Here's what the Eagles have done.

Players they gained

• SAM Haason Reddick (27): Reddick was a former first-round pick of the Cardinals, taken one pick before Derek Barnett in the 2017 NFL Draft. In his first three seasons in the league, he only had 7.5 sacks, but became something of a late bloomer. In 2020, Reddick finished with 12.5 sacks and six forced fumbles. 

The following offseason, Panthers took a shot on him, signing him to a one-year deal worth just $6 million (fully guaranteed), and it wound up being one of the rare good moves they made last year. Reddick wasn't just a one-year wonder, rewarding Carolina with 11 sacks, 18 QB hits, and two forced fumbles in 2021. He was actually in on 14 sacks, but had to split six of them with teammates. Here are all 14 sacks:

• MORE ON THE EAGLES
• Eagles 2022 NFL Draft hat unveiled as countdown continues in pivotal offseason
  
• John McMullen: Why being left out of the Deshaun Watson chase helped Eagles
  
• Eagles mailbag: Ranking the NFC starting quarterbacks
  

As you can see, his game is all about speed and hustle.

Reddick is sort of an oddball player, in that he's listed at 6'1, 235, which isn't exactly an ideal size for your prototypical edge rusher. In the Eagles' scheme, he'll play the SAM position, formerly occupied by Genard Avery, though he'll no doubt also line up at DE sometimes, most likely on obvious passing downs.

The Eagles sacked opposing quarterbacks 29 times in 2021, second-worst in the NFL. They needed more players who can get after the quarterback, and Reddick has proven over the last two seasons that he can do that. Jonathan Gannon now has to find creative ways to get him as many pass rush opportunities as possible.

• LB Kyzir White (26): White was a big-hitting safety/linebacker hybrid at West Virginia, who is now an undersized linebacker in the NFL at 6'2, 218. He was drafted by the then San Diego Chargers in the fourth round in 2018. 

In 2021, White had his best season for the Chargers, statistically anyway, when he racked up 144 tackles, 2 INTs, and 1 sack. As a former safety, he has the range that some of the Eagles' linebackers lacked in Jonathan Gannon's scheme in 2021, when opposing offenses torched the Birds' defense in the short-to-intermediate areas of the field.

The Eagles have added their share of linebackers with safety experience over the last half decade or so, such as Nate Gerry, Davion Taylor, Kamu Grugier-Hill, And JaCoby Stevens, to name a few. Obviously, they have not yet had much success with that approach. White will come to Philly having already successfully made that transition.

He should be an upgrade on the recently Denver-bound Alex Singleton, and the reported $5 million for his services is an appropriate price.

• WR Zach Pascal (27): Over the last four seasons, Pascal has played in 64 games for the Colts, starting 44. His production isn't impressive, as he has averaged 38 catches for 472 yards and 4 TDs per season, despite ample playing time. It's perhaps noteworthy that Pascal was more productive and on an upward trajectory when Sirianni was the offensive coordinator, but his numbers took a dip after Sirianni left for Philly and he had to play with Carson Wentz.

A highlight reel from the 2020 season can be found here. Pascal has good size at 6'2, 219, and he has earned a reputation in Indy as one of the best blocking wide receivers in the NFL.

Pascal has a close relationship with Nick Sirianni, who coached him in Indy and repeatedly brought up Pascal's name unprompted during his first season as the Eagles' head coach. Pascal is sort of the Chase Daniel to Doug Pederson, or the Stephen Tulloch to Jim Schwartz, so to speak.

It's a cheap deal: 

J.J. Arcega-Whiteside was sort of the "dirty work" receiver in Sirianni's offense in 2021. Pascal will now be that guy, but with some ability to actually catch a football on occasion as well.

Players they retained

• DT Fletcher Cox: Cox is an Eagles all-time great, however, he had his worst year as a pro in 2021, when he had 35 tackles, 3.5 sacks, and 2 forced fumbles in 16 games. In the beginning part of the season, Cox often looked disinterested and he griped about his role in the scheme, though he did play harder and was more disruptive on the field during the back half of the season.

The Eagles did some salary cap gymnastics when they released Cox, and then re-signed him to new one-year deal worth $14 million.

We'll get more into how his old contract will affect the cap going forward once we have some more details, but for now, let's focus on the decision to bring him back at $14 million.

Cox is now in his 11th season with some high snap totals over the years, and he is clearly in decline. If the Eagles signed some 11th year, 31-year-old DT with heavy snap usage in decline from some other team for $14 million, everyone would be very confused, and rightfully so. This was a wild overpay, in my opinion, as Cox is highly unlikely to perform to that level of pay.

• DE Derek Barnett: Barnett contributed as a rookie during the Eagles' Super Bowl run in 2017. In his first four seasons in the NFL (from 2017-2020), he had just 19.5 sacks, a number that fell short of reasonable expectations of a player drafted 14th overall.

