Now that the Bradford decision has been made, and he will indeed be back to play for the Eagles next season, it’s about time that some attention gets turned to other questions surrounding the team.
Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz has already stated that no specific defensive scheme has been chosen or ruled out for the Eagles to employ in the up-coming season. Additionally, Doug Pederson has plenty of time to figure out the details before the draft with his staff.
However, re-signing Vinny Curry to a long-term deal made it very likely for the team to have chosen to commit to a 4-3 base defense, which is an exciting outcome for most Eagles fans. Schwartz has also been known for his utilization of the Wide-9 defensive line formation (a variation of the 4-3 base defensive front). The fans’ memory of this particular defensive alignment is not very positive though.
Eagles players and fans were introduced to the Wide-9 defensive front when Juan Castillo was the defensive coordinator in 2011. Jim Washburn brought his innovative front with him to the Eagles from Tennessee when he was hired as Castillo’s defensive line coach.
It was believed that it could create pressure on opposing offenses, backed up by Nnamdi Asomugha, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, and Asante Samuel in the secondary. Offensive coordinators were supposed to have a fit attempting to figure out ways to attack this defense. So it was no surprise that, by the end of the season, the Eagles had racked up 50 sacks, and proved that pressure was not hard to create in a Wide-9 front.
Still, for every great statistic that can be recalled for the Eagles starting defensive lineman, it proved to be wildly ineffective against opponents who were committed to the run game. The Eagles linebackers struggled mightily when attempting to maintain their gaps, and huge lanes would open up for opposing running backs.
No one in Philadelphia wants to see that again.
However, today’s Eagles have a linebacker issue as well. Former Pro Bowl linebacker DeMeco Ryans is no longer with the team, Mychal Kendricks continued to struggle in coverage this past season, Kiko Alonso did little to justify the LeSean McCoy trade, and Jordan Hicks had a great start to his pro career until he suffered a season ending injury.
As a group, the three guys mentioned have an excellent amount of talent and a considerable amount of physical ability to offer the defense.
However, with the exception of Hicks, they have not lived up to expectations for one reason or another. Playing in the 4-3 defense should certainly give this group a chance to shine and play to their strengths, but it is a perfectly good thing to question whether or not their talent can and will shine.
Alonso hopes to be one year healthier and stronger than he was last year while his knee recovered, Kendricks simply needs to find his stride and potential again, and there is now no trusted play-caller in the center of the field with Ryans leaving town.
The only good part about this current situation is that the defensive line will have a significant boost in play with the scheme change. Having Fletcher Cox and Bennie Logan playing defensive tackle will be a huge help to the defense since they are both powerful run stoppers and more than adequate pass rushers, which could be the understatement of the year for Cox, specifically.
It would also be irresponsible to assume that the roster will remain the way it is now going into training camp. Pederson and Roseman will almost assuredly use draft picks or free agency to pick up some more linebackers to add to the group, even if the potential starters are somewhat obvious at this point in time. My best bet would be that one of those third round picks could come in handy to bolster the center of the defense sooner rather than later.
At the end of the day, as long as health concerns do not linger into next season, the front-7 of the Eagles defense should improve drastically. I’m just not convinced the Eagles can go through ANOTHER scheme change without there being some kind of unpredictable consequence…
But maybe it’s the predictable consequences that will really have the front-7 on its heels next season. Now the secondary… THAT is what the city of Philadelphia should prevent its elderly population from watching. We simply can’t afford to have grandpa and grandma’s blood pressure to rise any further than it already is.
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