March 11, 2024
NFL free agency is just around the corner, and the Philadelphia Eagles may be candidates to go on a a bit of a shopping spree. Here are three free agents who make sense.
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McKinney is one of the best safeties in the NFL, and was probably the Giants' second-best player on defense. He is arguably the best available untagged safety in free agency.
In 2023, McKinney had 116 tackles, 11 pass breakups, and 3 INTs. He is already a very good player, and he still theoretically has plenty of upside, seeing as he is still only 24 years old, younger than some of the guys who will be drafted out of college in April. I remember being highly impressed by this interception of Jalen Hurts in the Eagles' embarrassing Week 18 loss to the Giants:
Xavier McKinney gets his 2nd interception of the year & his 2nd career INT on Jalen Hurts pic.twitter.com/bEmYo5H05m
— Bobby Skinner (@BobbySkinner_) January 7, 2024
McKinney will only be an option for the Eagles if they are willing to shop at the top of the market at safety, which they very well may be. It's perhaps worth noting that Hurts is good friends with McKinney from their time together at Alabama.
Huff was originally an undrafted free agent, who got playing time as a rookie and has seen his role increase each season with the Jets.
| Year | Tackles (TFL) | Sacks | FF | QB hits |
| 2020 | 16 (4) | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| 2021 | 14 (1) | 2 | 0 | 8 |
| 2022 | 6 (2) | 3.5 | 1 | 10 |
| 2023 | 29 (10) | 10 | 0 | 21 |
As you can see, in 2023 Huff notched double digit sacks, and looked impressive doing so.
No matter the weather, Bryce Huff is going to kick your quarterback's ass, and he has all kinds of ways to do it. pic.twitter.com/FfgNj4zaxf
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) March 8, 2024
PFF had Huff down for an astronomical 67 pressures on just 334 pass rush snaps. You may recall him wrecking the game against Jack Driscoll in the Eagles' loss to the Jets last season.
The downside with Huff is that he's one-dimensional, in that he's more of a pass rush specialist than he is a three-down player, and he's probably going to get a lot of money to play a limited number of snaps. But ultimately, what he does — you know, get to the quarterback — is kind of a valuable skill.
Signing a guy like Huff only makes sense if the Eagles are fairly sure they're going to deal either Haason Reddick or Josh Sweat, which appears to be the case with the team reportedly shopping both players.
Dianna Russini of The Athletic is reporting that she expects the Eagles to "aggressively pursue Huff in free agency."
The Eagles have been shopping both Josh Sweat and Haasan Riddick for the last few weeks. Look for Philadelphia to aggressively pursue Bryce Huff in free agency.
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) March 9, 2024
So I guess we're cheating a bit on this one.
If you'll recall, Chinn is the player the Eagles would have selected in the second round of the 2020 draft if they hadn't taken Jalen Hurts. Also, according to a few folks around the league who I trust, the Eagles had interest in dealing for Chinn at the trade deadline, but Chinn suffered a shoulder injury, thus ending all trade consideration.
According to PFF, Chinn's snaps were split like so:
| Slot | Box safety | Outside corner | Edge | Deep safety |
| 143 | 107 | 19 | 14 | 2 |
As you can see, he almost exclusively plays near the line of scrimmage. You don't want Chinn covering speedy receivers, but he can run with tight ends and some bigger slot receivers. He's also physical in run support, and can blitz:
Kirk Cousins has passed away RIP Kirk Cousins
— Tyler Edwards (@prince_petty_) October 1, 2023
Jeremy Chinn leveled him 💀 pic.twitter.com/bu8RpAFzDj
I wouldn't view Chinn as a starter on the Eagles' defense, and certainly not the answer at safety in free agency, but he could be a versatile sub-package player at the right price.
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