The Eagles should target these players to help boost their Safety group

The Eagles roster can be likened to the Greek warrior Achilles. The strongest in all the land but with one small weakness.

The “heel” for the Eagles seems to be the safety position. Some may say the linebacker position is the weakest, but it’s hard to overlook the issues at safety.

“Ed” Reed Blankenship is entrenched as one of the starting safeties and the other spot has been up for grabs all camp. The battle for that spot is currently between fourth year Eagle K’Von Wallace, sixth year newcomer Terrell Edmunds, and rookie Sydney Brown. For the most part, Wallace has been getting first-team reps alongside Blankenship. Over the last few days, Edmunds has played more DIME LB and Brown has seen second team reps. Could this be the beginning of a transition out of the roster for Edmunds? Justin Evans has also been getting second team reps.

*Sydney Brown received first team reps on 8/3

If there’s an option for Howie to upgrade the position, who could those options be?

Let’s take a look at FA and trade options:

Free Agency

Andrew Adams

Another go-around? The Eagles signed Adams in March of 2021 and was ultimately waived in August of that year. Adams just finished his lone season in Tennessee and had a career high in tackles, INT yards, and had a pick-6.

John Johnson III

Johnson had a rough transition to Cleveland after four very good years with the Rams. In 2021, Johnson gave up 222 yards (per PFF), however 169(nice) of those came in the first seven games. His 68.7 PFF grade was better than his 2022 grade of 62.8. He also had 10 missed tackles last season.

He offers health at the position (missed one game in three seasons) and offers a long history of production. The Eagles are used to safeties missing tackles, so why not take a chance at getting the Rams’ version of John Johnson III?

Eagles Trade Options

Budda Baker

Duh.

Julian Blackmon

Blackmon hasn’t practiced much this offseason and it seems as though his time is running out in Indy. He was moved to strong safety from free safety to allow Rodney Thomas II to play more. He had a career high in tackles last year but availability is the bet ability. If new Colts HC and old friend Shane Steichen thinks Blackmon needs a change of scenery, maybe a trade to a regime known for keeping its players healthy would be a good move.

Kevin Byard

Yes, he restructured his contract. Yes, the Titans got better with the addition of DeAndre Hopkins. But in a division with the Doug Pederson Jaguars, the Titans’ chances of the division may seem slim. This may be more of a trade deadline deal, but there’s still an avenue for a trade to happen.

Long-shots but please?

Jeremy Chinn, Antoine Winfield Jr., Kyle Dugger, Ashtyn Davis

Photo by John Jones/Icon Sportswire