Eagles Sign Eric Wilson; Nate Sudfeld Signs in San Francisco
PHILADELPHIA - The Eagles have again tapped into Jonathan Gannon's Minnesota pipeline by signing athletic linebacker Eric Wilson to a one-year deal worth $3.25 million.
Earlier in free agency Philadelphia had signed former Vikings safety Anthony Harris to a one-year deal for $5M. Gannon, the Eagles' new defensive coordinator, was the assistant defensive backs coach under Mike Zimmer in Minnesota from 2014-17.
Wilson, 6-foot-1 and 230 pounds, arrived as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Cincinnati during Gannon's last season with the Vikings. More so, the Eagles' new linebackers coach Nick Rallis is very familiar with Wilson and was Minnesota's assistant LBs coach over the past three seasons.
Wilson, 26, accumulated 122 tackles last season, along with three interceptions, three sacks, eight pass breakups, and nine QB hits, solid production while playing over 1,000 snaps, by far a career-high.
The added playing time was due to a pec injury that sidelined star LB Anthony Barr in Week 2.
From there, Wilson slotted in next to Pro Bowl LB Eric Kendricks as one of the two three-down options on the Minnesota defense.
The bad news is that the Vikings' defense took a tumble as a whole due to attrition from free agency, injuries, and even COVID-19 when it came to the opt-out of nose tackle Michael Pierce.
One NFL source described Wilson's 2020 production to SI.com's Eagle Maven as "a 20-point scorer on a bad NBA team." The good on Wilson is he's extremely fast and is a very good blitzer and coverage player. The bad is he's undersized and considered a liability in run support.
ProFootballFocus.com graded Wilson as No. 48 overall of the 83 qualifying LBs in the NFL last season but that was a see-saw.
He was No. 18 in coverage grade, No. 18 as a pass rusher, and a dismal 81 of 93 against the run. He will join a LB corps in Philadelphia headlined by Alex Singleton and T.J. Edwards with the best guess being that Wilson will be penciled in as a three-down LB next to Singleton.
Edwards would take on the Mike role in the base defense.
The Eagles also have athletic second-year options Davion Taylor and Shaun Bradley on the depth chart, as well as Joe Bachie and Rashad Smith.
The new coaching staff has also moved Genard Avery from DE to LB.
The signing of Wilson also alleviates the immediate need to address LB in the premium rounds of the draft if the Eagles don't like what they see at the position. A number of mock drafts have the Eagles taking Penn State star Micah Parsons at No. 12 overall, but the Eagles haven't taken an off-ball LB in the first round of the draft since Jerry Robinson in 1979.
SUDFELD SIGNS IN SAN FRANCISCO
Former Eagles quarterback Nate Sudfeld signed a one-year deal with the San Francisco 49ers Wednesday, believed to be for the league minimum.
The 6-foot-6 Sudfeld, 27, is a Northern California native (Modesto) and arrives to the Niners after spending the majority of the past four seasons with the Eagles, highlighted by his status as Philadelphia's backup QB for Super Bowl LII when Carson Wentz was out with a torn ACL/LCL.
Originally drafted by Washington in the sixth round of the 2016 NFL Draft out of Indiana, Sudfeld spent his rookie season inside the Beltway but was inactive for all 16 games. The WFT waived Sudfeld at the final cutdown after training camp in 2017 and the Eagles quickly signed him to their practice squad.
Sudfeld was ultimately elevated from the PS in November when the Indianapolis Colts attempted to sign him. It proved to be a good decision when Wentz went down on Dec. 10 against the Los Angeles Rams and Sudfeld took over as the backup to the elevated Nick Foles.
Sudfeld himself saw extensive time during the 6-0 Week 17 loss to Dallas in which he completed 19 of 23 passes for 134 yards.
The Eagles miraculously rebounded from Wentz's injury and Foles got hot at the right time, leading Philadelphia to a Super Bowl LII championship over New England.
By 2019, after Foles had left for Jacksonville, Sudfeld was penciled in to be Wentz's backup before a broken left wrist in the preseason forced the Eagles to look elsewhere and bring in veteran Josh McCown to be Wentz's backup.
Last season, Jalen Hurts was drafted at No. 53 overall in the second round to take over the backup spot and Sudfeld was again No. 3 on the depth chart.
Overall, Sudfeld appeared in four games and completed 25 of 37 passing attempts for 188 yards and one touchdown with the Eagles.
John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on both PhillyVoice.com and YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s EagleMaven. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
