The window to cut players hadn’t elapsed 24 hours before the Philadelphia Eagles made their first release. Riley Cooper’s 6-year span with the team came with its ups and way downs, but the new coaching staff won’t request his services for next season. So far, the Eagles have made contract moves that suggest they’re looking for relevant value for their money.
Over the past five years, the NFL has made it obvious which positions need the most attention: offensive line, defensive line, and quarterback. Protect the man who delivers the plays and do everything to prevent that very thing from the other team.
Had Seattle been able to punch the ball in from the 1-yard line during last year’s Super Bowl, the top defense in the league would have been the Super Bowl champions for the past three seasons. This seems ironic given the nature of the rules and how things have been skewed towards letting guys like Joe Flacco get rewarded by way of 40-yard pass interference calls.
The league seems to have figured out that it’s more difficult to defend receivers down the field than it is to literally tackle the play at the source. Throw in freak athletes like Von Miller who can rush and defend a pass and you have the new mold for the most sought after gets in football.
For the Eagles, recent deals with T Lane Johnson and DE Vinny Curry prove the point. Young talent at the less sexy yet increasing-in-importance roles show the new Eagles leadership is looking to do what this league has done for years: copy.
Connor Barwin in the 2014 season was unlike anything the Eagles have had on the defense side of the ball since Brian Dawkins in terms of overall dominance. The Eagles are clearly looking to establish a firmed up defense, even though recent reports about there being talks with Fletcher Cox about a new deal are being proven untrue:
Can the reporters please stop the nonsense nothing is true to what they are reporting … SAD
— fletcher cox (@fcoxx_91) February 9, 2016
The clichés of defense winning championships has certainly held true in the most current days of the league, and the Eagles have made a point to make it one of their early priorities. Before even seeing if Riley Cooper would fit in with what the Eagles would do offensively next season, they’d rather make sure they use the money to retain the best talent at the most important positions for seasons to come.
While we still don’t know what the Eagles will look like on the field come the 2016 season, the early offseason moves are moving towards providing the most proven talent.
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