Ranking Howie Roseman's 'Lottery Tickets'
The Eagles have signed seven different free agents to date, all to one-year deals.
The theme was younger players with valuable physical traits who still have some upside.
"When you're looking at these one-year guys, you want some high-upside guys, guys who have traits in their bodies, guys who we had a like for at some point in time," GM Howie Roseman explained at the NFL’s annual spring meetings.
"They're young guys who have a lot of upside. I think we like these kinds of high-upside-guys, lottery tickets with the understanding that they've got to prove it. They have a chip on their shoulder. They have talent.
“It hasn't worked out perfectly where they are and if you can hit on some of those guys it's mutually beneficial."
The seven-player free agent class includes five that fit that description, the outliers being new backup quarterback Marcus Mariota, once the No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 draft with extensive starting experience in Tennessee and Atlanta last season.
Mariota, 29, simply never lived up to his perceived potential and is now entering a different phase of his career as an insurance policy behind emerging star Jalen Hurts.
The other signee that doesn’t fit the lottery ticket theme is safety Terrell Edmunds, a 2018 first-round pick by Pittsburgh, who was a five-year starter with the Steelers.
The sample size with Edmunds is large enough to understand that Philadelphia is getting a sound but not a splashy player with the bigger question mark being his fit as a box safety in what is expected to continue to be the Vic Fangio-inspired defensive philosophy under new coordinator Sean Desai.
The remaining five players signed – RB Rashaad Penny, CB Greedy Willaims, LB Nick Morrow, S Justin Evans, and DT Kentavius Street - all fit Roseman’s lottery description so the goal here is to determine the upside of the group from the local lottery scratch-off up to the life-changing Powerball potential.
Neighborhood scratch-off - LB Nick Morrow - An undersized second-level defender, Morrow, 27, played a ton for a bad Chicago team last season (1,086 defensive snaps) but he’s been more of an overachiever to date as a former D-III player from Greenville University, not the guy who hasn’t lived up to his physical traits.
Gus the Groundhog Local Lottery - DT Kentavius Street - Street has some juice as an interior pass rusher but his 6-foot-2 and 287-pound frame limits him to three-technique and perhaps some 4I in the Eagles’ defensive scheme.
Street also was rooted off the ball way too much as a run defender in New Orleans last season where he played 46% of the snaps. If he’s playing that many snaps in Philadelphia things haven’t gone to plan.
Cash4Life - CB Greedy Williams - Now we are getting into some upside with Williams, a skinny but lengthy outside cornerback (6-2, 185) with some real athleticism.
Interning under two of the smartest CBs in the NFL, Darius Slay and James Bradberry, can only help Williams, 25, reboot his career after a disappointing start in Cleveland, where he was a 2019 second-round pick.
Williams started 12 games as a rookie before a nerve issue in his shoulder wiped out his sophomore season. He also dealt with some hamstring issues last season.
Mega Millions - S Justin Evans - Evans, 27, was a 2017 second-round pick who looked like he was on his way in Tampa, starting 21 games over his first two seasons with the Bucs, including 10 of 10 in his second season before a turf toe injury shortened the campaign. From there, it was a torn Achilles before Evans could make it back and he missed three consecutive seasons (2019-2021) before finally returning with the Saints last season.
The good news is that Evans played in 15 games with New Orleans with four starts toggling between free safety and slot, the kind of mirrored versatility valued in the Eagles’ defense. On paper, Evans is a better fit than Edmunds as more of a coverage safety.
Powerball – RB Rashaad Penny - Everyone knows Penny, 27, can play. The issue is he rarely plays, missing 40 of a potential 82 games with the Seahawks. Over the past two seasons, Penny has missed more games than he’s played (19 to 15).
An impressive blend of size and speed, Penny has averaged over 6.0 yards per carry in the 15 games he played in with Seattle over the past two seasons and 5.7 for his career behind what has been been a pedestrian offensive line at best.
The thought of him running behind the Eagles’ O-Line with a plus-one QB in the running game like Hurts is intoxicating. And remember there are two kinds of luck and the odds say Penny’s worm on the injury front almost has to turn in a more positive direction.
-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
