Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda: Flying Blind at LB

If the Eagles were kicking off this Sunday, the starting linebackers in the base defense would likely be Nate Gerry, T.J. Edwards, and Duke Riley.

The good news there is that it’s only June. The bad news is that the significant portion of talent-gathering season is over with the bloated offseason roster already at 90. That doesn’t mean tweaks can’t be made in the weeks leading to training camp or in August itself after Jim Schwartz gets a look at what he has.

Any reasonable expectation of adding a talent like Kenneth Murray or Patrick Queen, however, is gone for another year.

We’ve now gone through four decades and have experience in parts of six since the franchise took an off-ball LB in the draft. The irony to that statistical anomaly was that Jerry Robinson was a rousing success as the No. 21 overall pick in 1979, developing into an All-Pro by 1981.

The stars were aligned with Philadelphia again holding the 21st overall selection in 2020 and the train was moving with many plugged-in analysts like former Eagles scout Daniel Jeremiah pegging Murray, the former Oklahoma star, to the Eagles if all of the top four receivers - CeeDee Lamb, Jerry Jeudy, Henry Ruggs, and Justin Jefferson -were off the board, a distinct possibility if you were following the pre-draft hype.

Turns out Jefferson was there and Howie Roseman went with Jalen Reagor, a result that told you two things: the Eagles were not only locked in on WR, they wanted a particular type of receiver above all else, one with the ability to stretch the field vertically and horizontally.

Maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t but much like the choice between Jefferson and Regor, it’s hard to find independent talent evaluators who believe Reagor was a better football player than Murray or Queen.

Murray ended up going No. 23 overall to the Los Angeles Chargers and Queen went five spots later at No. 28 to the Baltimore Ravens.

If you then fast forward to the second round when Roseman shocked the football world again by taking quarterback Jalen Hurts off the board with the 53rd pick, Wyoming LB Logan Wilson was still available, a player the Eagles had significant interest in, according to a team source. Wilson eventually went to Cincinnati with the first pick in the third round at No. 65 overall.

Ultimately, the Eagles finally addressed the position later in the third round with the raw but extremely athletic Davion Taylor of Colorado at No. 103. They then double-dipped with another speedy option in South Jersey native and Temple product Shaun Bradley in the sixth round.

Both of those players are expected to need time, however, and the COVID-19 affected offseason isn't likely to be helpful to rookies that are closer to being finished products, never mind those as green as the grass they haven’t been allowed on.

Remember that the nickel defense is no longer the sub-package in the modern NFL. In 2019 for example Schwartz was in nickel 48 percent vs. just 19 percent for the traditional 4-3 look, according to Sports Info Solutions. Furthermore, the Eagles were in dime or dime-plus 26 percent of the time, also far more than the old-school base defense.

That means the biggest question is who are the top two LBs because it’s likely that the third will be on the field lass than 20 percent of the time.

The constant is expected to be Gerry, the one-time Nebraska safety turned pumped-up LB who excels in coverage but has trouble shedding blocks at times. From there Riley, free-agent pickup Jatavis Brown, another speed demon, and even Taylor could be in the mix with Edwards, who is more of a natural run-stuffing LB and two-down player.

COULDA: Been bold and taken Murray while addressing WR in the second round.

SHOULDA: Drafted Wilson in the second round instead of Hurts.

WOULDA: Valued the position more. Playmakers are playmakers even at positions you think are devalued.

John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Monday and Friday on SIRIUSXM’s Tony Bruno Show with Harry Mayes, and every Tuesday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SBNation Radio. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

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