Peter King: Eagles Weren't Going to Choose Dion Jordan at 4

Leading up to the 2013 NFL draft, one of the most common names on Eagles fans wishlists was none other than DE/OLB Dion Jordan. Hypothetically taking Jordan at 4 was logical. The Eagles needed a play-maker on defense. Jordan had impressive athleticism. Then there's the obvious: he played under Chip Kelly's coaching reign at Oregon. To some, the pick seemed way too much sense not to happen.

As we all know by now, the Eagles never got the chance to take the Oregon standout. The Miami Dolphins made an aggressive move and traded up to 3 overall to get him. This left some Eagles fans disappointed. Some figured that the Eagles missed out on "their guy".

Later, reporters questioned Kelly if he had intended to take his former player at 4. Chip's response indicated that it was a possibility:

"Trust me, [Dion Jordan], we considered him heavily," [...] "We didn't get a chance to pull the trigger on that one."

When asked about why the Eagles didn't move up 1 spot to take Jordan, Chip talked about the potential sacrifice that type of move would require:

"When you start to get getting emotionally involved, and I was very conscious of that, then what do you have to do to move up? [...] If you move up to get him, then that means you don't get Bennie Logan because you don't have a third-round pick or you don't get Matt Barkley because you don't have a fourth-round pick. It's the accumulation of putting the whole team together. It's saying, 'What are you willing to sacrifice to get one player?'"

By these indications, the Eagles valued Jordan highly to some extent but he clearly wasn't a "must-have" player. If he really was, they would have traded up a spot. They absolutely had the resources to do so. But ultimately they didn't want to.

Maybe it was because they didn't actually value Jordan as highly as some thought. Peter King recently wrote in his MMQB:

[...] I'm told the Eagles weren't going to choose Jordan fourth overall.

It's an interesting tidbit but I'm not sure how true it is. Unless Chip was just posturing about his former player, why would Chip lie about his interest in Jordan? Or maybe King's source was posturing in the Eagles favor, making it seem like the team didn't miss out on a guy they truly wanted?

Either way, we don't really know for sure and it doesn't really matter. Dion Jordan is a Dolphin and the Eagles got their guy in Lane Johnson. The OT was a sensible pick too so it wasn't like "missing out" on Jordan threw a wrench in the Eagles plans. If anything, assuming King's report is true, it shows the Eagles valued Lane Johnson more. That's an even better endorsement of the pick.