One Less Hole

Posted: June 20th, 2022 | Author: Tommy Lawlor 

Howie Roseman loves to remind us that roster building is a continuous process. And he’s right. We got more proof of that on Friday when the Eagles made a surprise signing.

Back during free agency I didn’t have Tartt as a potential Eagles target. He’s 30 years old. Tartt hasn’t made a lot of coverage plays in his career. He didn’t seem like the kind of safety the Eagles would go after.

I thought for sure safety would be addressed in the draft. There were quite a few safeties who made sense for the Eagles. The team had a lot of picks. The Eagles would finally invest in a talented young safety.

Oops. The trade up for Jordan Davis and the acquisition of AJ Brown cost the Eagles several picks and that limited their ability to address all the positions they wanted to.

There wasn’t much left on the safety market so the Eagles sat back and waited before making a move. They jumped on CB James Bradberry when he was cut. He comes in as a definitive starter and as someone worth paying good money to.

Did the Eagles decide Tartt was their best option? Did Tartt decide the Eagles were his best option? Either way, they agreed to terms on Friday.

Tartt doesn’t come to Philly as the definitive answer like Bradberry did. Tartt is a veteran player, but he’s only started double digit games twice in his career. Injuries have certainly been a major factor. He’s never even played in all 16 (or 17) games in a season. Last year he started a career high 14 games and played pretty well. I’m surprised at how little interest there was in him.

Tartt is a physical player and big time hitter. He’s not someone you want in the slot or in man coverage against a speedy receiver. He has good size at 6-1, 215. You want Tartt staying back and attacking the ball. He can help deep, but that’s not his specialty.

So how does Tartt fit in Philly?

The projected starters are Anthony Harris and Marcus Epps. The coaches like Harris a lot more than I do. Epps showed real promise last year and is someone the team is high on. Still, he’s only got 8 career starts. You want to be careful about giving him a starting job. Make him earn it.

My guess is that Epps will battle Tartt for a starting gig. I would love to see Tartt and Epps both look good this summer and challenge Harris for his starting role.

The other real value for Tartt is that he gives the coaches the ability to play three safety sets. Tartt is big enough to play in the box like a LB and let the other two focus on coverage. That gives Jonathan Gannon another option for his passing down schemes.

I feel a lot more confident about the secondary than I did in early April.

CB James Bradberry
CB Jimmy Moreland
CB Mario Goodrich
S Jaquiski Tartt

There aren’t any foundational pieces to build around, but that is a good group of players to help a secondary that struggled at times in 2021. Long term, the Eagles still need to do more work, but that will be a discussion for next February and March. Right now we’re focused on having an improved secondary for the 2022 season.

*****

One of the long term pieces could be K’Von Wallace.

Could. Be.

Roob had an odd note in his latest piece.

I’m also still not sure Harris or Tartt is a better option than K’Von Wallace. We really don’t know about Wallace yet. With a good summer I wouldn’t be surprised if Wallace moves up the safety depth chart past Tartt and maybe even past Harris.

Wallace has been given every chance to play the past two years and he’s struggled to get on the field. He has 6 starts. His career highlight is a fumble recovery.

Listen, I would love for the light to go on for Wallace and for him to become a good safety, but we’ve seen virtually nothing from him to this point in his career. If the Eagles really trusted him, I doubt they would have added Tartt.

The good news for all the safeties is that any of them could emerge. No one has to beat out Brian Dawkins, Wes Hopkins or Malcolm Jenkins.

This really is an open competition.

http://igglesblitz.com/2022/06/one-less-hole/

Tommy helps make the point about this off-season without actulally saying it.

Went into the off-season:

• without one starting saftey
• no depth at saftey
• missing a starting corner
• only McPhereson as a even a semi-proven backup at corner. In other words the cupboard was empty. 

At this point :

• resigned Harris and Taart
• one of the above is our depth
• James Bradberry
•  Moreland, Goodrich, Jobe 

Let's face it - this is a good example of good roster building

 

 

I think this is a good move by Howie. It may not work out (many FA moves by many teams don't) but on paper I think it is a good move. Tartt has been a starter in the league and he's produced. He's not a big name, he's not flashy but I think he'll be solid enough. And with Bradberry and Slay on the outside, solid should be enough. 

18 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Tartt has been a starter in the league and he's produced.

Add the fact that the 49'ers made the NFC championship game with him starting. He certainly can't be a big drag on a defense. 

Hopefully we won't have to sour on Tartt.

1 hour ago, PoconoDon said:

Hopefully we won't have to sour on Tartt.

I see what you did there.  😂