The Eagles are coming off their first Super Bowl win in franchise history, but that’s all in the past now.
“You are what your record says you are,” as NFL legend Bill Parcells used to say, and the Eagles are off to a 2-3 start to the season. They’ve lost three of their last four games, including a brutal loss to the Titans, who followed that up by losing to the Bills, showing how good Tennessee really is. Still, Philadelphia could easily be 4-1 right now, as all of its losses were by one score or less, and turnovers/costly mistakes really did the team in.
The Eagles have issues at the running back position, now that Jay Ajayi is out for the season with a torn ACL. Darren Sproles is banged up, which figures to make Corey Clement the featured back in Thursday’s game against the Giants — a role he’s not really suited for. Clement is best as a compliment to a workhorse, which is why trade rumors are suggesting the Eagles could be in the mix for LeSean McCoy (who began his career in Philadelphia) or Le’Veon Bell.
That remains to be seen, especially since both of those star running backs would require the Eagles giving up a lot in return as part of the trade haul. That’s why it makes more sense for the Eagles to address their secondary, specifically the safety position.
Stud safety Rodney McLeod tore his MCL at the beginning of the month, and he’s out for the season. Not only that, Corey Graham is currently banged up, and may miss tonight’s game. That figures to make Tre Sullivan the starter, and, well, he’s not that. He’s a former undrafted free agent, and was on the practice squad when the Eagles beat the Patriots in Super Bowl LII back in February.
As such, the Eagles need to make a trade for a safety.
Looking at who might be available, we believe Raiders safety Karl Joseph would be a great fit. He still has two years remaining on his deal, so he wouldn’t be a rental. The Raiders may soon have a fire sale, with the Jon Gruden rebuild in full swing. Not only that, Joseph and Gruden haven’t gotten along, so it appears the Raiders head coach may want to move him, sooner than later. He’s a rangy player with a lot of speed, and would be a good fit in the back end of the Eagles defense.
Also potentially available, due to another team having a fire sale, would be former first-round draft pick safety Deone Bucannon. He can play either FS or SS, and would give the team the versatility to play more nickel on passing downs. Bucannon is a hybrid linebacker-safety, so the Eagles could move him around if needed. The caveat is that he’s playing out the final year of his rookie deal, so he’d be a rental.
The trade deadline is less than three weeks away, so we’ll see if the Eagles choose to address the positional void in the near future, in hopes that they’ll be playing again in February.
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