It’s been a bit of a journey to get here but the Eagles have finally arrived to the point of pure bliss. On Thursday night the Eagles took on the Browns in a meaningless game unless you were Howie Roseman and Sean Desai.
The concern throughout camp has been the injury to Nakobe Dean which led to the signings of both Zach Cunningham and Myles Jack. The Eagles started both Cunningham and Dean against the Browns’ second-team offense and the presence was there.
After a tough unnecessary roughness call on Dean when he gave Dorian Thompson-Robinson a blow to the head as the Browns QB was sliding. Dean made a huge goal-line stop as he force a fumble which was then recovered by the Eagles.
That entire drive was a nostalgic moment for the Eagles and their fans. Both Dean and Cunningham tallied for a majority of the tackles on that drive and were all over the place. Desai’s deployed Cunningham on several blitz packages in which you saw him blow past the offensive line and towards the backfield in seconds.
The linebackers and the defensive line held down the defense as the Browns QB picked on Zech McPhearson on the outside to lead them into the red zone.
Eagles have found their guys
After losing T.J. Edwards and Kyzir White this offseason, many people felt as if the Eagles’ LB core would be a weak point for the defense. Fortunately, it looked like a strength for the defense that complimented the defensive line very well.
With the loaded amount of talent and undiscovered talent in that group, it will be very interesting to see who the Eagles keep and cut. You have players such as Christian Ellis and Ben VanSumeren doing all that they can to grab a roster spot but the biggest question may surround the top four in Nakobe Dean, Nicholas Morrow, Zach Cunningham, and Myles Jack.
We saw limited action from Myles Jack last night which could mean something or it could mean nothing at all. Maybe the team is bringing him along slower than Cunningham but if all four of these players are a lock to make the 53-man roster then would the Eagles go with another LB and if so, is Ellis a lock to make the roster after finishing with 7 total tackles tonight and the uptick in his play during training camp?
What was once of the most questionable groups on the defense may be one of those more competitive ones with the amount of talent that now stands behind budding star linebacker, Nakobe Dean.
Photo by John Jones/Icon Sportswire
