Eagles Could Benefit From Free-Agent Wave That Arrives After NFL Draft

Not everything will come in this NFL draft for the Eagles. Another wave of free agents is building on the horizon, and it hits the beach after the draft is over. At least that's been the case with Eagles general manager Howie Roseman, who made three key additions after the draft in their three previous Super Bowl seasons.

There are still players who can help without jobs. Mekhi Becton was one of them last year, and the Eagles signed him the day after the draft concluded.

General Howie Roseman explained it this way.

“I think any time you walk out of the draft and you think all your needs are filled you probably didn't have a great draft and so coming out of the draft we knew that we wanted to add more competition on the offensive line,” he said days before the Eagles went to New Orleans and beat the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX.

“He was a really talented guy who was still available and so it was kind an easy decision for us. Whether it was an easy decision for me is probably a different story because we had some guys competing for that job and nobody was gonna say 'hey you're the guy,’ but to his credit, he wanted to be here. He wanted to be coached by Stout (offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland) and he's done a phenomenal job.”

Becton isn’t the only one Roseman brough on board ager the draft. In recent years, he did it with running back LeGarrette Blount, who was a key piece in the Eagles’ run to a Super Bowl title in 2017, and cornerback James Bradberry, who helped the Eagles reach the Super Bowl two years ago.

Now, there is a player who wants to join the Super Bowl champs and that is safety Justin Simmons. He played for Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio when Fangio was the Denver Broncos’ head coach.

Simmons will turn 32 before Thanksgiving, and his better days are probably behind him, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t add value to the Eagles’ safety room. He has played 100 percent of the defensive snaps in five of his last seven seasons, and one of them was last year with the Falcons when he played 98 percent.

He is a veteran back-ender who would be a nice addition to a group that includes starter Reed Blankenship and a host of others expected to battle to take over for C.J. Gardner-Johnson.

Those others include Sydney Brown, Tristin McCollum, Lewis Cine, and Andre Sam.

Eric Edholm, the lead draft writer for NFL Media, released his second mock draft on Friday, and had the Eagles trading up with the Vikings to get to pick No. 24 and taking safety Malaki Starks.

Sure, Starks plays for the University of Georgia and would become the eighth member of Vic Fangio’s group to play for the Bulldogs, but the Eagles have never taken a safety in the first round of the draft. Not ever. So, taking Starks probably isn’t happening. It’s one reason why signing Simmons after the draft end cannot be ruled out.