Philadelphia Eagles: Jim Schwartz’s recent comments aren’t fooling anyone

The Philadelphia Eagles can’t seriously expect fans to believe any of this.

Where is all of this coming from, you ask? The Eagles are trying to push back on the notion that they don’t value the linebacker position and instead, they poured resources on it. In a recent sitdown with the Philly media, defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz disagreed with the perception that the team doesn’t prioritize the linebacker position and points to the signing of Nigel Bradham and the fact the ‘Birds’ drafted Shaun Bradley and Davion Taylor as evidence.

Schwartz can’t really expect fans to or the media to accept what he said at face value, right? The Eagles used a third-round in Taylor and a sixth in Bradley, but that just simply hasn’t been enough to fix things. We are aware the draft is a crapshoot, but teams find most of their playmakers in the early rounds, the first and the second to be exact. Also, the more chances a team takes, the higher the chances of finding playmakers. The ‘Birds’ haven’t really done a great job of stocking this team with talent or coaching them up.

Schwartz’s other example isn’t any better. They originally gave Bradham a two-year, $7 million deal in 2016. It’s true he would later sign a five-year $40 million contract, but the ‘Birds’ decided to not exercise an option in his contract and ended up releasing him this past offseason. All in all, Bradham made $17.3 million during his four-year tenure in Philadelphia, which is a nice amount of cash, but his deal was hardly the big investment in the defense’s second level that Schwartz claims it is.