May 03, 2019

Eagles sign LB Zach Brown

By Jimmy Kempski
PhillyVoice Staff

The Philadelphia Eagles announced that they signed linebacker Zach Brown to a one-year deal on Friday morning. It is reportedly worth $3 million. He was released by Washington in March, and thus will not count toward the compensatory pick formula. He will also cost $3 million on Washington's salary cap this season, in the form of dead money.

After something of a disappointing start to his career in Tennessee as a second-round pick in 2012, Brown, who turns 30 in October, began filling up the stat sheet in free agent stops in Buffalo (2016) and Washington (2017-2018), as he was something of a tackle machine. Over the last three seasons, Brown had 372 tackles, 33 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks, and 4 forced fumbles. He earned a second-team All-Pro nod in Buffalo in 2016.

On the downside, Brown has just 7 pass breakups over the last the last 3 seasons, which goes against the tendency of previous Eagles linebacker additions known for their ability in pass coverage.

Brown joins a linebacker room that currently includes Nigel Bradham, L.J. Fort, Kamu Grugier-Hill, Paul Worrilow, Nate Gerry, and B.J. Bello.

Back at the 2019 NFL Annual Meetings, Howie Roseman and Doug Pederson were both asked who their starting middle linebacker will be in 2019.

“I don’t have that answer," Pederson said. "The reason I say that is from the standpoint of a roster, we really haven’t put all those pieces together yet. We’re looking to continue to add, obviously, add value, add depth at that spot. And then we’ll sort that out as we go.”

Roseman didn't have an answer either.

"Well, the good news is we don’t play for another six months," he said.

Brown has appeared in 94 games, starting 74, and will likely fill that role, after the draft came and went without the Eagles finding a linebacker worth selecting. The Eagles' depth at linebacker now looks something like this: