March 19, 2024
The Philadelphia Eagles were busy the first week of free agency, adding EDGE Bryce Huff, RB Saquon Barkley, S Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, LB Devin White, QB Kenny Pickett, LB Zack Baun, iOL Matt Hennessy, WR DeVante Parker, and LB Oren Burks. They have also re-signed a number of their own players, most notably LG Landon Dickerson, EDGE Brandon Graham, K Jake Elliott, and P Braden Mann.
They're probably not done, and will look to shop for bargains during the second wave of free agency. Here are five players who make sense.
• S Julian Blackmon: In 2023, Blackmon had 88 tackles, 4 INTs, and 8 pass breakups. He has been a good starting player, when healthy. However, he has a significant injury history:
• The Colts drafted him in the third round in 2020 even though he suffered an ACL tear during his senior season in 2019.
• He tore his Achilles close to midway through 2021 and missed the rest of that season.
• He missed three games in 2022 with an ankle injury.
• He missed two games in 2023 with a shoulder injury, and was placed on IR. While he was out, the Colts got lit up by C.J. Stroud and the Texans, and missed the playoffs.
Eight days into free agency, Blackmon's asking price has likely come down. A safety trio of Gardner-Johnson, Blackmon, and Reed Blankenship — with Sydney Brown waiting in the wings — would be a really good group.
• S Eddie Jackson: Jackson's career is in decline, but he played for four years under Vic Fangio in Chicago, and could help the Eagles' other defensive backs adjust to their new defensive coordinator. He only makes sense as a low-cost backup, though.
• CB Avonte Maddox: Maddox is a good player, when healthy. However, he missed 14 games in 2023 with a torn pectoral muscle, and he missed games at three different junctures during the season in 2022. He also missed three games in 2018, four games in 2019, and six games in 2020.
The Eagles made the obvious decision to release Maddox two weeks ago, thus saving on his base salary of $6,850,000. He reportedly got a nibble from the Saints, but nothing materialized. The Eagles like Maddox, but they can only re-sign him with the understanding that they must be prepared with other legitimate slot corner options in the likely event Maddox gets hurt again. They already have one in Gardner-Johnson, and maybe another in Isaiah Rodgers. Signing Maddox and then also using a high draft pick on a corner with inside-outside versatility would make sense.
• CB C.J. Henderson: Last offseason, the Eagles signed a lot of players who were high draft picks once upon a time whose careers did not go as their original teams would have hoped, for varying reasons. They were Marcus Mariota, Terrell Edmunds, Rashaad Penny, Greedy Williams, and Justin Evans. While that approach didn't exactly bear much fruit, if the Eagles wanted to take some more low-cost shots on lottery ticket players, Henderson was the ninth overall pick in the 2020 draft, and he probably won't cost much to get a look at in training camp as outside corner depth.
• WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling: MVS will have some drops (one of which the Eagles benefited from in 2023), but he is a also a legit NFL deep threat at 6'4 with 4.37 speed who has averaged over 15 yards per reception in every season of his career, including a league-leading 20.9 yards per catch with the Packers in 2020.
He also had significant contributions in the playoffs for the Chiefs, making two explosive plays against the Bills in the divisional round, and catching a TD pass in the Super Bowl. He also had a monster game against the Bengals in the AFC Conference Championship Game in 2022, when he caught 6 passes for 116 yards and a TD.
The No. 3 receiver isn't going to see a lot of opportunities in the Eagles' offense, as the passing game is going to go through A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and to a lesser degree, Dallas Goedert. Valdez-Scantling is a guy who isn't going to require a lot of targets, but who can stretch the field for that trio, and he has proven that he can make big plays in big games.
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