Zach Brown's Release Still a Mystery, Jim Schwartz says LB Play Must be Better
Monday’s release of Eagles linebacker Zach Brown is still a puzzler more than 24 hours later.
Answers may come Wednesday morning when head coach Doug Pederson meets with reporters for the first time since Brown was let go. Until then, defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz tried his best to fit one of the puzzle pieces in place while simultaneously doing his best not to give away too much.
“I’ll just leave that to those guys,” said Schwartz on Tuesday, referring to Pederson and general manager Howie Roseman. “They can address those roster decisions.”
There is no scheduled media session with Roseman so Pederson’s answers on Wednesday will have to suffice, at least for now.
Veteran safety Malcolm Jenkins was consulted, and he didn’t want to say much, either.
“There are things that happen from a personnel standpoint every day that we have no control,” said Jenkins. “We see the notifications on our phone just like everybody else. At the end of the day, we don’t focus on things we don’t control.”
Asked if he thought the linebacker position was a problem, Jenkins said: “Not to my knowledge.”
Did Jenkins seeing it coming?
“Again, no,” he said. “I’m focused on the Dallas Cowboys, not personnel moves.”
There figures to be more behind the sudden release than just a verbal potshot he took at Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins 48 hours before the Eagles played them on Sunday.
“I think every defense is going to want that guy to throw the ball,” said Brown, who spent his previous two seasons before joining the Eagles as a teammate of Cousins in Washington.
“For me that’s the weakest part of their offense. They have a good running game, probably the best in the league. They have real good receivers. You want Kirk Cousins to have the ball in his hands. You just want him to pass the ball. I realized in Washington, he was kind of careless with the ball, but at the same time, hey, you make the bed you sleep in.”
After Cousins lit into the Eagles’ defense for 333 yards and four touchdown passes, Brown did not want to take any question about that comment or Cousins’ play.
Schwartz hinted that maybe one of the reasons was due to lack of production at the linebacker position, though that sort of rings hollow considering Brown had made 27 tackles, including three for loss, in six games. Plus, Jenkins said he didn’t think there was any issue with the linebacker play.
Brown played 58 snaps on defense (82 percent) and seven special teams snaps against the Vikings. He made five tackles and was a part of the Eagles’ to-ranked run defense entering the game in Minnesota.
“I will say we need more production from our linebacker position in general,” said Schwartz.
The DC then highlighted the return to full health of Kamu Grugier-Hill, who sprained an MCL early in training camp but had a good spring and strong portion of camp prior to the injury.
“Kamu is coming off his preseason, so to speak, so we’re excited about getting him back in a role that he had done a good job in through the spring and summer until he had gotten injured, so that will be good to get him with a little experience from last year,” said Schwartz.
Schwartz was asked if there could be an even larger role for undrafted rookie free agent T.J. Edwards, who has been used primarily on special teams so far this season, but saw a career-high 10 defensive snaps in Minnesota.
“Yeah maybe,” said Schwartz. “All that kid’s done when we put him in a game is make the plays that have come to him he’s been physical, he’s been a sure tackler, he’s been assignment sound and those are all three good things to be said about a linebacker. He’s made steady progress through training camp to preseason then regular season and games he had when he was thrown out there due to injury.
“It’s a tough situation when you go out there due to injury particularly being a young player because you have no practice reps, but he was up to the task and I think just like any of our players he’s expected to be up to the task.”
