The Linc – Eagles’ biggest remaining need

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

Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links …

The biggest remaining needs for all 32 NFL teams after the first wave of free agency and trades – The Athletic
Philadelphia Eagles. Biggest remaining need: Linebacker. This could have been labeled safety or wide receiver, but the Eagles’ lack of depth — much less quality depth — at linebacker is apparent. They return T.J. Edwards as a starter. Other than Edwards, Davion Taylor, Shaun Bradley and Christian Elliss won’t excite fans. The wrinkle here is the Eagles signed Haason Reddick, who’s listed as a linebacker but should be considered a pass rusher for this exercise. The Eagles need to add another off-ball linebacker, whether in the draft or free agency. Kyzir White could be an intriguing option among those still on the open market. The Eagles will have a chance to add to this position with five picks in the top 100 of the draft, though they also must replace a starter at safety and cornerback, so it’s not as if they’re set elsewhere.

Evaluating the Eagles’ boring first week of free agency, and looking ahead to what’s next – PhillyVoice
If you look at the NFL’s daily public salary cap report, it might show that Eagles have some room under the cap. However, the reality is that since they have already restructured their veteran players’ contracts repeatedly and there’s little cap finagling available to to them going forward, the Eagles have the least amount of restructure flexibility in the NFL, and their “potential cap space” is not in good shape, relative to most other teams, as shown from this tweet February. In other words, “We had a good draft four years ago and wanted to pay Jordan Mailata, Dallas Goedert, Josh Sweat, and Avonte Maddox” sounds a lot better than “Carson Wentz, Malik Jackson, Alshon Jeffery, and Derek Barnett are hindering our ability to add talent.” Oh, and also, maybe take the reported $14 million that was just used to re-sign Cox and instead spend that on a young, ascending player.

The reason why Deshaun Watson didn’t want want to be traded to the Eagles – BGN
I can tell you that this sentiment is one I’ve heard as well. Many will view this development as a positive since it resulted in them not having to deal with rooting for the Eagles while Watson is on the team. Others might be frustrated that the presence of a lesser quarterback prevented the Eagles from upgrading the position. The sense here is the Eagles were not exactly thrilled they couldn’t at least get a meeting with Watson. But that’s how it ended up going for them. And so the Eagles will move forward with Hurts as their starting quarterback in 2022, as Watson wanted it to be.

Report: Eagles Sign Colts Free Agent Wideout Zach Pascal to One-Year Deal – Stampede Blue
Highly regarded for his perimeter blocking given his tremendous physicality, Pascal will assuredly be missed in that regard. He also had some big catches for the Colts through the years. That being said, the Colts ideally needed to upgrade their starting WR2 spot with a receiver who can better consistently separate and stretch the field—and is a bit more dynamic. It doesn’t mean Pascal wasn’t a productive player for Indy, but it was seemingly time for both sides to split—and he has a safe landing spot in Philly.

Cowboys free agency 2022: Dallas is bringing back safety Jayron Kearse on 2-year deal – Blogging The Boys
Death, taxes, and the Dallas Cowboys having a safety problem. For almost all of this century the Cowboys have had an issue in the back of their defense. There have been a few attempts at shoring up the safety position by ways of draft picks (not in a long time though), but never really in free agency. It didn’t seem like much changed there a year ago when Dallas signed then-journeyman Jayron Kearse. Ultimately it felt like the status quo was being kept up and that nothing would ever change. The thing is Kearse was outstanding for the Cowboys in his first season with the team. As a result he will be sticking around.

Giants 2022 free agency: DE Jihad Ward signs with New York – Big Blue View
Wink Martindale and the New York Giants defense are finally on the 2022 NFL free agency scoreboard. The Giants on Monday signed well-traveled defensive end Jihad Ward. Ward is the first defensive free agent signed by the Giants, other than bringing back defensive back Jarren Williams. The Giants have signed offensive linemen Jon Feliciano, Mark Glowinski, Jamil Douglas and Matt Gono, running back Matt Breida, wide receiver Robert Foster, quarterback Tyrod Taylor and tight end Ricky Seals-Jones since free agency began. Ward was a second-round pick by the Oakland Raiders in 2016. He has also played for the Indianapolis Colts, Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars. Ward played 21 games for the Ravens, with Martindale as his defensive coordinator in 2020 and 2021. He had four sacks and 12 quarterback hits during that time.

Monday Football Monday #80: Will Matt Ryan, stay or go? AFC is the conference to beat – The SB Nation NFL Show
RJ Ochoa and Pete Sweeney dissect the biggest stories trending in the NFL. Will Matt Ryan still be with the Falcons by 4pm ET on Monday? The AFC is loaded and all of the teams involved in the Deshaun Watson pursuit should be treated the same way.

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