One of the league's top personnel executives, who is usually not very generous in his praise for draft prospects, gushed over the group of cornerbacks in the 2017 NFL Draft.

"This is as good and as deep a group in some time,'' he said when asked about the 2017 class of cornerbacks. "There some pretty good safeties, too. The corners, though, are the strength of this draft. There are a lot of them and they're pretty good.''

When asked to assign a grade to each of the top corners he ranked eight as being possible first-rounders, and as many as three of fourth others who could go in the second round.

Top CBs in free agency

Those potential first-round picks include Alabama's Marlon Humphrey, 6-1, 201, Ohio State's Marston Lattimore, 6-0, 192, and Gareon Conley, 6-0, 195, Florida's Quincy Wilson, 6-1, 213 and Jalen "Teez'' Tabor, 6-0, 191, Washington's Sidney Jones, 6-0, 185, Southern Cal's Adoree Jackson, 5-11, 185 and LSU's Tre'Davious White, 5-11, 195.

Second-round prospects could be Clemson's Cordrea Tankersley, Michigan's Jourdan Lewis and Iowa's Desmond King, who several scouts see as a NFL safety.

That's good news for the Eagles, who have a glaring need at the position and will likely try to address it with either the No. 14 or No. 15 pick (depending on a coin flip with the Colts) in the first round.

Currently, the Eagles have just three cornerbacks on their roster -- Jalen Mills, Ron Brooks and C.J. Smith -- combined the three have made 10 NFL starts in their career. And Brooks, who made eight of them, spent most of last year on cured reserve.

They could make it four and add 53 starts to that number, if they re-sign veteran Nolan Carroll before free agency begins, March 9. Carroll said the team had opened talks late in the season and those talks were schedule to resume after the Super Bowl.

Even if Carroll returns, the Eagles need help at the position. The draft would be a good place to start, especially with as talented a group that's available, but a free agent signing could be in the works, as well. 

That group isn't as deep as the draft class, but does include some interesting names, such as the Rams' Truman Johnson, the Texans' A.J. Bouye, the Patriots' Logan Ryan, former Giants and current Jaguars' Prince Amukamara and the Bills' Stephon Gilmore.

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Mark Eckel may be reached at mjeck04@verizon.net. Follow him on Twitter @MarkEckel08. Find NJ.com Eagles on Facebook.

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