Report: Eagles to host beefy defensive tackle on pre-draft visit

We are not even one month removed from the Philadelphia Eagles playing their final game of the season (sigh) and yet there are only 50 days until the 2023 NFL Draft begins on April 27.

One element of Bleeding Green Nation’s draft coverage lead up is our annual visit tracker. As a reminder, teams are allowed to bring 30 prospects to team facilities for official meetings leading up to NFL Draft each year. These visits don’t necessarily guarantee the team is actually interested in drafting the player; Howie Roseman once admitted to using some visits as smokescreens to mask their true intentions. Note that teams are not permitted to physically work out players during these visits but they are allowed to glean medical information and interview them.

The first known visit leading up to this year’s draft is Western Kentucky defensive tackle Brodric Martin. Ryan Fowler from The Draft Network was first to report the news.

Martin began his college football career playing at the Division I FCS level before transferring to make the leap to FBS. In his two years at WKU, he logged six tackles for loss, four sacks, and one forced fumble over 26 games played.

Though he wasn’t super productive on the stat sheet, teams will be intrigued by Martin’s size. The big man checks in at 6’5”, 330 pounds. Those numbers are not too far off from Jordan Davis’s listed measurements: 6’6”, 336 pounds. Davis obviously tested incredibly well as an athlete. We’ll have to see how Martin fares at his pro day since he was not invited to the NFL Combine.

Why would the Eagles be interested in another player in the Davis mold? Well, it sure doesn’t hurt to have depth at that position. The Birds clearly prefer to rotate their defensive linemen. And the team built up a rotation last season that involved Fletcher Cox, Javon Hargrave, Davis, Linval Joseph, Ndamukong Suh, and Milton Williams all seeing playing time. From that group, only Davis and Williams are currently locks to be on the 2023 roster.

And so maybe the Birds will be in a spot to add to their interior by drafting Martin on Day 3.

Former Eagles scout and current NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah highlighted Martin as one of the top players to watch in this year’s East-West Shrine Bowl:

Martin began his career at North Alabama before transferring to WKU, where he spent the past two seasons. An active 330-pounder with great length, he moves forward quickly off the snap and is willing to chase plays out of the box. I could see teams valuing his power and athleticism in the first half of the draft’s third day.

Interview (in lieu of highlights):