Why Eagles Won't Be Moving Nolan Smith to Off-Ball LB
PHILADELPHIA - There are many cliches thrown around by NFL coaches, and one of the most popular is getting the best 11 on the field, a pragmatic view of what wins in the league.
“You can have the best coaches, give me the best talent,” an NFL source told SI.com’s Eagles Today when discussing another NFC team last week.
That brought me back to the Philadelphia Eagles and No. 30 overall pick Nolan Smith, a player who was in the conversation to be a top-15 selection tied to his pass-rushing acumen but fell a bit due to his slight 6-2, 238-pound frame.
Some fans will listen to coaches and take the most flippant remark very seriously, so why not put the best 11 men on the field?
Despite Peter King’s much-discussed “can’t find a weakness” sentiment for the reigning NFC champions, it’s not all that hard to find a glaring hole at off-ball linebacker where the Eagles lost over 2,000 defensive snaps in free agency when T.J. Edwards and Kyzir White departed.
The current plan in mid-May is for second-year player Nakobe Dean to take over in the middle and free-agent acquisition Nicholas Morrow to handle the weak-side spot.
There is tremendous optimism surrounding Dean thanks to his Butkus Award-winning final season at Georgia in 2021 while Morrow is considered a journeyman but one who understands how to play the position.
Enter the whispers because Smith is set to begin his career as the Eagles’ fourth edge rusher supporting Haason Reddick, Josh Sweat, and Brandon Graham.
Part of the disconnect is simply a labeling problem with casual fans who see the word linebacker next to names like Reddick and Smith and assume they are closer to Dean and Morrow than Sweat and Graham.
That's simply not the case. In the Eagles’ Vic Fangio-inspired defense, there are multiple fronts used – 50 (five-man) and 40 (four-man). Think of the “50 Tite” front as a run-defense look and the 40 as mainly known-pass situations.
In the former, you have a nose tackle playing zero- or shade-technique (Jordan Davis), interior defensive linemen playing 4i on the inside shoulder of the tackle (Fletcher Cox and rookie Jalen Carter or perhaps Milton Williams), plus two overhang players (Reddick and Sweat).
In known pass-rush situations, Reddick and Sweat generally get the most work in nine-technique looks. What complicates matters further is that traditional DE types like Sweat and especially Graham will occasionally get work at 4-, 5- and in the case of Graham even 3-technique.
Reddick, and now Smith, are players who are basically only going to rush from the edge with the occasional stunt to bounce them inside. To that end, Smith is already working with Jeremiah Washburn, the defensive end/outside linebackers coach not off-ball linebacker coach D.J. Eliot.
But why not play Smith next to Dean at off-ball linebacker until he’s needed in a bigger role on the edge?
It’s not the craziest thought. Smith certainly has the athleticism to pull it off and the Eagles often project players differently than what their roles were at the college level.
Look no further than the third round last month when the Eagles’ took Tyler Steen and Sydney Brown with back-to-back selections.
Steen was exclusively an offensive tackle at Vanderbilt and Alabama but Philadelphia is projecting him inside at guard due to some limitations when it comes to his arm length. As for Brown, he was a do-it-all bix safety at Illinois who the Eagles believe will be able to handle the post role in their defense.
Down in Dallas, superstar edge rusher Micah Parsons was actually drafted to be an off-ball linebacker until injuries forced the Cowboys to try him on the edge and the rest is history.
What we can report is that the Eagles only scouted Smith as an edge rusher and there has been no thought to any potential move at this stage.
The far more likely scenario remains to add a traditional off-ball linebacker later in the process to either push or replace Morrow.
By nature personnel people are optimistic and rarely focus on what a player can’t do but what he does well. They also hand the prospect off to the coaching staff with their recommendations but if Nick Sirianni and Sean Desai feel like playing Smith at off-ball linebacker for a play, a game, a month, or a season to better win a game or games, that’s their call.
You can also always leave the door slightly ajar for a Parsons-like situation in reverse because of the player and his gifts but any change for Smith remains extremely unlikely.
Think of it like this. While Smith is a better edge rusher than Morrow is an off-ball LB, the veteran is a much better stop-gap on the weakside than a talented novice out of his comfort zone.
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-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
