Eagles defense, Jonathan Gannon may have their general in T.J. Edwards

With the departure of Eric Wilson, T.J. Edwards has once again become one of the Philadelphia Eagles‘ starting linebackers. Over the past two-and-a-half seasons, he has managed to carve out a role for himself.

In 2019, Edwards played minimal snaps but served as a key run-stopper on early downs and short-yardage situations. Last year, he was playing more than 70 percent of snaps by midseason when healthy but he missed four games and went down in several others. It wasn’t the breakout season we predicted for Edwards but it was still an encouraging step forward in his development.

At the start of the 2021 regular season, his snap count had decreased in Jonathan Gannon‘s new scheme. The linebackers have rotated often during each game, but he has still played meaningful snaps in each game. He has consistently hovered around the 30-percent mark all season, but last week, that number jumped to 66 percent versus the Detroit Lions.

Jared Goff and the Lions’ offense have been run-heavy on first and second down, and that may have led to Edwards’ increase in snaps. He had a strong showing with multiple run stuffs while demonstrating a high football IQ with sound gap assignments, and he even provided some help on screens in the passing game.

The Eagles were successful in stopping the run as well as short pass game against T.J. Hockenson and D’Andre Swift on early downs. That forced a lot of third-and-long passing situations. Edwards still played on some third downs, but Alex Singleton seemed to be a designated third-down linebacker. Head coach Nick Sirianni confirmed that to the media this week.

T.J. Edwards faces a tall task in Philadelphia Eagles’ next matchup versus L.A.

This week, a much more pass-heavy offense will come to town as Justin Herbert leads the Los Angeles Chargers into battle. Now, the Lions rank in the top six in pass play percentage, but that is largely due to the deficits they often face.

According to Sharp Football Stats, in the first and second quarter, the Lions run the ball on first and second down 52 percent of the time. In comparison, the Chargers run the ball just 39 percent of the time in the same situations. Austin Ekeler is a dual-threat in the passing and running game making things more difficult on this Eagles defense.

If Jonathan Gannon starts to rotate to more single-high looks post-snap, Edwards might be able to handle a heavier snap count. As the MIKE in Cover 3, he wouldn’t have as much pressure as he would as the middle-of-the-field defender in Cover 2 and Cover 4.

If he is playing off the ball, he may have a little trouble playing the seam-curl-into flat when Gannon calls fire zone or just traveling to the flat on any Cover 3 or 4 calls. Cover 1 doesn’t exactly suit his strengths either with the athleticism of tight ends in today’s game. Rodney McLeod is easily the better option as the robber or rat in Cover 1 with a hole defender.

T.J. Edwards has been a pleasant surprise when given more responsibility and the Eagles coaching staff, over the past three years, has done a good job of utilizing him to his strengths.

His game speed looks a bit faster than 4.77 but in a pass-heavy league, he might not have the athleticism to be an every-down linebacker. That being said, he is the Eagles’ best option at MIKE right now. Don’t be surprised if Philadelphia rotates their guys in the middle a little bit more this week, but keep an eye on how Edwards performs in what will be a tough matchup.

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