Eagles Bringing Back Vinny Curry
It’s getting late at the free-agent market, but it is still open for business, as the Eagles showed when they agreed on Friday to bring back defensive lineman Vinny Curry for one season on a deal that could be worth up to $2 million.
Curry chose to return to the Eagles after weighing what was reportedly a bigger financial offer from the Cleveland Browns, and that is a testament to how Curry feels about an organization he grew up rooting for in Neptune, N.J., where he had a bedroom plastered with Eagles posters and memorabilia.
The Eagles selected Curry, 32, in the second of the 2012 NFL Draft, the 59th player taken overall.
The addition of Curry likely rules out the Eagles trying to trade for Jacksonville’s Yannick Ngakoue or signing free agents Jadeveon Clowney or Everson Griffen.
Curry has registered back-to-back seasons with five sacks, one with the Eagles last year, the other in his one season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He has 29.5 sacks and was a key cog in the Eagles’ 2017 Super Bowl LII triumph before leaving for Tampa Bay as a free agent.
Curry gives the Eagles some experience at defensive end, which had been a bit short in that department with Brandon Graham and Derek Barnett as the only two players with much playing time.
Josh Sweat, 23, got some 355 defensive snaps (34 percent) in 2019, recording four sacks.
After that, the Eagles have undersized Genard Avery, Shareef Miller, a fourth-round pick in 2019 who didn’t get on the field as a rookie, Joe Ostman, who missed all of last year with a knee injury suffered in preseason, and rookie seventh-round pick Casey Toohill.
Defensive tackle Malik Jackson could also switch out to play defensive end, though it’s a move Jackson has said in the past he would prefer not to make.
That tepid resistance didn’t stop defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz from talking about that possibility last week.
“You know, Malik has played some defensive end in the past,” said Schwartz. “He’s been a 3-4 defensive end in the past … He’s got great use of hands. He’s a really smart player. He’s got great length. He’s tall, he’s long and things like that.
“In our past, we’ve had guys who have played defensive end and defensive tackle. Malik can do some of those things for us … (GM) Howie (Roseman) has had the same philosophy that you can never have enough defensive linemen. It’s one of the positions that you truly rotate players through.”
Curry, who also offers position flexibility with the ability to move inside to tackle, is now, once again, a part of that rotation.
Get the latest Eagles news by joining the community. Click "Follow" at the top right of EagleMaven page. Mobile users click the notification bell. And please follow me on Twitter @kracze.