Some of Barnett's lack of production was attributed to injuries, as he missed 10 games in 2018, two games in 2019, and three games in 2020. He also probably wasn't 100 percent in many of the games he played those seasons. 

In 2021, his first truly healthy season in years, Barnett had eight penalties and 2.5 sacks. He has become an unpopular player in Philly. For example, in our "stay or go" series earlier this offseason, only 5.2 percent of fans voted for Barnett to stay, which was the second lowest stay percentage on the team, ahead of only Ryan Kerrigan.

Barnett's return was likely spurred by the Achilles tear suffered by 2022 draft prospect David Ojabo. With Ojabo out of the mix in the top half of the first round, the Eagles were likely less certain that at least one of the pass rushers worthy of the 15th pick would make it that far, so perhaps they wanted to ensure that they had somebody in place if the draft didn't go their way. Of course, they could have signed someone other than Barnett.

• S Anthony Harris: Harris' time in Minnesota earlier in his career overlapped with Gannon's, so his signing a year ago made sense as something of a Band-Aid "training wheels" player in Gannon's defense. In his lone season in Philly in 2021, Harris played in 14 games, collecting 72 tackles, 1 INT, and 3 pass breakups.

The Eagles were expected to bring in outside help at safety in the free agent market this offseason, and they tried, but missed on Marcus Williams, who instead signed with the Ravens.

It was expected that if the Eagles would re-sign one of the 2021 starting safeties, it would be Rodney McLeod, not Harris, making this re-signing something of a mild surprise.

• iOL Nate Herbig: Technically, the Eagles haven't retained Herbig yet, since he hasn't yet signed his restricted free agent tender, but tendering him makes sense, given that he has played over 1400 snaps the last two seasons combined.

• RB Boston Scott: Scott finished with 87 carries for 373 yards (4.3 YPC) and 7 TDs, after not getting a single carry until Week 7 in 2021. He also had 13 catches for 83 yards. The Eagles did not tender Scott, who was a restricted free agent, but they were able to bring him back on a cheaper deal.

• WR Greg Ward: Ward had 7 catches for 95 yards and 3 TDs in 2021. Like Scott above, he was a non-tendered RFA who the team brought back on cheap one-year deal.

Players they lost

• LB Alex Singleton: Singleton has led the team in tackles in each of the last two seasons, however, he has also missed his share of tackles and struggled at times in coverage. The Eagles elected not to tender him as a restricted free agent, and the Broncos swooped in to sign him.

• LB Genard Avery: The Eagles traded a fourth round pick for Avery at the 2019 trade deadline. He was sort of an oddball undersized player with good athleticism who the Eagles could never find a way to use creatively/effectively. Avery had 55 tackles and 3 sacks in 35 games. He was a liability in coverage and run support, and did not make up for those deficiencies as a pass rusher. He reportedly signed with the Steelers.

• DT Hasson Ridgeway: Ridgeway has been with the Eagles over the last three seasons, and was a player I thought the team might have interest in bringing back if he were still available later in the offseason. However, he signed with the 49ers.

The tale of the tape

Analysis/Grade

Before free agency began, the Eagles tried to trade for Calvin Ridley, but the deal fell apart because of Ridley's year-long suspension. They then tried to sign Christian Kirk and Allen Robinson, who instead signed with the Jaguars and Rams, respectively. They also had some level of interest in DJ Chark, who signed with the Lions, though it's unknown if they made him an offer. They were also reportedly in on former Rams receiver Robert Woods, who was traded to the Titans. 

The want to get better at receiver is there, but the Eagles haven't been able to close. One theory on the team's inability to add wide receiver talent is that receivers don't want to play in the most run-heavy offense in the NFL, which is certainly logical. Eventually, they turned to Pascal, who didn't seem to have much interest elsewhere.

The Eagles have also been in on the safety market, but they lost out on Marcus Williams to the Ravens, who had a better offer on the table.

And then in the quarterback market, they were interested in both Russell Wilson and Deshaun Watson, but neither quarterback wanted to come to Philly.

The Eagles took a bunch of swings in trying to acquire outside talent, but only landed one big punch (Reddick) and a couple of jabs (White and Pascal). The team's desire to bring in quality outside talent is noteworthy. If they were willing to make substantial moves in March, it's probably true that they'll continue to do the same between now and the start of the 2022 season. The three players they were able to bring in all make sense. What they have done on the acquisition front so far has been fine.

However, there's really no good justification, in my opinion, for bringing back Cox at $14 million. That is money that could have gone toward a younger, ascending player, not one that is very clearly on the downside of his career. It's an unforced error, and a continuation of the team's pattern of overvaluing players already on their roster. The same can probably be said of Barnett, who actively hurt the team in 2021.

Grade: C+.

Follow Jimmy & PhillyVoice on Twitter: @JimmyKempski | thePhillyVoice

Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports

Add Jimmy's RSS feed to your feed reader