March 12, 2024
Eric Hartline/USA Today
Jerome Baker picks of Jalen Hurts and takes it back to the house at Lincoln Financial Field.
The Eagles keep making splashes in free agency. Bryce Huff is on his way down I-95 from the Jets to rush the passer. Chauncey Gardner-Johnson is returning to Philly on a three-year deal. Most notably, and most uncharacteristically, the Birds are paying big money to running back Saquon Barkley, too.
Running back has long been the least valued position offensively on Howie Roseman's rosters. The least valued position overall, however, remains linebacker. That's continued into free agency as well.
On Monday, the Eagles agreed to terms with former Saints linebacker Zach Braun, who's more of a hybrid pass-rusher than the true linebacker the Eagles sorrily missed in 2023. A report from CBS Sports' Josina Anderson on Tuesday indicates that the Eagles aren't done adding at that position though, as she states, "The Eagles are "still in the market" and "on the hunt" for a linebacker "one way or another."
Unfortunately for the Eagles, the market has thinned out two days into "legal tampering," but there are logical targets available.
Dolphins linebacker Jerome Baker is a free agent and spent the 2023 season playing under current Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio in Miami. Baker had 78 tackles, 1.5 sacks and two interceptions in 13 games. Baker, 27, feels like the most reasonable choice out there given that defensive scheme familiarity and the fact that he likely won't command a ton of money on the market, which is exactly in line with how the Eagles handle the linebacker spot financially.
The two biggest names available as of this writing are former elite guys who aren't still at that All-Pro level.
Devin White, a Second-Team All-Pro choice during the Buccaneers' 2020 Super Bowl-winning season, is coming off a 2023 campaign where he 83 tackles, 2.5 sacks and two interceptions in 14 games. Before free agency, Spotrac projected White, 26, to have a contract worth just north of $21.5 million over two seasons. That just feels too pricy for Roseman and the Birds.
Future Hall of Famer Bobby Wagner, 33, is still unsigned as well. Wagner playing for the Eagles may wade too close into "Patrick Ewing playing for the Seattle Supersonics" waters of past-prime stars having unremarkable stints late in the career, but, hey, I'm sure Philadelphians aren't too keen on seeing Shaq Leonard in midnight green again. Wagner gives some 2002 Levon Kirkland vibes in that light.
Never count on a simple, yet uninspiring, move like bringing back Zach Cunningham or Nicholas Morrow to play alongside Nakobe Dean...
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