Free Agent Safety Market Drying Up and Eagles Still Need Answers
Cornerback was the concern last year, especially when the Eagles didn’t sign one in free agency, but especially after two days of the draft passed and none were taken.
Asked about it on April 30, which was the eve of the final day of the 2021 NFL Draft, Howie Roseman said, in part, “We don't start the season until September. There are other ways to skin a cat.”
Then on July 28, they signed CB Steve Nelson to a one-year deal.
This year, the concern is safety, though with Nelson expected to move on cornerback isn't far behind.
Safeties Rodney McLeod and Anthony Harris are free agents, leaving just Marcus Epps and former fourth-round pick K’Von Wallace on the roster.
Concern is mounting because the safety position is drying up in free agency. Marcus Williams, D.J. Reed, Justin Reid, Marcus Maye, Xavier Woods, and Jordan Whitehead have been signed.
Look at the salaries those players commanded and what the Eagles have left under the salary cap, and it’s no wonder the Eagles had to take a pass. They spent a good portion of their available cap money on pass-rush specialist Haason Reddick.
That leaves precious few options remaining in free agency.
Maybe recent releases such as Landon Collins (Washington) or Tyrann Mathieu (Kansas City) fit the bill, or perhaps someone like Baltimore’s DeShon Elliott, who has been plagued by injuries that have ended three of his four seasons on the sideline.
The Eagles could also opt to re-sign either McLeod or Harris.
What the Eagles really need to do is draft one, maybe two.
Three of the last four safeties they drafted, they have converted to another position.
JaCoby Stevens is the most recent. A safety at LSU, the Eagles moved him to linebacker during his rookie season last year.
Then there’s Nathan Gerry, who went from safety to linebacker in 2017, and, a year earlier Jalen Mills was used at cornerback after playing a lot of safety at LSU.
They haven’t taken one in the first round in forever, if ever.
The expectation last year was the Eagles would take a cornerback somewhere in the first two days of the draft. It never happened, though their first pick on Day 3 was CB Zech McPhearson in the fourth round, then Roseman kept skinning the cat, adding Josiah Scott, Tay Gowan, and Kary Vincent, Jr. as the season went along.
The expectation this year, now that free agency hasn’t yet yielded one, will be a safety at some point in the first two days, anywhere from rounds one through three of the draft.
The cream of the crop is believed to be Notre Dame’s Kyle Hamilton.
Mock drafts have him going as high as third overall to the Texans, while others have him sliding a bit, but not out of the top 10. If the Eagles want him and want to break from their philosophy of not taking first-rounders at the position, they will need to trade way up, but certainly have the capital to do that in the form of players (Andre Dillard?) and draft picks.
Michigan’s Daxton Hill could be an option, but again, the Eagles would probably have to take him in the first round.
There are, however, plenty of safeties that could be had in the second and third rounds, and that could be the path the Eagles are currently on after, so far, being priced out of the free-agent safety market.
The draft is also where the Eagles could choose to go for a cornerback in the first round unless they are comfortable with McPhearson, Andre Chachere, Gowan, or Vincent lining up opposite Darius Slay.
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.
