Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 3/27/22.

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NFL free agency 2022: Most improved teams, best and worst signings, value deals, gut reactions and more - ESPN+
What was the best overall free-agent signing? Bowen: OLB Haason Reddick to the Eagles. He can set the edge as a strongside linebacker in the Eagles’ base defense and then drop down to rush the passer in sub packages. Reddick has an electric first step, with the ability to bend/flatten off the edge. Philly landed a disruptor here. Walder: OLB Haason Reddick to the Eagles. Reddick has a ton of green flags: back-to-back seasons of double-digit sack production, produced for multiple teams, a top-10 pass rush win rate last year, and he’s only 27. It made him, in my estimation, the top free-agent pass-rusher available. And while Reddick’s contract wasn’t cheap, it also wasn’t overly expensive at what could be either $30 million over two years or $45 million over three.

Kyzir White, Eagles agree to one-year contract - BGN
Getting on board with this signing shouldn’t be too difficult. The Birds desperately needed help at off-ball linebacker. There’s reason to feel good about T.J. Edwards being a starter entering 2022. Outside of him, though? The Eagles didn’t have any other great options. White figures to be an upgrade on Alex Singleton, who left to join the Denver Broncos. White only turned 26 a couple of days ago, so there’s potential for him to be a long-term piece in Philly. You know, assuming he doesn’t fall in the footsteps of all the failed linebacker signings from previous offseasons. See: Eric Wilson, Corey Nelson, Zach Brown, Paul Worrilow, Jatavis Brown, etc.

Grading the Eagles’ latest free agency activity - BGN Radio
Hey, the Eagles actually made some signings! Brandon Lee Gowton and Jimmy Kempski evaluate the Kyzir White, Fletcher Cox, Zach Pascal, and Derek Barnett deals. The guys also zoom out to discuss big picture takeaways from the Eagles’ free agency moves. Other show topics include: moves that might be next, the Kenny Pickett smokescreen (?), and shining light on bad offseasons for the other NFC East teams.

LB Kyzir White signs one-year deal with Eagles - Bolts From The Blue
White signing elsewhere for only $5 million is quite the surprise. After showing he was obviously the best linebacker on the team, you would have thought the Bolts would make him one of their priority in-house free agents to re-sign. But this move likely shows us just how much sway Staley has on roster construction, while also showing how little he values the linebacker position within his defense if he’s content going into the 2022 season with Drue Tranquill and Kenneth Murray leading the way.

Improving the Defense - Iggles Blitz
The Eagles now have a solid trio of LBs in Edwards, White and Davion Taylor. No one will confuse them with Seth, BE and Willie T, but this is an improvement. Gone are Eric Wilson and Alex Singleton. Wilson was awful last year. Singleton was productive, but not good. Jonathan Gannon likes to keep his safeties deep. That means his LBs have to cover a lot of ground. White and Taylor have the speed to do that. Edwards isn’t fast, but he’s instinctive and that helps him to play faster than he times. I still expect the Eagles to draft a LB. This is a deep draft class. None of the Eagles LBs is a stud so you keep looking until you can find one of those guys.

Eagles mailbag: Why bring back Derek Barnett? Will it change the draft? - NBCSP
Q: In isolation I’m not against any of the resignings (subject to seeing Barnett’s contract), but does it talk more to Howie’s unimaginative roster building or players with alternative offers not wanting to play for the Eagles? ... This is an excellent point from Steve and one I agree with. And it’s one that I’ve made in past offseasons too. You can look at these individual moves and find reasons to go along with them but when you step back, you start to wonder if the Eagles are overvaluing their own roster from a team that went 9-8 to sneak into the playoffs. Their only outside free agents have been Haason Reddick and Zach Pascal and Kyzir White. Now, if the Eagles weren’t outbid and landed a player like Marcus Williams or Christian Kirk, this offseason would have a much different feel. And judging by reports, they were interested in some free agents who went elsewhere. On one hand, sure, they probably shouldn’t overpay for players. On the other hand, there are talented players from other teams and I don’t disagree that it comes off as an “unimaginative” way to build a roster. For the sake of fairness, though, this is not the final roster. We haven’t even reached April and there’s still time to add through free agency, trades and, of course, the draft.

