Greedy Williams Gives Eagles Youth Amid Veterans at Cornerback
The Eagles had the best outside cornerback duo in the NFL last season with Darius Slay earning his fifth Pro Bowl nod and James Bradberry being named a second-team All-Pro.
With the former set to enter a lame-duck year with a $26.1 million cap number and the latter free to test the market, the odds were against Howie Roseman running it back at the position.
Somehow, the Eagles' GM and his chief lieutenant, Jake Rosenberg, got it done, first convincing Bradberry to take a little less in the form of a three-year, $38 million contract, and then working out a compromise with Slay in the form of $23M in guarantees for short term cal relief.
The organization wasn't done there, however.
Understanding Slay is 32 and Bradberry will turn 30 in August, the Eagles are trying to serve two masters by also bringing in Greedy Williams, a 2019 second-round pick who fell out of favor in Cleveland but still has the traits to develop into a solid outside CB with length.
There is no guarantee of course because Williams, 25, had four years to convince the Browns, who poured a significant investment into the LSU product.
That said, Slay and Bradberry are two of the savviest CBs in the NFL who play the game with an IQ to match their physical gifts.
Slay, a team captain, takes his job of mentoring the younger players very seriously because when he broke into the league in Detroit, Rashean Mathis took the Mississippi State product under his wing.
The idea of paying it forward is also important to Bradberry, an extremely cerebral player.
Williams will now have the opportunity to learn the tricks of the trade from two of the best CBs in the league and throwing someone with that skill set into the cauldron of backups at a cost-effective price is the kind of low-risk, high-reward move Roseman lives on.
If Williams develops, the Eagles not only have added depth on the outside, it will give them improved versatility with Zech McPhearson perhaps being allowed to cross-train in the slot. The Butterfly Effect from there could be allowing Avone Maddox to undertake a hybrid slot/safety role on a more permanent basis.
The downside is it doesn't work and you just move on with a minimal investment written off.
Stacking good decisions is the ethos at the NovaCare Complex and when those decisions are also at a bargain price, it's like the front-office version of Nick Sirianni's double positive.
READ MORE
Eagles Getting Greedy at Cornerback, as in Greedy Williams
-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today 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 YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Football 24/7 and a daily contributor to ESPN South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
