Leading up to the 2020 NFL Draft, we'll be taking a look at each of the Philadelphia Eagles' positional groups. We'll determine if the Birds are likely to select a player at that position with one of their eight picks, as well as note some players who make sense.
Previous Eagles 2020 positional draft previews
OFFENSE: QB | RB | WR | TE | OT | iOL
Today we'll look at a very interesting and hotly debated position, the linebackers. First, the depth chart:
| 1 | 2 |
| Nate Gerry | Jatavis Brown |
| T.J. Edwards | |
| Duke Riley | Alex Singleton |
But clearly, there's work to be done here. If you ignore positional importance and only focus on the depth chart, linebacker is the team's second-biggest need, at a minimum. There's even an argument to made that it's the team's biggest need, even ahead of wide receiver. As such, if you've read mock drafts over the last few months, you've seen more than your share of linebackers being projected to the Eagles in the first round.
However, as most of you know, the Eagles haven't drafted an off-ball linebacker in the first round since 1979. They have only drafted two linebackers, at all, since Howie Roseman, Doug Pederson, and Jim Schwartz have been in place. One (Nate Gerry, fifth round, 2017) was a safety in college, and the other (Joe Walker, seventh round, 2016) was the third-to-last pick of the entire draft.
While I do think the Eagles will take a linebacker in the 2020 draft, and possibly even as high as Day 2, you won't be seeing projected first rounders like Oklahoma's Kenneth Murray or LSU's Patrick Queen listed below.
A year ago, a prospect who made sense for the Eagles because of his ball skills, was Edwards, who had 10 career INTs, to go along with other impressive numbers, and really should have been a Day 3 pick.
This year, a linebacker prospect with similar size and production to Edwards is Wilson:
| Career College stats | Tackles (TFL) | Sacks | INT (PBU) | FF-FR |
| T.J. Edwards, Wisconsin (6'1, 244) | 366 (37.5) | 8 | 10 (15) | 1-1 |
| Logan Wilson, Wyoming (6'2, 241) | 402 (33.5) | 7 | 10 (14) | 5-4 |
Wilson is more athletic than Edwards, and has a good chance to become a three-down linebacker in the NFL.
Projected round: 3
Troy Dye, Oregon (6'3, 231)
Quarterman is sort of a throwback, in that he's a physical badass, but there are questions whether he can be a "three-down" linebacker in the modern NFL. If this were 20 years ago, Quarterman would probably be a Day 2 pick. In the pass-happy version of the game today, teams would prefer their linebackers to be capable of covering running backs and tight ends, and there are questions about Quarterman's ability to do so.
That said, there's a lot to like about him. He's often playing harder than anyone on the field, which you like to see in a MIKE backer, and while he can't run sideline to sideline the same way the Cowboys' linebacker tandem does, Quarterman does seem to have at least decent athleticism. Here's a list of Miami's all-time career tackle leaders. If you're over 30 years of age, you'll recognize more than a few of these names:
| Player | Draft position (overall) | Tackles |
| Dan Morgan, 2001 | 12 | 532 |
| George Mira Jr., 1988 | 331 | 490 |
| Scott Nicolas, 1982 | 310 | 456 |
| Micheal Barrow, 1993 | 47 | 423 |
| Darrin Smith, 1993 | 54 | 401 |
| Ray Lewis, 1996 | 26 | 388 |
| Jonathan Vilma. 2004 | 12 | 377 |
| Rod Carter, 1989 | 252 | 361 |
| ? | 356 | |
| Denzel Perryman, 2015 | 48 | 351 |
A look at some of Quarterman's 2019 highlights:
The Eagles already have their share of linebackers who are more cover guys than they are enforcers, and Quarterman could bring a "2017 version of Nigel Bradham" type of energy to the defense.
Projected round: 5-6
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