The internal housekeeping continues. After giving new deals to Dallas Goedert and Avonte Maddox, Howie Roseman decided to continue his streak of generosity and extend the contract of LB T.J Edwards.
This comes on the back of a breakout from the Wisconsin product. After the Eagles cut Eric Wilson, they made Edwards their starting middle linebacker. Since then, he’s been nothing short of electric.
Over the course of four starts, Edwards has racked up 44 tackles, 3 TFL’s, a fumble recovery, an interception, a QB hit, and 3 pass breakups. In comparison to Eric Wilson’s extremely pedestrian run as the starting MIKE, this is exceptional.
The Eagles were likely going into the offseason looking for some linebacker help and still have plenty of ammunition to find it. But rewarding Edwards for his stellar performances made a ton of sense here, and it gives them time to potentially bring in developmental talent, or slightly rawer prospects, while Edwards holds the fort and tries to play his way to a much bigger deal.
To the surprise of many, T.J. Edwards slipped through the cracks of the 2019 NFL draft and ended up signing with Philadelphia. He flashed some eyebrow-raising play in 2019. He produced an NFL-leading highest tackle rate for a linebacker and received the second-best run defense grade among linebackers from PFF at 90.3.
Surprisingly it was Alex Singleton who rose to the top of the pecking order and cemented a starting role during the heart of a bumpy 2020 campaign, registering a breakout campaign of his own.
Patience ultimately proved to be a virtue for Edwards, who cracked the roster again this year and was later named the starter in place of Eric Wilson. The rest was history.
The Eagles are still some way from finding stability at linebacker, but this move goes a long way in giving the team some options to toy with. Partner that with the rise of second-year player Davion Taylor, and the picture certainly looks a lot brighter than it did 6 weeks ago.
Here’s to hoping that Edwards can continue to climb and turn heads along the way.
Photo by Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire
