By now, the Eagles have ticked just about every box on their offseason checklist, but despite such a strong free agency and draft haul, the work is never really done. Howie Roseman has become one of the true pioneers of conquering the ‘compensatory pick formula’ and as of tomorrow, any free agent signed will no longer count towards that, meaning if that was the only thing holding the Eagles back from pulling the trigger, they now have a chance to sign that player ‘penalty free’. Here are five names who could be on their immediate watch list.
Defensive End, Ziggy Ansah
Ansah is a name who has been linked with the Eagles throughout the offseason and with good reason. Jim Schwartz was Head Coach of the Detroit team that drafted Ansah back in 2013 and would go on to amass 8 sacks, forcing 2 fumbles in his rookie year.
There is understandable concern over the 29-year old’s durability after he needed surgery rehab for a shoulder injury that cost him the second-half of the 2018 season, but it’s not as if Ansah has the ‘injury prone’ tag attached. Even with last year’s season-ending injury, Ansah has still posted up 4 sacks and 7 QB hits in 7 games and has notched at least 7.5 sacks in four of his six seasons in the NFL. Prior to that injury, he had never played in fewer than 13 games…but the timing of the injury mattered.
Ansah was entering in the heart of his contract year when he suffered the injury and with so many big-name edge rushers in that free agency class all entering without durability concerns before such an eyebrow-raising draft class, Ansah slipped through the cracks.
The Eagles are almost certain to lose Chris Long and while Shareef Miller will add some depth, he’s some-way off being as impactful as Ansah would be. He’s a perfect fit for this scheme and would likely be available on a relatively cheap ‘prove-it’ contract, giving the Eagles more time to see what they have in Sweat and Ostman next season.
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