Often, the Philadelphia Eagles have been accused of placing little to no stock in the linebacker corps. As a result, we’ve seen a bit of a revolving door. Think about it. At the risk of sounding disrespectful (because that truly isn’t the goal), the best player they have at the position is T.J. Edwards, and he went undrafted in 2017.
Here’s something that doesn’t get mentioned as often. Philly’s been almost as negligent in fixing their secondary. They’re currently in the midst of a 20-year drought now.
They haven’t taken a cornerback in the first round of any selection meeting since 2002 (Lito Sheppard). A year ago, with a huge need at the position, they waited until Round 4 to take one (Zech McPhearson).
Recently, we can point to two instances in which they waited until after the draft to add a player. They traded for Ronald Darby on August 11th of 2017. Following 2021’s selection meeting, they waited until July 25th to sign Steven Nelson. The latter is now in the ‘one and done’ category as it appears he’s trading Eagles green for the deep steel blue, battle red, and liberty white of the Houston Texans jersey, per report.
The Philadelphia Eagles won’t be bringing Steven Nelson back for the 2022-2023 NFL season.
Houston Chronicle beat writer for the Houston Texans, Brooks Kubena, reports that Steven Nelson will sign with the Texans. The deal is for $10 million and stretches over two years. Take a look.
The Texans are signing former Eagles cornerback Steven Nelson, per source. The seven-year veteran addresses a key position of need.
— Brooks Kubena (@BKubena) April 13, 2022
During the most recent Philadelphia Eagles season, Nelson appeared in 16 regular-season games and Philly’s lone playoff game, starting each of them. Some are satisfied with the job he did. Others believe that he could have had a better nose for the football and that they would have liked to see him make more plays.
Theories also existed that stated he could be a late addition by the Birds this offseason post-draft if there was still a need. We can toss those ideas and arguments now.
Darius Slay is firmly entrenched as CB1. Avonte Maddox has the slot corner job locked down. The Birds still need to figure out who takes the mantle as the other starter opposite Big Play. We expect Philly to make an addition (or two in the draft). Could this be the year they break the first-year cornerback drought?