According to his agent, Kenny Zuckerman, the Philadelphia Eagles have signed former Bengals DT, Renell Wren.
Wren joins the Eagles with one year remaining on his rookie contract. He was a fourth-round pick back in 2019, where he played in 11 games as a rotational defensive tackle before sustaining a hip injury. His 2020 season didn’t even get a chance to get going due to a quad injury that sidelined him for the entire campaign. In 2021, Wren only played in a single game, with the quad injury still playing a factor early on. With such a tremendous interior pass-rush, Wren was suddenly left out in the cold.
If those struggles are behind him, Howie Roseman could be plucking a low-risk, high-reward player. He has freakish size at 6’5, 315 lbs, which makes it easy to see why he was predominantly a nose tackle at college. He really built on his versatility during his rookie year though, lining up at both spots of the interior defensive line and being used in varying ways.
Wren will join a very young positional group. Fletcher Cox might not be on the team by the time the season begins, leaving only Javon Hargrave, Milton Williams, and some developmental depth. Even if Cox remains on the roster, the Eagles could benefit from some more young pass-rushing talent with upside.
Someone of Wren’s stature would ideally be used to hold the fort and allow edge-rushers to thrive. The Eagles were abysmal when it came to getting to the quarterback last year and only registered 29 sacks through 17 games. While he won’t be an immediate fix or an impact player, he could absolutely hold some value as someone to rotate in and provide the same level of interior bulk that Hargrave does, giving him a well-deserved rest.
It will be interesting to see how Wren fits in. If he’s healthy, he could easily be one of the names to watch at Training Camp this summer.
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