PHILADELPHIA − Clearly concerned about the linebacker situation, the Eagles went about remedying that by signing two veteran linebackers who have been full-time starters in Myles Jack and Zach Cunningham.
Combined, Jack, a second-round pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2016, and Cunningham, a second-round pick of the Houston Texans in 2017, have started 171 games, with 13 sacks and more than 1,200 tackles.
The NFL Network reported that each signed one-year deals worth as much as $2.5 million.
“We are a little bit low at that position as far as the amount of guys,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said Sunday night. “We really feel good about the (linebacker) room. We just want to bring in some extra competition to let things shake out.”
Neither Jack nor Cunningham are expected to replace Nakobe Dean, who was anointed a starter after both T.J. Edwards and Kyzir White left in free agency last spring. Dean suffered an ankle injury last week in practice, and Sirianni said he’s “close” to returning, but wouldn’t put a timeframe on when.
“I feel really good about Nakobe,” Sirianni said. “(Before the injury), he was doing a nice job running the defense, being in position to make plays. He had a really big splash play, knocked the ball out, and has done really well as far as in coverage and just being around the football and knowing what to do.”
But there has been a significant dropoff with the rest of the linebackers. That’s why either Jack or Cunningham will likely grab the other starting linebacker job.
The Eagles signed Nicholas Morrow in free agency last spring, but he hasn’t been impressive and was sharing first-team reps with Christian Elliss, a special teams ace who has 28 snaps total at linebacker in two seasons.
Morrow will undoubtedly be a reserve if he ends up making the 53-man roster. The Eagles also have Shaun Bradley and undrafted free agent Ben VanSumeren. But they did release Davion Taylor, their third-round pick in 2020. Taylor was considered a project back then, and he never developed.
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The moves are reminiscent to last season, when the Eagles added defensive tackles Ndamukong Suh and Linval Joseph midway through the season after Jordan Davis was placed on injured reserve with an ankle injury. Suh and Joseph helped stabilize the defensive tackle position.
While Dean’s injury isn’t nearly as serious, the Eagles showed last season that adding two veteran players is better than one.
“That was definitely on our mind,” Sirianni said. “(Last year), we wanted to make sure we had some depth and competition on the defensive line.”
Jack, who turns 28 next month, has started 95 games in seven seasons, the first six with Jacksonville before spending last season with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He had 104 tackles in 15 games last season. For his career, he has 6.5 sacks and 3 INTs.
Cunningham spent his first four seasons with Houston, getting waived late in the 2021 season, before signing with the Titans. Jack played in only six games last season before suffering an elbow injury. The Titans waived him in February.
Cunningham led the NFL with 164 tackles in 2020. He, too, has 6.5 sacks in his career.
In addition to Taylor, the Eagles also waived WR Charleston Rambo and signed OL Josh Andrews. The Eagles have to cut one more player to get down to 90 for training camp.
Eagles practice at the Linc
The Eagles estimated more than 50,000 fans attended their public practice Sunday night at Lincoln Financial Field. They serenaded Jalen Hurts with “MVP! MVP!” chants as he took the field.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
