Eagles Getting Greedy at Cornerback, as in Greedy Williams
The Eagles are getting Greedy at cornerback.
After re-signing James Bradberry and working out an extension with Darius Slay, they signed Greedy Williams to a one-year contract on Thursday night.
The deal was first reported by Cleveland Plain Dealer Browns beat writer May Kay Cabot.
Bringing in Williams feels a bit like the Eagles' signing of running back Rashaad Penny – low risk, high reward.
Penny has yet to play more than 10 games in an NFL career that began as a first-round pick in 2018.
Williams has been beset by injury since being drafted in the second round out of LSU in 2019.
He started last season on injured reserve with a hamstring injury. He made it into 11 games, but only played 15% of the Browns’ defensive snaps. He was more of a special team player, logging 42% of the snaps on those units.
As a rookie, he started 12 games and had 47 tackles, but in 2020, he suffered nerve damage in his right shoulder during training camp and missed the entire season.
Still just 25, Williams will add depth to the cornerback spot.
Before anyone thinks he will move into the slot to allow the Eagles to move Avonte Maddox to full-time safety, Williams is 6-2, a height that doesn’t typically lend itself to covering shifty, quicker slot receivers.
Meanwhile, the numbers are in for Slay, who agreed to a three-year, $42 million extension, per Adam Schefter. The extension includes $23M fully guaranteed. It will allow the Eagles to spread out the salary cap charge over a few seasons, rather than having $26.1M count against the cap this year.
The Eagles are heavily invested financially in the cornerback spot now.
In addition to Slay, they agreed to a three-year deal with James Bradberry that guaranteed him $20M and is worth about $12M per season.
Like Slay, it runs for three years, so the Eagles have their cornerbacks locked in through 2025, and Williams gives them possible insurance should something unforeseen happen.
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Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglestoday.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
