Asked about the discrepancy, Roseman said reporters could "connect the dots."

The Rams are expected to draft Goff, which would leave the Eagles with Wentz. Roseman recalled how the dinner he, Pederson and Lurie had with Wentz in Fargo was tweeted by an Eagles fan who happened to be in the restaurant.

Roseman called the chance to net a potential franchise QB "a rare opportunity." It was aided by the fact that the Eagles were able to trade up from 13th overall to eighth in the Byron Maxwell-Kiko Alonso deal with Miami, and, of course, by the fact that unlike last year, teams near the top were willing to trade. That isn't always the case when quarterbacks are available.

But the fact that the perennially quarterback-poor Browns were willing to trade out of the second overall spot highlights the risk the Eagles are taking. Wentz, assuming he is the guy, played at the Football Championship Subdivision level and missed eight games this past season with a wrist injury. Some observers think he is a franchise-level talent, some don't, but no one thinks he is ready to start in the NFL right now, which is the rationale for paying and starting Bradford.

Roseman called the haul sent to the Browns "a hard pill to swallow … a tough price to pay," but spreading the picks sent to Cleveland over three years allows him to "prepare for the loss."

Roseman said one of the things he studied during his one-year exile from personnel at the hands of Chip Kelly was "what are the keys to winning? … It's quarterbacks."

This is the highest the Eagles have drafted since 1999, when they took Donovan McNabb as the second overall pick, to be mentored by then-QB Pederson. Roseman acknowledged that the Andy Reid template of the coach getting the young quarterback he wants as he starts his tenure was important to Pederson, who has spoken highly of Wentz.​

Because of the trade, the Eagles have the No. 2 pick, a third-round pick (No. 79), two fifth-round picks (153 and 164), a sixth-round pick (188), and two seventh-round picks (233 and 251). They have no 2017 first-round pick, but they have an extra fourth-round pick. They have no 2018 second-round pick.