May 25, 2025
During the offseason, we'll be taking a close look at Philadelphia Eagles players of interest who are currently on the roster but we may not know a lot about just yet. In this edition, we'll take a look at second-year linebacker Jeremiah Trotter, Jr.
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Coming out of college, Trotter was thought of as an instinctive, smart, hard-nosed linebacker with obviously good bloodlines. The 225-pound Trotter is not the same player as his dad though, who was a 260-pound thumper.
About a week after the draft, Howie Roseman compared Trotter to former Eagles linebacker T.J. Edwards. I thought that was a great comp at the time, and after watching all of Trotter's snaps during the 2024 season, there's definitely a resemblance. First, a comparison of Trotter's and Edwards' measurables:
| Measurable | Jeremiah Trotter | T.J. Edwards |
| Height | 6'0 | 6'0 3/8 |
| Weight | 228 | 230 |
| Arm length | 31 1/2" | 31 1/4" |
| 3-cone | 7.13 | 7.03 |
| 20-yard shuttle | 4.40 | 4.28 |
| Bench press | 21 reps | 16 reps |
Not noted above — Edwards ran a woeful 4.87 40 at Wisconsin's pro day. Trotter didn't run the 40 at all. Edwards' poor measurables caused him to go undrafted, while Trotter's caused him to drop to the fifth round. But certainly, both players were productive in college at major football programs. Trotter is small and not particularly athletic by NFL standards, but like Edwards he makes up for it with toughness and great instincts.
There are certainly times when you see Trotter's lack of ideal speed show up on tape. For example, here's a scramble by Dallas' Trey Lance, who would have gotten the corner on Trotter if Sydney Brown hadn't gotten over in time to force Lance out of bounds.
Trotter played in the regular defense in nine games.
• Seven of those games were in garbage time in blowout wins.
• One was the meaningless Week 18 game against the Giants.
• One was Week 17 against the Cowboys, his only playing time during the season that was meaningful from a team perspective.
Overall, I was encouraged by what I saw from Trotter when reviewing his snaps, despite his lack of ideal speed.
As a box run defender, Trotter plays downhill, but he also plays under control and doesn't overrun plays. Here's a collection of run stops, or other plays in which he messed up the play in the backfield, and teammates cleaned up:
I was also quite encouraged by what I saw from Trotter in zone coverage. He understands routes, he reads the quarterback's eyes, and positions himself in the right spots to either defend against throws or make quick tackles so receivers can't gobble up yards after the catch. (This was also a strength of Edwards'.)
And above, we noted that there will be times when an opposing player will simply be able to outrun him. However, because he has good instincts and can anticipate action on the field, he is able to make plays from sideline to sideline.
Unfortunately, it would have been nice to get a little glimpse of what he looks like in man coverage, but those reps don't exist on his 2024 tape. That's probably the biggest concern for Trotter heading into the 2025 season.
Throughout training camp and the preseason games during his rookie season, Trotter was around the ball quite a bit.
Following Nakobe Dean's patellar injury against the Packers in the Wild Card Round, Trotter seemed poised to split snaps with Oren Burks in the regular defense in the Divisional Round Game against the Rams, but Vic Fangio said afterward that Burks "was doing OK," so he left well enough alone.
Trotter's main contributions as a rookie came on special teams. He played 295 special teams snaps during the regular season, and 83 in the playoffs. His highlight of the season was wrestling the ball away from Keisean Nixon at the bottom of a pile in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs against the Packers after a Burks forced fumble on a kickoff.
He'll be a core special teamer again in 2025, but he also has a chance to begin the season as a temporary starting off-ball linebacker opposing Zack Baun, with Dean very likely to begin the season on the PUP list, and rookie first-round selection Jihaad Campbell still recovering from shoulder surgery.
I believe he has a certain base competency against the run and in zone coverage, and should be fine if Fangio calls on him to play a meaningful role, but I also believe that the defensive staff will be smart about what they ask him to do within the structure of the defense, given his athletic limitations.
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