Eagles Secondary Openings
No Franchise Tag
Today at 4 pm was the deadline for the Eagles to use the franchise tag on Chauncey Gardner-Johnson. The tag would have cost the Eagles $14.5 million next season. CJ was tied for the league lead with six interceptions despite missing four games. He was a key part of the Eagles Super Bowl run. It was the right decision not to use the franchise tag, but hopefully he will be back with Philadelphia via free agency.
Safety and Cornerback Openings
Along with Gardner-Johnson, James Bradberry became a free agent today. It is likely Bradberry will walk and take a deserved paycheck after proving it on his one year deal. Also Marcus Epps will be a free agent leaving another hole at safety. These are two positions the Eagles will need to address in the off-season. Look for Jeffrey Lurie, Howie Roseman, and Nick Sirianni to target the secondary with the tenth pick.
In an ideal world the Eagles will use the tenth pick to fill the cornerback need and re-sign Gardner-Johnson to be the starting safety. CJGJ is the perfect player for a Philadelphia secondary. He brings an energy and an attitude that the defense needs and he will thrive in Desai’s system. If the Eagles opt to not re-sign Gardner-Johnson I could see them going the route of an Epps-Blankenship safety partnership. Epps is coming off the best season of his career and Blankenship showed flashes filling in as a rookie. It will be interesting to see how Howie manages the secondary openings this off-season. It is unlikely the defense will be as talented next season but that doesn’t mean they have to be less effective. Whatever decisions the team makes this off-season will have huge implications on how the team performs next year.
Photo Credit: Ezira Shaw/Getty Images
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Categorized:Eagles