Three Bye Week Personnel Changes the Eagles Should Consider

PHILADELPHIA – The gentle bigotry of low expectations does not exist in the current era of Philadelphia Eagles football. If you want to coin a more precise phrase to explain the state of the fan base, you’ll have to do a 180, perhaps due to the unrealistic entitlement of unfounded expectations.

The Eagles are 2-2 through a first bye week, but that looks far worse than the mediocrity that often defines the NFL.

In a small sample, Philadelphia has performed well in some weeks and uninspiring in others.

Any potential changes will be in intangible areas as the personnel, especially on the offensive end, is largely locked in.

However, there are some personnel adjustments on defense that the Eagles should pull the trigger on while waiting to take the field next against Cleveland on October 13.

The first was already announced by defensive coordinator Vic Fangio:

START COOPER DEJEAN IN THE NICKEL

A hamstring injury in pre-training camp cost DeJean 20 days this summer, delaying the eventual finale of the 40th overall pick in April’s draft, nickel CB.

The Eagles currently rank 29th in the NFL in defense and 27th in pass defense, with the main issue being against 11 personnel when the nickel defense is used.

Veteran Avonte Maddox was average as a placeholder, completing 10 of 19 passes when on target for 115 yards and a touchdown with an 88.7 passer rating allowed according to Pro Football Focus.

That said, there aren’t many cards Fangio can take from the deck he’s been dealt and this is one of the few that offers upside potential due to DeJean’s athletic ability.

The Iowa product also showed glimpses of his run-blitzing ability in the preseason finale against Minnesota, a trait Fangio wants in his CB slot and one that could allow Philadelphia’s defense to better resisting race support while employing four-man fronts.

LIBRA BRYCE HUFF RETURN

Fangio let the Eagles faithful talk about his counterintuitive teaching method of throwing a lot at players early before cutting back.

The time has come for Bryce Huff, who has generated almost no production in four games despite signing a three-year, $51 million contract in the offseason.

General manager Howie Roseman’s projection was that Huff could develop into a three-down player and that was Fangio’s directive before training camp.

Now it’s about getting something back and getting Huff back to the guy who had otherworldly pressure percentages for the New York Jets in a limited role the previous two seasons.

If Huff is just a one-trick pony, let him run the one trick by limiting him to working the wide 9 in obvious passing situations while relying on Brandon Graham, Josh Sweat, and Milton Williams to handle most of the heavy lifting supporting the race.

GET SYDNEY BROWN INVOLVED

The Eagles are scheduled to begin the second-year safety practice window next week and Brown is eager to continue. He’s rehabbing daily and doing mental rehearsals while waiting for the all-clear on his torn ACL suffered in January, an injury that takes some time to heal.

This number is 9 months old, and Brown was injured on January 7th. The cutoff line for this is October 7, the Monday after the bye week. Expect Brown to be on the practice field Wednesday and while there will certainly be some rust to knock off, the Eagles need as much athleticism on the field as possible.

Mixing Brown in as a third safety as well as a big five-under, along with his expected work on special teams, should be paramount as veteran safety CJ Gardner-Johnson has struggled, allowing three touchdown passes , a league-high, while giving up a passer rating of 137.5 and eight or nine missing tackles, depending on whether you like PFF or TruMedia, a number among the worst in the NFL.

The Eagles can’t live with this kind of play forever and might need an alternative ready sooner rather than later.

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