The Eagles offseason has been a wild ride so far. They missed out on Byron Jones and their first signing was for a 27-year-old Nose Tackle, who’s been regarded as a free agency steal by just about everyone. But then came the release of Malcolm Jenkins, initiating flashback nightmares of when the team let go of Brian Dawkins.
Sandwiched between his release were the announcements of two returning free agents. Jalen Mills would be joining Rodney McLeod at Safety in a shakeup that saw the Eagles take a rough price for Malcolm Jenkins and divide it between two players. This created a lot of conversation initially, but then came the radio silence.
The top players continued to get signed one after the other until the clock struck midnight. Howie rose from his slumber and it was reported that the Eagles were in the process of trading for Dairus Slay Jr. The Eagles finally have a lockdown cornerback and have invested at a position they’ve refused to in recent years by making him the highest-paid CB in the league.
The Hargrave signing was great, seriously, it was a steal. The Eagles needed depth at DT, which we all know but did they need to invest in that position during free agency?
Darius Slay Jr. was a coveted piece of the Eagles offseason puzzle and the team are absolutely better with him than they are without. But is he where the team draws the line?
We all know that the team won’t be looking for a WR1 in free agency but it wouldn’t hurt to bring one in. Especially with the injury history of DeSean Jackson and after all, this is a position of need not luxury. The Eagles currently have Alshon Jeffery, who is reading the writing on the wall, DeSean Jackson, Greg Ward Jr, and JJ Arcega-Whiteside. Adding a Breshad Perriman could help stretch the defense and take a burden off of Jackson’s shoulders. The team could even consider adding Emmanuel Sanders, who could help in the development of the younger receivers.
Another position that the team needs to add depth to is linebacker. While they believe they can get by with the young guys they have, the fact of the matter is that they can’t. They need to either solve this in the draft or even take a shot at veteran in free agency. The team missed out on all the high profile ones but who’s to say they can’t trade for one?
While the acquisition of Darius Slay Jr will make you feel like the Eagles just solved all of their problems, they didn’t. Not by a long shot. The draft isn’t too far away and the front office may be too hopeful on their 8 picks. While teams can’t win the Super Bowl in March, they can absolutely make a leap closer to that goal.
Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports
