Five Free Agents the Eagles Should Consider
The Eagles will be players in the free agent market, as they always are, once it begins in March.
Exactly who will be available when the clock begins to tick may not be some of the names that are listed as free agents right now. Some teams will re-sign their own players, especially young, productive ones.
Nevertheless, there will be players who figure to help the Eagles, who said they want to add more speed and youth.
The youth may come in the draft, but it may also come in free agency, again, depending who is still available once the market opens.
The Eagles are about $43.5 million under the salary cap, but a lot of that could get chewed up depending on what the team decides to do with Alshon Jeffery. If they release him, the cap hit will be enormous.
With all that in mind, here are five free agents the Eagles should consider. Signing at least two would be a good haul. Three, though, would be better.
Logan Ryan, Tennessee Titans, cornerback. You can have Byron Jones if you want, but former Cowboys do not have a good track record with the Eagles. Jones is good, no doubt, but playing for Dallas rules him out of my book. Besides, I think Ryan is better.
Ryan, who turns 29 on Feb. 9, is a local player, having grown up in Voorhees, N.J., just a dozen or so miles from Philly. He played at Eastern High School then Rutgers and was drafted in the third round in 2013 by the New England Patriots.
He is durable, having missed just eight games in the last five years and has 17 career interceptions, four of which came last season.
It should be noted that Jones is also durable, with six missed games in five years, but he has just two interceptions in his career.
Maybe I could be sold on Denver’s Chris Harris, but he is two years older than Ryan, and he might be cheaper, but the Eagles cannot afford to cheap out at this position. It has been a thorn in their sides for years. So ends that.
Robby Anderson, New York Jets, receiver. Will Amari Cooper return to the Cowboys or hit free agency? Doesn’t matter. Cowboy. Has Breshad Perriman’s career been resurrected by Bruce Arians in Tampa Bay? I don’t care. Don’t want him.
Emmanuel Sanders and A.J. Green are in their early 30s now. Too old.
Anderson would be my target. He has speed and youth on his side. The Temple product, who will turn 27 in May and was an undrafted free agent signing of the Jets, hasn’t had that breakout season in his four years in the league, but he has put up solid, consistent numbers every year and has 20 career touchdowns.
Joe Schobert, Cleveland Browns, linebacker. The Eagles hold a club option on Nigel Bradham, who has a base salary of $8 million and is 30. The Eagles could get younger, though maybe not cheaper if they went after Schobert, and they must decide what to do with their own free agent in Kamu Grugier-Hill.
Frankly, the Browns would be crazy to let Schobert go, but, well, they are the Browns. The Eagles also know new general manager Andrew Berry well since Berry worked in Philly last year. Schobert won’t turn 27 until November, played at Wisconsin, the same school that produced Eagles’ undrafted free agent linebacker T.J. Edwards, had four interceptions last year and played well on special teams.
It’s all a win-win for the Eagles, though, again, the Browns very well may re-sign him.
Corey Littleton of the Los Angeles Rams would be a nice consolation prize in that case. Like Schobert, another player who won’t turn 27 until November and one who can excel on special teams in addition to start on defense.
Chances are the Eagles will address this position in free agency, since they tried the past few years by signing free agents Paul Worrilow, L.J. Fort and Corey Nelson the past two years. None worked out for whatever reason.
Beau Allen, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, defensive tackle. Sure, why not get the Super Bowl band back together? Usually, I’m not a fan of dipping back into the past, but I believe Allen, at 28, still has some sold snaps to give, even though he had a reduced role (16 percent of the defensive snaps) last year. Allen wouldn’t command much money and he was popular in the locker room.
Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, Chicago Bears, safety. Rodney McLeod probably won’t be back, though, I think he should be. The Eagles then will need a fee safety – assuming strong safety Malcolm Jenkins gets the new contract he is seeking. Voila, Clinton-Dix. I’ve had a soft spot for him – maybe it’s the name? – since he was the 21 overall pick of the Green Bay Packers in the 2014 draft. He’s still just 27 and won’t turn 28 until the end of December, which makes him three years younger than McLeod.
Clinton-Dix played for a base salary of just $2 million in his one year in Chicago. Chances are he won’t get a significantly higher number than that.
