ESPN’s Field Yates introduced a few trades Thursday morning that could benefit both teams involved in each scenario.
One of the trades involved Yannick… alright let me stop. It wasn’t with the Eagles.
The Eagles trade he did suggest was:
Eagles trade CB Sidney Jones
Seahawks trade OL Ethan Pocic
His reasoning for why the Eagles do it:
Following the devastating news that BRandon Brooks suffered a torn Achilles and will miss the 2020 season, Philly has a massive gap to fill along the offensive line. Matt Pryor, who started in place of Brooks because of an injury in last year’s playoffs, is the likely starter, but there is room to add some depth.
Pocic has plenty of positional versatility (he has played both guard spots, center, and right tackle) and was on track to a promising career as a rookie. He has played in just 30 of 48 [possible] career games. But this would be a bet for Philly on the ability to develop him, the chance to pad depth at multiple spots and the reality that finding replacements in mid-June is not easy to accomplish.
Why this is a bad trade
Ethan Pocic
As Field stated, Pocic has only played in 30 of 48 possible games in three years. After playing in all 16 games, and starting 11, in his rookie year, he has played 10 and 4 in each respective following year.
After playing 100% of the snaps in week one versus the Bengals in 2019, he played just 40 snaps total the rest of the season. He was drafted in the second round of the 2017 draft and has yet to live up to that potential.
Pocic posted bad agility numbers at the combine prior to the 2017 draft, making him even less of a fit for the Eagles:
With pick 58 in the 2017 NFL Draft, the #Seahawks selected Ethan Pocic, OC, Louisiana State.
He posted a good #RAS with elite size, good speed, good explosiveness, poor agility at the OC position.#Seahawks pic.twitter.com/FGDVFPfUdQ
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) June 11, 2019
Despite the injury to Brooks, the Eagles still have options of the roster. Matt Pryor is in line to start, but they still have Jack Driscoll, Nate Herbig, and Iosua Opeta as depth. There is talk of bringing in a free agent for depth, here are some options, but a trade is not necessary.
Sidney Jones
While we’re on the topic of not living up to the hype of a second round pic, you can make the argument that Sidney Jones belongs in that conversation. However, his ceiling is much higher and his future is much brighter than that of Pocic.
He has his own injury concerns, having only played 22 games, but his development has been on the rise.
Playing in 12 games last season, he finished as the Eagles’ best corner when targeted, giving up an 89.9 passer rating.
He was also the Eagles best “shadow corner”, only giving up 1.15 yards per route run, according to ProFootballFocus:
https://twitter.com/MichaelKistNFL/status/1212388885663305728?s=20
According to Pro Football Reference, Jones only allowed 16 completions on 31 targets, 51.6%. His biggest pass deflection came in week 16 versus the Cowboys:
He has spent this off-season training training with renowned defensive backs trainer Ronnie Braxton and cornerback Chris Harris Jr.:
With new secondary coach Marquand Manuel, the sky’s the limit for Jones. The Eagles shouldn’t trade him for someone who may end up released.
Mandatory Credit: James Lang-USA TODAY Sports
