The NFL’s free agency is set to open March 18th, and it’s presumed that the Philadelphia Eagles will be active among the teams trying to get better. Last years free agency had the Eagles bring in Malik Jackson, L.J Fort, Andrew Sendejo, re-signed Ronald Darby, and brought back DE Vinny Curry. Being that only one of those players finished the year on the active roster was a big contributor to the Eagles disappointing season. To be frank, it can’t happen again.
The Eagles will be looking to add some support for the WR, CB, DE and really any other position possible to help boost this team back to the Superbowl. So looking at the candidates, there are multiple viable options. But this is not the article that’s going to break down the top 50 NFL free agents and rank their chances of ending up in Philly. Instead, this article is going to be geared towards the positions that were mentioned. More importantly, the number of resources the Eagles should/need to put in them.
WR
Needless to say, the Philadelphia Eagles need some help in the wide receiver position. This has to be the biggest need for the Philadelphia Eagles throughout the off-season, with a clear lack of efficiency from the 2019 off-season on the WR position, 2020 will need to make up for multiple years of inadequate help for Carson Wentz. Names that will be available for the Eagles once free agency opens are Armari Cooper, A.J. Green, Emmanual Sanders, Robby Anderson, and Breshard Perriman rounding out some top options. So the Eagles will sign all of them? Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s going to happen, but many fans believe that one of these players will be suiting up as an Eagle next season. But should they?
The Eagles are in an interesting position with the way that they can attack free agency. They can spend all their money on defense and go heavy on offense in the draft. Or vice versa. When looking at what’s available there isn’t a slam dunk option, all of them come with baggage. Maybe that’s why their free agents? The big-name on the list is Amari Cooper, other than the fact that the Eagles shouldn’t sign Cowboys, Cooper had a down season and also showed a lack of resilience (especially against the Eagles late in the season) to help his team rally. I’m saying no to Alshon Jeffery 2.0 (OK, maybe that’s too far and some of my Alshon anger is getting exposed). The other options are A.J. Green (injuries), Emmanual Sanders, (age), Robby Anderson (productivity), and Breshard Perriman (price for a one-year standout). So this isn’t by any means an easy decision. Yet, the Eagles do need to add someone (just not Amari Cooper), to help better the WR position and not put all the chips in that the perfect player in the draft will land to them.
DB
Now we get into CBs. The Eagles have a great history with signing CB free agents. What do you mean Byron Maxwell and Nnamdi Asomugha didn’t work out? Hmm… maybe it’s not a good idea for the Eagles to sign a CB to big money? Maybe I’m not going to write about this section in fear of setting myself up for another week 1 in Atlanta type realization.
But if you insist the options for defensive backs are Anthony Harris, Byron Jones, Justin Simmons, Chris Harris, and Devin McCourty. The Eagles might go out and sign one of these players to big money and they will follow the trend that other infamous busts the Eagles have signed. Or, they can go out and sign lower-tier options ( James Bradbury, Jimmy Ward or Bradly Roby). Now Bradbury might be considered a higher tier but when considering the market of Byron Jones and Chris Harris, he drops down. So out of the three players, I mentioned they all are very capable and have potential moving forward.
In conclusion, please don’t spend big money on the DB position!
D-Line
This is another position that is at the top of the need for the Eagles and in this position I see greatness. What? Greatness? You mean that there is a slam dunk option that the other positions don’t have, and the Eagles (and the rest of the NFL), have a better track record of signing players of this position. Yes, it may sound too good to be true but I have your answer. Chris Jones, everyone!
Talented? Yes! How many sacks did he have? 9! How many years prior? 15.5! Young? Yes, 25! Proven winner? Does Superbowl winner help? Is he going to be cheap? Well… I’m not the only one with this information. The Eagles will have to PAY for the former DE Chris Jones for the Chiefs. That is if he hits the open market at all…
I know I’m sorry but it’s just too much fun to think what a defensive line of Fletcher Cox, Derrick Barnett, Malik Jackson (remember him), and Chris Jones could do. Chris Jones could hit the open market but the Chiefs probably want him to and since he’s a member of the team they could franchise tag him. Yet the hope is this…
Patrick Mahomes is going to cost a lot of money, like a lot. So potentially if (more like when) Mahomes breaks the ceiling for money allocated to a QB the Chiefs may not want to spend more on a franchise tag on a DE. So if Jones hit’s the market he will wind up here? Again, a lot of teams are thinking the same as the Eagles. I want a great DE that’s young, productive and a proven winner. To get all of that in one player is rare, and everyone knows that.
Yet, again if Chris Jones is to hit the open market the Eagles have to go all out on pursuing one of the best defensive players in the league. Jones may get tagged so the Eagles may not have a shot at him, what are the other options? Shaquil Barrett is also an option, he is a nice consolation prize, he only led the league in sacks last year. But again, the Tampa Bay Bucs DE also will be a potential player that will be tagged. So if the Eagles can get some luck with the other teams letting go of their stars well then the Eagles have to go all in.
Concluding, the Eagles have a month till free agency opens which means that as fans we have a month to prepare ourselves for an interesting off-season. Players will be tagged, players will sign with other teams, players will be traded, and the Eagles might end up with nothing but just remember… oh, look I hit my word minimum, well that’s all.
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