PHILADELPHIA - On paper, the Eagles don’t look equipped to handle the attrition on the edge from their top-ranked defense in the 2024-25 Super Bowl-winning season, at least in a conventional way.
Josh Sweat relocated to Arizona for big money in free agency, Bryce Huff is off to San Francisco after one disappointing season for a reunion with the coach who turned him into a $17 million player in the first place, Robert Saleh, and you can no longer set your watch to Brandon Graham’s consistency after 15 unforgettable seasons.
What’s left in that wake is promising third-year player Nolan Smith as the centerpiece after a half-season of looking like that kind of player once he’s fully cleared from the torn triceps he suffered in Super Bowl LIX.
From there, it gets even dicier with fingers crossed that promising second-year player Jalyx Hunt can take a big leap forward in Year 2, and prove-it veterans Azeez Ojulari and Josh Uche, or Day 3 college producer Antwaun Powell-Ryland can be contributors.
Erroneous reports of generating $15M in cap space by trading Huff (it is about $2.4M) fueled speculation for some that a major move was coming with thirtysomethings Trey Hendrickson or T.J. Watt, who both ironically want far more than $30M per season.
GM Howie Roseman has already explained that the Eagles are not in the financial position for that kind of move due to what's coming on the extension front when Myles Garrett was being used as the clickbait earlier in the offseason.
Desperation could change that, but it's unlikely.
The real answer for the Eagles may have to come from inside the house with a pair of versatile linebackers, one proven, first-team All-Pro Zack Baun, and one projected, first-round pick Jihaad Campbell.
It might have been everything, and it might have been nothing last week at an OTA practice open to reporters when Baun went to work with edge-rushing coach Jeremiah Washburn, alongside the rehabbing Smith, when the Eagles were having a special teams period.
Campbell is still not cleared from March labrum surgery, but when he’s deemed good to go, the former Alabama star will surely be undergoing that kind of cross-training as well.
“We’ve seen what [Vic Fangio] can do with guys with this skill set,” Roseman said when discussing Campbell. “... I don’t want to put this player in that box [of stacked LB or edge rusher]. That’s what I’m saying. This guy can grow into anything that you want.
“... You see it, what’s going on in the league, and Zack Baun is a great example. These guys, they can rush from the edge, they can play in space. They can affect the quarterback from depth, from the edge, and that’s what we’re looking for.”
Conventional Philadelphia thinking, based on years of wide-9-based pass-rushing acumen, doesn’t apply with Fangio.
Consider Graham’s explanation of what happened with Huff in Philadelphia.
“I just think with the Jets, it was just that defense," Graham said on the Ross Tucker podcast. "I know what it's like playing in that 4-3, wide-9, 'go get it' every play.
“It's always stop the run on the way to the quarterback, that's the slogan in that type of defense. So, I feel like it's all scheme. I've seen different guys flourish in different systems. Then you see them get in another system, it's different. And what they asked of him this year, it just wasn't a great marriage.”
Fangio wants more versatile defenders who can stress the quarterback in different ways.
Rushing is just one part of the job description as is dropping out as a flat defender in coverage, or setting the edge when needed.
The versatility of Baun and Campbell is the long-term plan with the idea that each could morph into an edge rusher at any time, generating that tick of uncertainty from the quarterback post-snap, the very foundation of Fangio’s entire philosophy.
It’s time to shelve the wide-9 mindset for now. It’s a technique that everyone in the NFL will use at times, including the Eagles, but it’s of lesser emphasis in Fangio’s version of defensive football.
