Eagles DT Room is Standing-Room Only; Good Problem?
One of the weaknesses of the Philadelphia Eagles last season was their run defense.
It was only middle-of-the-pack good and finished the season ranked 16th overall.
Quite frankly, the time had come for the Eagles to replenish the interior, finding good old-fashioned brutes in the middle of the defensive line who center Jason Kelce referred to recently as players who “create a bunch of gunk” and “gunked up the pipes of the outside zone and all the other things” when he gave his scouting report on the team’s seventh-round draft pick Moro Ojomo.
It’s been three years in remaking of the defensive line, but the finishing touches were applied in April when the Eagles selected 6-3, 314-pound Jalen Carter ninth overall.
It was a pick that came on the heels of the Eagles’ selection of 6-6, 335-pound Jordan Davis a year prior.
The additions at defensive tackle make it a standing-room-only crowd and there is no denying that the defensive line group as a whole, when the edge rushers are factored in, is the strongest unit on the Eagles, if not in the entire NFL.
It will also make for an interesting watch as the slow march to the start of the season unfolds because they won’t be able to keep everybody. At least it appears that way on paper.
In addition to Oromo, who is 6-3, 295, the Eagles sprinkled in Milton Williams (6-3, 290) and Marlon Tuipulotu (6-2, 310) in the 2021 draft.
It’s been quite some time since the Eagles spent this much draft capital on a bona fide defensive tackle and dis most of it within the first two days of a draft.
They had good luck taking Beau Allen in the seventh round in 2014 but no luck at all when they took Elijah Qualls in the sixth round of the 2017 draft.
The Eagles went the free agent route with Javon Hargrave in 2020 and Hargrave gave them exactly what they asked for during his three seasons, turning himself into an $80-million-plus payday from the San Francisco 49ers during free agency.
They brought in another free agent this offseason when they signed Kentavius Street from the New Orleans Saints and brought back last year’s undrafted free agent Noah Elliss, who is 6-4, 345.
Then there’s Fletcher Cox, who has reached that stage of his career at age 32 and entering his 12th NFL season where the end is close than the beginning and is now a year-to-year player when it comes to his contract situation.
It’s a lot of bodies.
In fact, there are eight defensive tackles that must be sifted and sorted before summer ends and a rotation developed. It could be hard to find playing time for everyone.
It’s a good problem to have, though and probably makes the midseason returns of Linval Joseph and/or Ndamukong Suh highly unlikely.
Ed Kracz covers the Philadelphia Eagles for SI's EaglesToday.
Please follow him and our Eagles coverage on Twitter at @kracze.
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