4 Eagles who somehow avoided hotter seats after free agency, NFL Draft

We’re still holding onto hope that the Eagles will use Derek Barnett as trade collateral.

Welcome to the Derek Barnett portion of the discussion. The sole survivor of an eight-man draft class that the Eagles introduced us to in 2017 has had his moments, but he’s never proven that he can give credence to Philadelphia’s decision to make him the 14th-overall selection that year during Round 1.

Sure, there was the strip-sack in the NFC Championship Game versus the Minnesota Vikings that shifted the momentum in Philly’s favor for good. He recovered the fumble after Brandon Graham’s strip-sack of Tom Brady two weeks later in Super Bowl LII. He even came up with a game-ending sack versus Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts back in 2018.

Unfortunately, Barnett is more known for making bad decisions and being flagged for personal-foul penalties that have extended drives at absolutely the worst times that he could have done so.

Birds fans thought they were free of the nightmare earlier this offseason, but after letting him walk at the beginning of free agency on March 16th, the Eagles brought him back on a two-year contract extension a week later on March 24th to the tune of three years and $15.2 million, per Spotrac.

Philly didn’t add any defensive ends in the NFL Draft, nor did they make any major swings via free agency. With the amount of coin he’s making and with the Eagles’ need at defensive end, Number 96 figures to be around for a while, even if we’d prefer it if he was a part of a trade package.

It’s cool though. Barnett’s deal has an out and the end of the 2022 season, and while that doesn’t make much of the Eagles fan base feel better about the deal (those who are in opposition), if Barnett is a rotational piece behind Josh Sweat and Brandon Graham as opposed to being ‘the guy’ that could take pressure off of him and