Eagles make DT Elijah Qualls the 5th UW Husky picked in draft
Apr 29, 2017, 2:32 PM | Updated: 2:34 pm
(AP)
Sidney Jones will have a teammate from Washington’s defense joining him in Philadelphia: tackle Elijah Qualls.
The Eagles took Qualls with the final pick of the sixth round, 313th overall, in the NFL Draft on Saturday, a day after they took cornerback Jones in the second round.
Qualls, who left UW a year early, had a pretty surprising fall in the draft, waiting late into the last day instead of coming off the board in the middle rounds Friday like some had projected.
3 UW DBs picked in second round | Seahawks draft tracker | Draft page
The 6-foot-1, 313-pound California native was a first-team All-Pac-12 nominee in 2016, and he gave the Huskies a strong presence in the middle of their defensive line each of the past two seasons moving into a spot previously manned by 2015 first round pick Danny Shelton. He had 32 tackles, including five for a loss, and three sacks in 2016, as well as 4.5 sacks despite missing three games due to injury in 2015.
Qualls was the fifth Husky to be selected in the 2017 draft and fourth from the Washington defense. The others are WR John Ross (first round, Cincinnati), CB Kevin King (second round, Green Bay), Budda Baker (second round, Arizona) and Jones.