A Counterintuitive Way For The Eagles To Improve The Pass Rush

PHILADELPHIA - One of the issues with the Eagles’ pass rush last season was the regression of the star edge rushers from a production standpoint.

A year after combining for 27 of a franchise-record 70 sacks, Haason Reddick and Josh Sweat got to the quarterback 17 ½ times.

One of the more-cited reasons for the downtick was wearing down in the second half of the season. A year after playing 929 defensive snaps in the run to Super Bowl LVII, the now-departed Reddick, who was traded to the New York Jets, was again asked to put major mileage on his odometer with 911 snaps through the playoff loss at Tampa Bay.

The 2022 and 2023 seasons were the first time Reddick cracked the 900 barrier but the fourth and fifth times in a seven-year pro career that he’s been over 800 snaps.

That’s a big reason why the Eagles decided to subscribe to the idea that it is better to give up on a player a year early than a year late when it came to Reddick, especially when the player is set to turn 30 in September and wants a new deal in the $25 million average-annual-vale range.

Sweat, 27, had generally been on a pitch count since arriving to the Eagles in 2018, a nod to the catastrophic leg injury late in high school as a 5-star recruit that threatened his football career.

While working his way up from developmental prospect to rotational player to starter and Pro Bowl selection, Sweat had proven that he could handle a significant workload.

That said, consecutive seasons of 655 and 695 snaps spiked to a career-high 875 last season when Sweat played well early and disappeared late.

The idea moving forward is to get a more meaningful rotation in place with Bryce Huff replacing Reddick, opposite Sweat followed by 15-year veteran Brandon Graham in his last NFL season, second-year option Nolan Smith, and perhaps rookie third-round pick Jalyx Hunt or a surprise like Julian Okwara mixing in.

One counterintuitive idea that could make sense is upping Graham’s playing time in what the veteran again confirmed is his last go-round.

"I'm gonna be a part of the Eagles organization for sure,” Graham said this spring when asked if he might change his mind on 2024 being his final season. “As a player, this will be my last little hurrah."

The Eagles had been very cautious with Graham over the past two seasons coming off a 2021 Achilles injury and he’s been very effective in a part-time role.

Back in the 2022 Super Bowl season, Graham was ranked as the fifth-best edge player in the NFL by Pro Football Focus over 524 snaps. Last season he was No. 15 while playing 432 snaps with two fewer postseason games.

The conventional wisdom is Graham’s playing time will continue to decline and perhaps that’s the desired scenario of a younger player like Smith up his game and plays with efficacy.

If that’s not the case, however, with a clear finish line for Graham now on the horizon why not empty the gas tank?

"I've done everything. I haven't missed any days. Enjoying the last little hoorah of every little thing that I can,” Graham said when asked about preparing for his final season. “Just the way GM Howie [Roseman] put this team together, I can feel the good vibes. Man, he put us in a good position. This could be my last year and I'm happy to go out with a team like that. We just have to put in the work."

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