Eagles roster: Extensions, player roles, other ideas about the defensive line

The Philadelphia Eagles have one of the NFL’s best defensive lines, but what comes after 2022 for Philly’s front four?

The Philadelphia Eagles have soared to an 9-1 record behind one of the NFL’s most dominant defenses. The defensive line is one of the most important cogs of this mighty machine. As a unit, Jonathan Gannon’s guys walked into Week 11 ranked fifth in sacks, and they use a combination of a great rotation and depth to provide a fresh pass rush and furious run stoppers for four quarters.

Philadelphia’s defense utilizes multiple fronts, everything from the 4-3 to five-man fronts and everything in between. While their fans have enjoyed nearly a decade of consistency and often having a defensive front that’s on par with the other top units of the NFL, that time may have passed. If not, it’s definitely in jeopardy.

Some aging veterans and their contracts are expiring. We may even be looking at the end of Fletcher Cox and Brandon Graham’s respective runs in midnight green.

Philadelphia continues to tweak things, adding edge rusher Robert Quinn and a pair of defensive tackles, Ndamukong Suh and Linval Joeseph, during the season.

These moves added even more depth to what’s already a solid unit, but they’ll also be free agents come March. It’s doubtful that Eagles vice president/general manager Howie Roseman will hand out a bag to all of these aging newcomers, regardless of what they have previously done. As it stands now, it feels like a one-and-done season.

With that being said, we analyze the rest of the defensive line except for Milton Williams and Marlon Tuipulotu as we know they’ll be around through at least 2024. We also make a few guesses about the future.