Eagles GM addresses shying away from drafting cornerbacks early

The Philadelphia Eagles have not drafted a cornerback in the first round of the NFL draft since 2002. 

And they have never drafted a corner earlier than the fourth round under general manager Howie Roseman. 

Roseman was jokingly asked why he "hates" cornerbacks so much while speaking to the media ahead of the draft. 

"Obviously corners are a huge part of playing defense in the National Football League right now," Roseman said, via Philly Voice's Jimmy Kempski. "We always talk about affecting the passing game. And just like on offense where we talk about the offensive line and having skill guys, we talk about the defensive line and having guys who can cover, on the outside and on the inside and how much that helps you.

The Eagles pass defense ranked amongst the worst last year, but it wasn't always like that, including very recently. 

"Two years ago we were No. 1 in pass defense," Roseman said. "We had two guys – [Darius] Slay made the Pro Bowl and James [Bradberry] was a second-team All-Pro. That just goes to show how important that is to playing good defense.

"I’ve always felt that that’s a priority. Obviously, when you give [the number of corners we've drafted], those are compelling. We’ve found different ways, and really me going back to when I was a personnel director, we have signed some Pro Bowl caliber corners or traded for Pro Bowl caliber corners, so we’ve kinda probably done it a different way, but yeah, you’re right, those numbers are what they are."

With Bradberry and Slay aging and the depth at corner slim, the Eagles are projected to select one of the best defensive backs in this year's draft. 

According to several reports, they have hosted mostly all of the top-ranked cornerbacks ahead of draft day. 

So hopefully, Roseman actually breaks his hating drafting cornerbacks early trend, because it's time.