Happy Valley

[time2rock]

Happy Valley

Posted: March 11th, 2024 | Author: Tommy Lawlor

With the Eagles coming off a disappointing season, we all expected the Eagles to be active in free agency. And they didn’t disappoint. Monday was the opening of legal tampering and the Eagles wasted no time in making moves.

Wow. What a day.

Huff was the first to agree to terms. There were a lot of rumors connecting Huff to the Eagles so it wasn’t surprising to see him agree to terms. Huff was a role player with the Jets. The Eagles are paying him to be an impact player.

Huff is 6-3, 255 and might remind you of Trent Cole. He likes to get into a 4-point stance and fire off the ball, fast and low. He has good power and is effective as a bull-rusher. He can beat OTs with his burst off the edge. Huff will also mix in inside moves to keep OTs honest. Huff mainly played in passing situation so it is hard to get a good feel for him as a run defender. He plays with good leverage and is strong so he’s got good potential there.

The Eagles didn’t deal either Haason Reddick or Josh Sweat so the edge position is a bit crowded right now. Huff isn’t getting backup money. The Eagles expect him to start. We’ll see what happens with Reddick and Sweat, but it sure feels like at least one of them will be on the move.

I was sitting at work today when someone made a comment about me being happy. I assumed my friend was talking about the Huff deal and commented on that.

"No, Saquon.”

I instantly jumped online to see what had happened. I was shocked, to say the least. Saquon Barkley an Eagle? That was a fun idea, but I just didn’t think it had much of a chance of it coming true.

I am happy that I was wrong.

There is risk in signing Barkley. He’s a 27-year old RB with 1200 carries on his resume and the Eagles are paying him $12M a year. You can argue that’s not a great use of resources. But Barkley has special potential. Every time the Eagles faced the Giants, he made me nervous. One blown assignment or missed tackle and he was off to the races.

If you look at his numbers with the Giants, they are not special. I think a lot of that is circumstantial. They had an awful OL for a lot of his career. They had bad QB play. Defenses focused on Barkley.

While signing Barkley is a risk, bringing him to Philly changes things in a big way. He’ll play with a top QB. He’ll run behind a really good OL. He’ll be surrounded by weapons and playmakers. Barkely doesn’t have to be the hero anymore. He can be a playmaker, part of the attack. And Barkley might thrive in that role.

That speed is something the Eagles haven’t had in a while. Miles Sanders could break off big runs, but he didn’t have Barkley’s power, elusiveness or pass-catching ability. Watching Jordan Mailata and Landon Dickerson cave in their side of the defense and then seeing Barkley explode up the field will be a thing of beauty.

I like the risk of adding Barkley. If he pans out, the Eagles offense will be absolutely loaded. If he doesn’t work out as expected, he will still be good. He just will be overpaid. With the extra cap room teams got this year, why not take a chance with some of that money?

There is also the Penn State factor. I’ve been a PSU fan for more than 40 years. I’ve been waiting for a PSU star to come to Philly. Sanders gave us a taste of that, but he was a highly frustrating player. Barkley was a star in Happy Valley and could be a star in the Delaware Valley.

I’m excited to see how this pans out.

Baun is a depth move. He can be an OLB or off-ball LB. He’s got 14 starts in four seasons. Baun will contribute on defense as well as STs.

Interesting way to look at that trio.

*****

The Eagles had strong interest in safety Xavier McKinney, but he signed with the Packers. They are looking at safeties and will make a move. It is just a matter of which one they sign.

If the price is right, that makes a lot of sense.

Several of the LBs I liked signed elsewhere. The Eagles still have multiple options.

*****

Not all the moves involved guys from other teams.

https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1767208084345086023

The Eagles don’t want to lose good players. Dickerson is now locked in for four more years. He can be inconsistent, but is absolutely dominant at times. He should continue to get better.

http://igglesblitz.com/2024/03/happy-valley/