Eagles’ Joe Ostman, Josh Sweat making Connor Barwin return unlikely

The hype surrounding Joe Ostman and Josh Sweat at Philadelphia Eagles training camp creates an unfavorable situation for Connor Barwin.

This offseason, the Philadelphia Eagles were focusing on rebuilding their defensive line. While they still have some returning starters from last year in Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham, and Derek Barnett — we know the defensive line is only as good as the rotational depth. That’s precisely where the Eagles took a hit this offseason.

Since Michael Bennett wanted a pay raise, the Eagles dealt him to the New England Patriots, losing a rotational veteran to garner some of Barnett’s reps. On the other side of the ball, Brandon Graham’s partner in crime, Chris Long decided to call it a career and retired after two years in Philly. That left the Eagles with multiple question marks on the defensive line.

Their first move to patch up the situation was bringing back a former Eagles’ pass rusher in Vinny Curry. Although Curry never lived up to the hype, in the long run, he was an essential piece to the defensive line during the teams’ Super Bowl-winning season in 2017. After seeing both, Vinny Curry and DeSean Jackson form a reunion with the Eagles; a former pass rusher sought the opportunity to try and convince the front office to make another one happen.

Connor Barwin back to Philly?

For the final few weeks of the offseason without training camp, former Eagles’ defensive end Connor Barwin attempted to get on the Eagles roster for the first time since 2016. Howie Roseman and company didn’t jump at the opportunity, and they didn’t make any promises.

However, Barwin was told that the Eagles would re-evaluate the situation after a few weeks of camp. The Eagles currently have three pass rushers who can slim down the chances of Barwin landing a deal this offseason. The first one happens to be the 2019 fourth-round pick, Shareef Miller. The other two guys are second-year veterans in Joe Ostman and Josh Sweat.

Although Ostman and Sweat have proved nothing in year one, their spring efforts had everybody intrigued for what they could potentially bring to the table during the summer. So far, Ostman and Sweat have dominated. At the very start of training camp, Josh Sweat was garnering all the buzz.

Then on Tuesday, Ostman had zero issues getting past his opponents and getting to the quarterback. According to NJ Advanced Media’s Zack Rosenblatt, Ostman accounted for three sacks in Tuesday’s practice alone. Granted, it is just practice, but what’s being put on display by the two young pass rushers make it very easy for the Eagles to avoid signing a guy like Connor Barwin.

At this point, they would have to be nearly non-existent on the field in the preseason or suffer some injuries in order to go down that route of making a camp signing. It’s unfortunate Barwin hasn’t had the chance to redeem himself after back to back underwhelming seasons, but right now the Eagles just don’t seem to have a need for his services.