Player Needs for the Eagles in 2020 Offseason
There’s an old saying in football that there is no offseason. For the Eagles to defend their NFC East title and advance in the postseason means that the 2020 season has already begun in earnest.
The Philadelphia Eagles organization must look at their player personnel needs immediately to begin acquiring the necessary weapons to make 2020 not just a successful season but legitimately make another Super Bowl run.
The Eagles coaching staff have to look hard at what positions have become either depleted or filled with aging veterans. The foremost and obvious position that has become in a sense a liability for the Eagles is wide receiver.
The depletion of the WR corps was apparent this year since the Eagles had to re-invent their offense using TEs and RB’s as their primary receivers.
In the short term, this offensive scheme can work but speed kills in this sport and not having fast WR’s lined up in a spread formation heavily limits what head coach Doug Pederson can do offensively. The Eagles can easily look to the upcoming NFL Draft to restock on receivers. Obvious choices in the Draft include Jerry Jeudy from Alabama, CeeDee Lamb from Oklahoma or Tee Higgins from Clemson-all of whom may find themselves drafted in the first round by some NFL team if not the Eagles.
Other top receivers who have declared for the Draft include Justin Jefferson from LSU who put on a scoring show in the NCAA championship game and K.J. Hill from Ohio State who should find themselves drafted in the first couple of rounds. The key element for all of these receivers is speed which was lacking this past season.
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Another area of serious need that should be addressed in free agency or the Draft is for pass rushing. While Brandon Graham is an anchor at DE the evolution of the offensive pass game in the NFL demands a defensive response in the need for fast, mobile edge rushers who can put pressure on QB’s and disrupt pass plays right after the snap. Again, the upcoming NFL Draft looks very promising with young players who have proven to be capable edge rushers in both 4-3 and 3-4 defensive schemes.
The first and foremost choice seems to be Chase Young from Ohio State who is on every NFL Draft radar and will almost certainly go in the 1st round if not the top 10 of the upcoming Draft. Other leading candidates coming out of college include Yetur Gross-Matos from Penn State and A.J. Espensa from Iowa. Kenny Willekes from Michigan State is a 6-4, 260 lb. candidate but will probably move over into an outside linebacker position especially if he is drafted to play in a 3-4 scheme.
The Eagles must establish their defensive priorities in building up a reliable pass rush in order to remain competitive in the NFC East.
Every team in this division has a new head coach and complete coaching staff overhauls and the Eagles will have to start their organizational rebuilding quickly and address personnel deficiencies in order to stay on top of their divisional rivals.
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