February 10, 2016
Two big-name players have drawn the attention of Eagles fans over the last few days, as the "waiver period" of the NFL offseason has begun. On Monday, the Saints released six-time Pro Bowl guard Jahri Evans, and the Buffalo Bills are expected to release four-time Pro Bowl defensive end Mario Williams.
Let's take a look at them both:
Matching Evans with the Eagles is rather obvious -- The Eagles' guards in 2015 were bad, and as noted above, Evans is a six-time Pro Bowl guard.
Evans also has the respects of Eagles players. Last season, I asked Eagles players to name the best opponents they ever faced. Cedric Thornton singled out Evans.
"Two years ago I played this guy from New Orleans, a guard," said Thornton. "Evans. He never quit, and he was teaching me the game as I was playing. He was telling me what I was going to do. He definitely made it hard on me, and it was on Monday night."
Evans had a stellar career, but it is most definitely winding down. In May of 2015, we conducted an OL age inventory of the entire NFL. Evans was the 11th oldest player among 160 projected offensive line starters. When the season begins in 2016, he will be 33 years old. The Saints' decision to cut Evans should tell you all you need to know about his career trajectory:
I believe the #Saints save $3.2 million against cap by releasing Jahri Evans, who will still count $5.1 million in dead money.
— Mike Triplett (@MikeTriplett) February 8, 2016
The Eagles should be looking to get younger and better in the long-term. Short-term band aids aren't the answer.
Williams' fit with the Eagles is also fairly obvious. In 2014, playing for Jim Schwartz, Williams had the best season of his career, when he racked up 14.5 sacks. However, that can be said of a boatload of other defensive linemen who have played under Schwartz.
In an recent interview, Schwartz named 13 defensive linemen that he was worked with in his stops in Tennessee, Detroit, and Buffalo.
"I was very fortunate in Tennessee to have Jevon Kearse, to have Albert Haynesworth, to have Kyle Vanden Bosch, to have Kevin Carter, Robaire Smith, some really talented players up front. In Detroit, we drafted that way. Ndamukong Suh, Nick Fairley, brought in Kyle Vanden Bosch, had Cliff Avril. Went to Buffalo, had Jerry Hughes, Mario Williams, Marcell Dareus, Kyle Williams, as talented of guys as you're ever going to be around."
Schwartz gave the players the credit for being talented, however, the numbers suggest that Schwartz helped their pass rush numbers significantly. Below are the 13 players Schwartz mentioned, and the number of sacks they had per 16 games with him, and without him.
| Player | Sacks per 16 games w/ Schwartz | Sacks per 16 games w/o Schwartz |
| Jevon Kearse | 10.1 | 6.3 |
| Albert Haynesworth | 4.3 | 3.2 |
| Kyle Vanden Bosch | 8.1 | 2.2 |
| Kevin Carter | 5.9 | 8.1 |
| Robaire Smith | 2.7 | 1.9 |
| Ndamukong Suh | 7.1 | 7.3 |
| Nick Fairley | 5.3 | 1.0 |
| Cliff Avril | 9.5 | 7.0 |
| Jerry Hughes | 10.0 | 4.4 |
| Mario Williams | 14.5 | 10.1 |
| Marcell Dareus | 10.0 | 5.2 |
| Kyle Williams | 5.9 | 4.0 |
As you can see, 11 of the 13 players above got to the quarterback more frequently with Schwartz than without him.
I wonder if Schwartz needs Williams, or if it's the other way around. At any rate, the Eagles are already paying three defensive linemen -- Vinny Curry, Brandon Graham, and Connor Barwin -- quite well. While you can never have enough pass rushers, I'm not sure Williams would be the wisest investment, seeing as he is going to command a heavy price tag.
Sooooo... I'm a "no" on both guys.
Follow Jimmy on Twitter: @JimmyKempski
Add some PhillyVoice RSS feeds.
