And isn't that exactly what they did?

No, it wasn't Braylon Edwards, the 6-foot-3, 215-pound veteran who caught 16 touchdown passes two seasons ago. But the Eagles said they got a player who lasted far too long on the first-round draft board when they selected Missouri's Jeremy Maclin with the 19th overall pick.

To get the 19th pick, the Eagles traded the 21st overall pick and a sixth-round selection (195 overall) to the Browns, who traded down three times in the first round.

The Eagles used their second pick of the night, the 53d, overall to get help for Brian Westbrook. They selected Pittsburgh running back LeSean McCoy, another early-entrant candidate.

Maclin, who turns 21 next month, said he saw a lot of mock drafts that had him going to Oakland as the seventh overall pick, but the Raiders opted for a bigger and faster wide receiver in Maryland's Darrius Heyward-Bey.

"You all see the mock drafts and a lot of them had me projected there," Maclin said during a conference call. "Al Davis is the guy who makes all the decisions there [in Oakland], and everybody knows that he loves speed. Credit to Heyward-Bey. He ran the fastest 40 at the combine."

As for Edwards and Arizona's Anquan Boldin, the other veteran receiver on the trade block, Eagles coach Andy Reid said the Eagles didn't think they could make a deal for them.

"We looked into them," Reid said. "It didn't look like it was going to work. But that's not why we took Maclin. He was just the best player on the board there."

Maclin, listed at 6-foot and 197 pounds, was the third of six wide receivers taken in the first round and just the second wide receiver taken in the first round by the Eagles during Reid's 11 drafts. The other was Freddie Mitchell, the 25th overall selection in 2001. Mitchell spent four disappointing seasons in Philadelphia before his career was over.

The Eagles believe they got a much better value in Maclin.

"Actually, we thought he was going to go quite a bit higher than what he did," Reid said. "This was not who we had targeted. He just happened to be one of those guys who fell a little bit and kind of fell into our laps."

Maclin, a native of Kirkwood, Mo., didn't seem the least bit disappointed about landing with the Eagles.

"Obviously, nobody likes losing," Maclin said. "This organization definitely has a great track record of winning games. They have all the guys in the right spots to be contenders every year. They have one of the best quarterbacks in the league. You have [Brian] Westbrook, you have [Kevin] Curtis, you have DeSean [Jackson]. I couldn't ask for a better situation."

After suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in his first season at Missouri, Maclin emerged as a star playmaker in just two seasons with the Tigers. He caught 80 passes for 1,055 yards and nine touchdowns as a redshirt freshman two seasons ago, then followed that up with 102 catches for 1,260 yards and 13 touchdowns last year.

Exactly how he'll fit in on the Eagles' receiving corps as a rookie remains to be seen.

"There are a lot of things you can do with him," Reid said. "He ran a ton of reverses and all of the little gadget plays that go with it. I would say he should be able to work in and get time in there. I didn't pick him as a returner. I picked him as a wide receiver."

Maclin's reputation as a returner certainly made him even more attractive to the Eagles. He returned three punts and two kickoffs for touchdowns during his two seasons at Missouri. Maclin will likely take over as the Eagles' returner on kickoffs, and it will be interesting to see if he replaces Jackson in the role of punt returner.

"I just love doing it," Maclin said when asked about his return skills. "I think I put in the work and the film study to be successful at it."

Contact staff writer Bob Brookover at 215-854-2577 or bbrookover@phillynews.com.