Eagles pick Toledo's Quinyon Mitchell at No. 22. Did he put James Bradberry on notice?

PHILADELPHIA − It was about midway through the first round when Eagles general manager Howie Roseman realized that the Eagles wouldn't have to trade up from No. 22 to get one of the players they really wanted.

At that point, it was just a question of who would be there for the Eagles, and it turned out to be Toledo cornerback Quinyon Mitchell. It's the first time the Eagles drafted a cornerback in the first round since 2002 when they took Lito Sheppard at No. 26 overall.

And Mitchell, who's 6-foot-195 pounds, could be a candidate to start right away, and possibly lead to the release of veteran James Bradberry, coming off a disappointing season.

"(Darius) Slay is coming off Pro Bowl year and James is working to get back to how he was two years ago," Roseman said. "I think when you talk about corners, O-linemen, D-linemen, you can never have enough of those guys. Throughout the course of the season, having guys that can cover people is so important.

"Obviously, we’ve been in position over the past few years where we haven't had enough of those guys. ... I think (competition), that's a good problem to have. It shows its way through."

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All of that will play out in the coming weeks and months through spring practices and training camp. But for now, Roseman said he was happy to address a need at cornerback, although he also said that he wasn't necessarily sold on taking a cornerback.

"It was the highest-ranked player on our board at a position we'd like to get some younger players here," Roseman said. "I think the most important thing is we didn't jump the board. This guy was standing out on our board. He was the highest-ranked guy. It seemed like a pretty easy pick. But the only reason it was (also) a hard pick was because there were a bunch of good players that we liked, and would have been happy to select."

Mitchell, incredibly, was the first cornerback selected in a draft considered to be strong at that position. That's because the first 14 players taken were offensive players, including six quarterbacks in the first 12 picks.

The Eagles chose Mitchell over Alabama cornerbacks Terrion Arnold, who went two picks later to Detroit, and Kool Aid McKinstry, who wasn't picked in the first round. In addition, Clemson cornerback Nate Wiggins went 30th to the Ravens.

Mitchell did not play at a power-five conference school like the other corners. Rather, Toledo is in the Mid American Conference, far removed from facing top wide receivers like the other corners faced.

Roseman acknowledged this when he said, "Obviously, he's got a lot to prove as a small-school player. The MAC is not the National Football League. We understand that. We've had tremendous success with (players from) big schools. So to take a player like this from the MAC, he has to be special.

"And we think this is a special person."

Mitchell, no doubt, comes highly recommended. Toledo's head coach is Jason Candle, a former teammate at Mount Union of Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni. The Rockets' defensive coordinator is Vince Kehres, the son of long-time Mount Union coach Larry Kehres.

Sirianni said those connections helped.

"You get the information on guys," Sirianni said. "I was able to get some of the information there, just with my ties there. At the end of the day, with how good of a player he was, the thing that always coming up was how good of a teammate, how good of a person, and how hard of a worker, and how competitive (he is). And those are things you want to hear."

For Mitchell, the Eagles were "the right fit." He said he has always modeled his game after Slay, who's 33 and coming off a Pro Bowl season.

"I have some vets in front of me I can really learn from, really slow the game up," Mitchell said. "Darius Slay, that’s somebody who I model my game after, and James Bradberry. It doesn’t matter where I play; I just want to help the team."

But really, the Eagles would love for Mitchell to prove that he can play right away.

If that happens, it would be reminiscent of how Mitchell fell to the Eagles in the first place.

By not having to trade up, something Roseman admitted he contemplated, the Eagles were able to keep both of their second-round picks for Friday night, when Rounds 2 and 3 will be held.

The Eagles are scheduled to draft at No. 50 and No. 53.

That began to fall into place when the Falcons, at No. 8, took quarterback Michael Penix Jr. He was the fourth QB taken after Chicago, Washington and New England began the draft by taking quarterbacks Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye, respectively.

The Vikings then traded up from No. 11 to No. 10 for QB JJ McCarthy. And the Broncos, at No. 12, took quarterback Bo Nix. That made six QBs going in the top 12.

More importantly for the Eagles, the top 14 picks were all offensive players, thus pushing top cornerbacks and edge rushers into the Eagles' range. The first defensive player taken was edge rusher Laiatu Latu by the Colts at No. 15.

The Eagles took away one of their potential first-round possibilities at wide receiver, such as LSU's Brian Thomas, who went one pick after Mitchell, by signing AJ Brown to a three-year contract extension just as the draft was beginning.

Brown's extension begins in 2027 and runs through 2029. It's reportedly worth as much as $96 million, with $81 million guaranteed. It also makes Brown the highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL with an average annual value of $32 million.

And then the draft kept falling the Eagles' way until they were left with Mitchell.

In fact, Roseman admitted that he considered trading back.

"Do you move back at that spot and pass on a guy you feel really good about, to maybe get good value (in a trade)?" Roseman said. "I think those are some of the discussions that we have.

"Sometimes you try to get too cute, and we can't afford to get too cute. We're trying to build."

Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on X @Mfranknfl.