Cowboys Led 2021 DVOA Overachievers - Football Outsiders
Well, Hurts was … fine. A 0.4% DVOA isn’t going to lock him in as the undisputed passer of the future, but it was a significant jump from his -17.6% mark in limited rookie action. He got to the point where the Eagles could use an upgrade at quarterback rather than needing an upgrade. Baseline competence at the quarterback position was a welcome change of pace, and that alone would have shot the Eagles past our projections. But the Eagles also jumped from 18th to third in rushing DVOA as Nick Sirianni and Shane Steichen pivoted midseason to focus their offense on a rushing attack which stretched defenses from sideline to sideline, always had the threat of the mobile Hurts breaking off and running, and opened up the deep crossing routes to DeVonta Smith that made up the majority of the Philly passing offense. The Eagles’ offensive DVOA was projected at -6.2%; they finished all the way up to 8.2% and grabbed a wild-card spot in the process. The Eagles and Hurts need to keep improving on offense to avoid getting stuck in seventh-seed no man’s land. Hurts’ success as almost an option player in November and December doesn’t seem likely to be sustainable if he doesn’t take a step forward as a passer as well. A receiver or two who could catch passes over the middle would likely help.

Grading the move: Can Kyzir White change the Eagles’ dubious recent history of linebacker signings? - The Athletic
Of course, just because this seems like the most sensible move doesn’t mean it will pan out. As with every free agent, the pressing question is why White’s former team let him go in the first place. The Chargers are loading up on defense for what they hope is a Super Bowl run and have cap space to spare. Why didn’t they want White back? Perhaps it’s his spotty history of staying healthy or perhaps they simply think they have enough depth at the position. Linebacker is an especially difficult position to project when players change teams, as the Eagles have found out too often since signing Nigel Bradham in 2016. But this is also the most expensive linebacker deal they’ve signed since then, so maybe the cost will assure some level of an upgrade on the Eric Wilsons and Corey Nelsons of the past.

Cowboys 30 visits scouting report: Arkansas WR Treylon Burks - Blogging The Boys
The Dallas Cowboys pre-draft 30 visits have been a good indicator of the direction they’ll go in April, and so far two of the five confirmed visits are wide receivers. The team needs to explore all avenues to address the pass offense now that they are without Amari Cooper and Cedrick Wilson. James Washington is Dallas’ only outside signing at receiver, but Arkansas’ Treylon Burks was their first reported 30 pre-draft visit. Burks averaged over 16 yards a catch in three seasons with the Razorbacks, going over 1,000 yards with 11 touchdowns this year. Catching more than five passes in a game just nine times in his career, Burks’ best plays come off-script, but he has the long speed to make a game changing play on any reception.

Reports: Kansas City Chiefs are interested in CB James Bradberry - Big Blue View
Multiple outlets are reporting that the Kansas City Chiefs have an interest in trading for New York Giants cornerback James Bradberry. The interest was first reported by Nate Taylor, Chiefs’ beat reporter for The Athletic, who also cited Giants’ beat writer Dan Duggan.

Everyone Wants a Star...Until It’s Time To Pay - Hogs Haven
Although some of this talk was probably just pure speculation, questions began flying over whether Washington should trade star receiver Terry McLaurin, who is entering the final year of his rookie deal, instead of ponying up the cash to keep the team captain in Burgundy and Gold for the future.

Wilt Chamberlain dunked from the free throw line and terrified the rule makers - SB Nation
For most people, that’s not even a consideration. Wilt Chamberlain was not most people though. He could do this. He could jump far and dunk well and make me feel personally attacked for my athletic deficiencies over half a century later. So, how could someone ever manage to keep such a large bird in a cage? Well, check out this episode of Weird Rules to find out.

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