Philadelphia Eagles Should Be Aggressive In Free Agency
Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
The Philadelphia Eagles have rebuilt their roster over the last couple of years by acquiring players who fit Chip Kelly’s offensive and defensive system. The Eagles have rebuilt their roster the correct way, by signing cheap free agents who fit the scheme and drafting well (in 2012 and 2013 at least).
Even before Chip Kelly got here, the Eagles built their team the right way. A number of the Eagles star players were drafted by the Eagles – Fletcher Cox, Mychal Kendricks, LeSean McCoy, Jeremy Maclin and so on.
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However, the Eagles have now rebuilt their roster and they have a solid nucleus of young players. The Eagles have entered their Super Bowl window and no one knows how long it will last. To become serious contenders, the Eagles need more talented players on both offense and defense.
Free agency is seen upon as negative by a number of Eagles fans and the media because of the ‘dream team’ failures. You can still get good players in free agency though. The Eagles have added some great free agents over the past few years, Connor Barwin, Malcolm Jenkins and Evan Mathis stand out as the Eagles best signings.
Good teams around the league continue to improve via free agency. The New England Patriots improved their secondary by signing cornerbacks Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner. They went from allowing 373 yards per game in 2013 to 344 yards per game in 2014 (per NFL stats). The Denver Broncos also improved their defense, adding TJ Ward, Aqib Talib and Demarcus Ware. They went from allowing 25 points per game to 22 points a game.
Would the Detroit Lions have been a playoff team this year without Golden Tate? He was a great signing by the Lions. Julius Peppers has had a big impact on the Green Bay Packers defense too, Peppers arguably saved the game for the Packers against the Cowboys last weekend when he forced Murray to fumble. Signing high priced free agents can pay dividends in the end if you sign good players.
The Eagles won’t find a stud quarterback in free agency, I get that. But, the Eagles need to completely rebuild their secondary this offseason. Despite what we all want, Brandon Boykin will never start on the outside as long as Chip Kelly is here. They need two new starting cornerbacks, Bradley Fletcher isn’t very good and Cary Williams isn’t worth $8m and probably won’t take a pay cut. I don’t think Nate Allen is a bad player but I would also like an upgrade at safety next to Jenkins.
The Eagles can’t find two starting calibre cornerbacks and a stud safety in one draft. Cornerbacks normally struggle in their first season and it’s looking like a weak cornerback class this year. The Eagles cannot go into next season with two rookie cornerbacks starting and expect them to automatically be an upgrade over what they have now.
I am not going to speculate about who will be available in free agency at the cornerback position and safety position right now in this article. My point for now is that the Eagles should be aggressive in free agency and spend money if they get the opportunity to bring in good players in the secondary, even if they don’t come cheap. The Eagles Super Bowl window may close sooner than you think with this current nucleus of players and I don’t want the Eagles secondary to stop them from making the playoffs next year.