While many Detroit Lions fans were understandably upset about how the 2025 season went, the Philadelphia Eagles fell nearly as far. After winning the Super Bowl in the 2024 season, the Eagles just never looked right in 2025. Sure, they finished 11-6, but their offense was a disaster last year (19th in scoring) and they were predictably bounced in the Wild Card round of the playoffs.
The Eagles have been known to bounce back, though, and the person to help them do it in our annual Community Mock Draft is commenter Aussie.Lion. They are acting as Eagles general manager in our site-run mock draft of the 2026 season.
Before we get to the pick, head to our 2026 Pride of Detroit Community Mock Draft tracker. There you’ll find the previous 22 picks, along with links to each article and a grade for each pick, as decided by you, the readers. Don’t forget to cast your vote for each pick with the poll at the bottom of the articles.
Now, onto this pick:
With the 23rd pick in the 2026 Pride of Detroit Community Mock Draft, the Philadelphia Eagles select Akheem Mesidor, edge defender out of Miami.
Here’s Aussie.Lion explaining the pick:
At pick 23 Howie, Nick, Big Dom, and I had several great options that we considered based on HWS, Tape, Medicals, and Future Madden Ratings (That’s for you, Jets Fans). Based on our evaluations we narrowed our search down to 5 core players;
Blake Miller and Max Iheanachor would fill a future need when Lane Johnson decides to retire, T.J. Parker will be doing everything he can to get back to 2024 form, and Emmanuel McNeil-Warren would be a really exciting reunion with Toledo alumni Quinyon Mitchell.
Based on our board, the BPA aligned with a forever need. Dan Campbell has preached that a team can “never have too many rushers in your building,” and the Eagle organization feels the same way. Akheem Mesidor is a pass rusher with a deep toolbox of moves, has been a very productive, compiling 52.5 TFL and 35.5 sacks, and has six years of college experience.
One thing we also considered in the evaluation was age. Mesidor, as most people know, is 24, but will be 25 at the draft. Eagles have had a long history of aging defensive linemen; Fletcher Cox played 12 seasons for Eagles and retired at the age of 33; Brandon Graham played 16 seasons for the Eagles and is at the age of 37. Reggie White played for 15 seasons and retired at the age of 39. With this experience and the Eagles always in the “Win Now Mode,” age was not as big of a concern as with other rebuilding teams. Akheem Mesidor is a grown man and will fit in perfectly along Eagles’ already stack defensive line.
Time to grade the pick. Vote in the poll below and share your expanded thoughts in the comment section:
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