The Cons
Time to unleash the inner pessimist. There was a lot to like about the Eagles’ off-season. However, it’s our job to avoid getting complacent and look for faults no matter how slim. I hate to be Debbie Downer, but you’ll have to allow me the transgression for at least the next few paragraphs.
Special Teams
The rarely discussed third unit of football, the Eagles’ special teams hasn’t maintained their successes of yesteryear. Under Chip Kelly, it was one of the best units in football. Now, special teams won’t garner the financial attention that other positions on the football field do, but it’s a constantly understated factor and can swing a game in a matter of seconds.
The Eagles lost their special teams captain of two seasons in Kamu Grugier-Hill and will attempt to replace his production with former Charger Jatavis Brown. Now, this is nothing against Brown — in fact, he has more starting experience and may be the better all-around player. However, there is always some continuity lost when you lose a leader and longtime teammate like KGH.
The Birds also cut special teams contributor Mack Hollins, did not re-sign Corey Clement and Darren Sproles retired. I’m actually excited about the prospect of Boston Scott returning kicks. Still, no matter how you shake it, there will be some figuring out to do on special teams.
Linebackers
Goodbye Nigel Bradham, farewell Kamu Grugier-Hill. A depth chart of T.J. Edwards, Nathan Gerry, and Jatavis Brown strikes fear into the hearts of no one. The Eagles have always undervalued the position, but have left their cupboards barer than most years in 2020.
The front office and fans alike shouldn’t buy into the fallacy that you can win a championship without spending at the position. In their Super Bowl-winning season, the Eagles had second-round pick Mychal Kendricks, third-round selection Jordan Hicks and expensive free agent ($40M/5 years) Nigel Bradham on the roster. The free agency pool was a bit richer than many expected, but there was value to be had and the Birds will head into the season with still relatively full pockets. I don’t see many reasons Howie couldn’t add a playmaker at the position; likely he didn’t feel the need to.
Unless the Eagles add someone in the draft, linebacker will be the Eagles weakest position group by far. There are some solid depth pieces on the roster; but as much as we love Alex Singleton here at PSN, he has a long way to go before being considered an NFL caliber starter.
Question Marks in the Secondary
The Eagles got younger in the secondary and added some promising young(ish) pieces with positional versatility: problem solved. That’s what the optimist in me wants to focus on. The realist can’t help but focus on the question marks.
Here’s what we hope:
Jalen Mills is a fantastic starting safety in the NFL. He did it well in college.
Will Parks is a starting caliber safety that was just trapped on the wrong team in the wrong system and didn’t get his opportunity. He took a hometown discount to play for the team he loved growing up.
2019 was a spurious outlier in a very dominant career for Darius Slay.
Avonte Maddox is the CB2 the Eagles have always needed and will finally be able to realize his potential taking up his natural role on the outside.
Nickell Robey-Coleman is one of the best slot corners in football and joined the team for pennies.
On the flip side:
Jalen Mills was a safety in college and was drafted in the seventh round before being moved to corner. He then spent four forgettable years as a CB1 and has a history of getting beat deep. The move to safety should disguise his lack of long speed and will allow him to play in the box where his prowess as a tackler will show up. That’s the hope.
Will Parks was a special teamer in Denver, and while he showed a ton of promise and made himself an essential rotational piece of a very good defense, he hasn’t logged a full season starting minutes in the NFL. The Eagles didn’t bring him in to be the de facto starter, but if the Jalen Mills experiment fails, he could get thrown into the deep end very quickly. He’s also coming back to his hometown, which has its own pros and cons. Hopefully, he can mind his p’s and q’s better than Daryl Worely.
Darius Slay was injured in 2019, there’s no debating that. However, 2019 was not a good year for Slay. The Eagles defense is unforgiving to its CB1s. For someone coming off a down year, Slay is in a tougher position than most. A healthy off-season should have him back in Pro Bowl shape by September, or 2019 could be an indication that Slay is just on the back half of his career. The Eagles gave him a fairly rich contract that will lock him in for at least 3 years. Revis was 29 when he went back to the Jets . . .
Avonte showed us just how dominant he can be as an outside corner in his rookie year. Last year was a tough one for the young corner and he was forced to play through injury and a constantly shifting secondary. How will he fare with 16 full games in front of him, facing all the heat that is diverted by Slay island? Will teams find a way to take advantage of his 5’9″, 184 lb frame?
Nickell Robey-Coleman is one of the best slot corners in football and joined the team for pennies. I can’t pick apart this one.
The Eagles may have added a lot of up-and-coming talent to their secondary, but every ceiling comes with a floor and every new foundation will have it’s walls to mount. Worryingly, the team has lost its glue in Malcolm Jenkins and will need a new leader to become that proverbial adhesive. There’s a lot to like, but the secondary will have some proving to do.
Wide Receivers
Yes, I get it, the Eagles will be adding a rookie receiver in the draft. Who knows, the new Eagle may be all Carson needs. However, there were a ton of affordable options at receiver and with the market in disarray, you expect number-savvy Howie Roseman to find at least some value.
Geronimo Allison, Nelson Agholor, Devin Funchess, and Tajae Sharpe all signed for under $1M guaranteed and supposed target Demarcus Robinson re-signed with the Chiefs for just $2.3M. Maybe the Eagles had a reason to defect on all five of those options (it’s no surprise they didn’t welcome back Nelson with open arms).
Instead, the widely-praised GM offered this statement in the way of solace:
Looking at what goes on now, and the value prices of guys changes during this free agency period. Different than maybe what it was a week ago. We don’t have the benefit of [knowing] that before making our decisions on where prices are and where they’re going; we can only deal with them at the moment when you’re making these calls.
Now, the Eagles aren’t barren for talent at the position, but this was in the midst of assuming Alshon Jeffery was on his way out. Obviously he will remain with the team for the foreseeable future, but you have to wonder what a decent veteran signing would have done to change that. On top of that, despite flashes of practice squad talent, the Eagles’ depth at wide receiver has not been added to. There is seemingly no plan in place if the Eagles lose any of their starters to injury, or otherwise. Which brings us to:
Scroll down to page 3 for a summary on the Alshon Jeffery situation.
Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images
