March 15, 2018
After some minor doubts that Haloti Ngata might join the Frank Gore/Nick Fairley All-Stars, the Philadelphia Eagles finalized a one-year deal with the massive defensive tackle on Thursday, per Ngata's agent:
Congrats @Haloti_Ngata92 signing a one year deal with the @Eagles
— Mike McCartney (@MikeMcCartney7) March 15, 2018
According to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network, it's a reasonable deal.
Haloti Ngata gets $3m from the Eagles on his one year-deal, source says
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) March 15, 2018
On Wednesday, the Eagles lost free agent DT Beau Allen to the Buccaneers, who signed Allen to a three-year deal worth $16.5 million. At 6'4, 340 pounds, Ngata should fill Allen's role as a run-stuffing defensive tackle in the middle of the Eagles' defense.
According to Dave Zangaro of NBCSPhilly, the Lions were a good run defense team a year ago with Ngata on the field.
Without him? Not so much.
With Haloti Ngata (five games) in 2017, the Lions gave up an average of 74.6 rushing yards per game.
— Dave Zangaro (@DZangaroNBCS) March 13, 2018
In the 11 games without him, they gave up 129.7 on the ground.
The Eagles' depth along their defensive line will now likely look like this on game day:
Position | 1 | 2 |
DE | Brandon Graham | Chris Long |
DT | Fletcher Cox | |
DT | Timmy Jernigan | Haloti Ngata |
DE | Derek Barnett | Michael Bennett |
*TBD what Vinny Curry's future holds.
Ngata played in Baltimore for nine years while Eagles personnel head Joe Douglas was there. Last season in Detroit, Ngata played in five games before being lost for the season with a torn bicep. He had 7 tackles and 2 sacks.
He'll help the Eagles in their pursuit of being the best run-stuffing defense in the NFL, like they were in 2017.
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