4 Eagles who could follow Doug Pederson to Jacksonville

Don’t rule a Derek Barnett/Doug Pederson reunion in Jacksonville.

It’s official. We’ve known this for most of his five-year run with the Philadelphia Eagles, but Derek Barnett is officially a bust. When you take someone in the first round of an NFL Draft with a top-15 selection, you’re expecting that guy to be a fixture in the organization for years to come. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen here.

March approaches, and once we enter the free-agency period, Barnett’s run in midnight green is, more than likely, over. The Eagles’ decision to extend Josh Sweat and never offer a deal of any sort to Barnett was probably a dead giveaway. Barnett’s reputation for racking up random personal-foul penalties was probably another.

Sure, he’s created a few highlight-reel moments. There was the strip-sack in the NFC Championship Game versus the Minnesota Vikings. He also recovered Brandon Graham’s strip-sack of Tom Brady in Super Bowl LII and provided a game-ending QB takedown of Ryan Luck during the 2018 season, but there isn’t much else that he’s done worth remembering.

Most of his highlights came with Doug on the sideline which could mean nothing, but that could also be part of what earns him a second chance on another team. Maybe that chance will come by way of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Who knows?

We’re all speculating. No one knows anything, but how strange would it be if Barnett did land in Duval County? How weird would it be if Doug Pederson and Derek made the most of a second chance together? From what we’re hearing, the Jags might need a little help on defense.