Eagles Free Agency Update: What’s Missing?
Slowly but surely, Howie Roseman has delivered on his promise to “shake the league up”. He’s dumped most of the team’s oldest players and acquired new, young talent.
The average age of all of his newly acquired assets comes out to 27 years old, a number you want to see for a team set to compete for a championship for the foreseeable future.
Assuming the Eagles are done fishing for big catches, what positions still need to be addressed?
The Offense
Photo: Mitchell Leff/Getty Images
Contrary to popular belief that they would, the Eagles did not sign a wide receiver this offseason, one of the most depleted positions on the team. As a matter of fact, the Eagles did not sign a single offensive player. But really, they didn’t need to – the o-line is one of the best in the game, Ertz and Goedert form arguably the best tight end duo in the league, we saw how explosive Sanders and Scott can be, and they’re all led by a future MVP at quarterback.
What’s Missing?
Seeing how deep this year’s wide out class is, they should look to draft one in the first 2 rounds. That, paired with a healthy DeSean Jackson, Greg Ward, and dare I say it, Alshon Jeffery, should work out just fine. The only other positions I’d consider addressing are the backup QB, seeing as how teams like to run with 3 QBs on the roster, and some running back depth (LeSean McCoy?).
The Defense
Photo: Eric Hartline/USA Today
This could be the best defense we’ve seen in a long time. For years, the Eagles have ridden the coattails of the front line to carrying the defense. Now, not only do they have a run swallowing line, the secondary has finally been addressed. The acquisition of Darius Slay and Nickell Robey-Coleman will allow Jim Schwartz to a run more aggressive man-to-man defense instead of zone.
Although losing Malcolm Jenkins hurts, Jalen Mills is finally moving to his natural safety position, and Will Parks will fill in nicely. It isn’t perfect, but don’t expect quarterbacks to torch the secondary as much as they once did.
What’s Missing?
The biggest gaping hole on the defense is the linebacker core. Jatavis Brown was just signed from the Chargers, but his presence alone won’t fill that hole. A linebacker has to be high on the priority order in this upcoming draft.
There’s nothing else as pressing as the linebacker position right now, but the defense could use another outside corner. They have the depth that has potential (Rasul Douglas, Avonte Maddox, Sidney Jones), so it’ll be interesting to see who gets the spot.
Other than that, an extra edge rusher could come in handy, seeing as how you can never have too many of those.
There’s been talk of trading for Yannick Ngakoue, but the more realistic option seems to be to draft one.
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