Rumor: TJ Edwards wanted to return to Eagles

[toolg]

22 hours ago, Road to Victory said:

The difference is Sanders would be a backup here and Hargrave got a huge contract. Edwards did not. We spent $3.5m on Cunningham, Morrow & Leonard. Why not spent another $3m for Edwards. Seems like a no brainer, no? 
 

TJ Edwards got a bigger contract from the Bears than what the Eagles were paying. I don’t disagree with you, he’s still playing at a value better than the contract. But the cap wizards on the team would rather spend that $3 million elsewhere than LB. They weren’t going to outbid the Bears. 

[Cochis_Calhoun]

On 2/4/2024 at 1:29 PM, toolg said:

TJ Edwards got a bigger contract from the Bears than what the Eagles were paying. I don’t disagree with you, he’s still playing at a value better than the contract. But the cap wizards on the team would rather spend that $3 million elsewhere than LB. They weren’t going to outbid the Bears. 

They didn't have to outbid the Bears when Howie gave him a one year extension in '21, Edwards had been a starting inside linebacker for 2 years, we'd actually developed a decent linebacker after years of trying and Howie treated him like a JAG, offered him a year and went and drafted Dean, then Edwards went and had a legit breakout year, broke the franchise combined tackle record and graded out as one of the best lb's in the league. 

The Edwards situation is emblematic of Howie's attitude to the position, he's godawful at evaluating linebackers and thinks he can just plug guys in and it will work, it's why we've lost the few half decent linebackers we've had the last 15 years that hit free agency while trotting out crap like Nate Gerry, Kamu Grugier-Hill and Stuart Bradley.

[brkmsn]

16 hours ago, Cochis_Calhoun said:

They didn't have to outbid the Bears when Howie gave him a one year extension in '21, Edwards had been a starting inside linebacker for 2 years, we'd actually developed a decent linebacker after years of trying and Howie treated him like a JAG, offered him a year and went and drafted Dean, then Edwards went and had a legit breakout year, broke the franchise combined tackle record and graded out as one of the best lb's in the league. 

The Edwards situation is emblematic of Howie's attitude to the position, he's godawful at evaluating linebackers and thinks he can just plug guys in and it will work, it's why we've lost the few half decent linebackers we've had the last 15 years that hit free agency while trotting out crap like Nate Gerry, Kamu Grugier-Hill and Stuart Bradley.

They didn't have to outbid the Bears at that time because even if he hadn't been extended, he would have still been a restricted free agent at the end of year 3. Do you have inside knowledge that the Eagles didn't try to offer him a longer extension at that time? It's highly plausible that Edwards would have refused a longer extension (than 1 additional season) so that he would hit free agency as an unrestricted free agent ASAP. 

After extending him, the Eagles drafted Dean so they would be prepared for his eventual (maybe even likely) departure. Everybody is acting like there was no plan. There was. Unfortunately Dean missed a majority of the season. The Eagles would have been in the exact same boat if they had not drafted Dean, kept Edwards and Edwards missed a majority of the season with injuries. While you might be downplaying Bradley, had he not gotten hurt before the season, we may have had a better in-house backup for Dean this season. 

Then there is the argument that we lost White as well. Big deal. White started well in the 1st half of the 2022 season, but his play degraded as the season progressed. For the Cards this season, his PFF grade was 58.9. Can you imagine how people would have been ripping Howie if he had rewarded White with a "nice" extension after he disappeared in the 2nd half of 2022 and then only played at the level he played this year? It's bad enough Bradberry was paid and played at that level, but Bradberry was coming off an All Pro season. So White had that 58.9, but how did our WLB replacement for him do in 2023?

Cunningham --- 69.4

Honestly, I thought Cunningham in 2023 was equal to White in 2022 (64.3 grade). Cunningham's biggest area of concern was he averaged almost 1 missed tackle per game. Cunningham actually beat Morrow out for the WLB job during preseason. Morrow was originally expected to replace White. Because of injuries Morrow was brought back and filled in at MLB for Dean. Similar to White last season, Morrow began the season playing well and then his play deteriorated as the season went on. He still finished with a 71.5 grade.

The bottom line is Edwards was one of the best MLBs in the NFL in 2022 and he continued to play at that level this season. Had Dean been healthy all year, I doubt he would have reached Edwards' level. Edwards didn't get there until his 4th NFL season. He showed flashes before that, but needed all the experience he gained from his first 3 seasons to reach that level of play. Dean needs to come back healthy and get that experience. Just because Dean had his first injury-plagued season of his football life, people shouldn't be concerned injuries will continue. Dean never missed a practice or game in high school, college or his rookie NFL season. There's no history to be concerned with. We just need him back and to develop into the same level of player Edwards is.