Philadelphia Eagles best free-agent signings under Howie Roseman

Connor Barwin was a stud signing for the Eagles for four seasons.

When we talk about some of the great moves of Howie Roseman’s tenure, we don’t often spend extended amounts of time discussing Connor Barwin and how good he was, and for that, we owe him an apology. We use sports terms so often now, that they’ve, to some extent, lost their umph, ‘the G.O.A.T.’ for instance. Connor will never be referred to as the G.O.A.T., but he was ‘a beast’.

He was a monster. He was a stud. Heck, you even can throw in some ‘sideline-to-sideline’ and a ‘terror coming off of the edge’ references. Howie landed Barwin as a free agent in 2013 after he spent four solid seasons with the Houston Texans. They landed him in the second round of 2009’s NFL Draft.

As an Eagle, he played in the 3-4 scheme as an outside linebacker for Chip Kelly and as a 4-3 defensive end for Doug Pederson/Jim Schwartz in 2016. In all, he notched 210 total tackles, including 155 of the solo variety and 40 that resulted in a loss of yardage.

Add that to 31.5 sacks, 56 additional QB hits, six forced fumbles, an interception, and 24 pass deflections. He earned a Pro Bowl nod after the 2014 season. He started all 64 of Philadelphia’s regular-season games over that span of time.

Philly, under Roseman, has often moved off of players a year too late. Perhaps they moved off of Barwin too early.