Philadelphia Eagles: Go Get Joe Haden

The Philadelphia Eagles, weakish at best at cornerback, now have a golden opportunity to acquire former Browns star, Joe Haden. They seem to know it.

Yesterday the website 12up.com suggested three teams that could use now former Browns cornerback Joe Haden.  The Philadelphia Eagles were not listed there, partly because, I suspect, almost nobody in the media finds the Eagles sexy enough or a serious playoff contender.  This piece was posted before Haden was actually cut by the Browns.

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Today the Browns shed Haden’s $11 million contract (and a $14 million cap hit), freeing their star corner to begin negotiating with other teams at 4 p.m.  The completion should involve five or six teams, and it well may be that the Eagles are positioning themselves to make a run at this player.  They cut Ron Brooks this morning.

The Eagles should be working feverishly right now to prepare a deal for this player.

Of course, there are those who say that Haden is past his prime and that he would cost too much, especially coming off two seasons of injuries. (He had groin issues surgically repaired in the off-season)

Haden’s Fit

Let’s go back to Haden’s “prime,” which the player is, arguably, not actually past at 28.  This is pressing corner, who can shadow and shut down an opponent’s best wide receiver, a player like Cincinnati’s A.J. Green.  He has been to multiple Pro Bowls and was once a second team All-Pro.

Haden has nineteen career interceptions and four forced fumbles.  He’s averaging 42.7 tackles a season (58 high in 2014), and this includes 55 in the past two campaigns in which he played through injuries on a seriously depressing team. He has 71 assisted tackles over the course of his career.

At the moment, the Eagles appear to be drawing up a first team defense involving Ron Darby and Jalen Mills at the wide corner spots, with Patrick Robinson as the nickel corner. Really: Haden hopping on one leg is the equal of Mills (except in finger-wagging).

What will it cost?  Let’s posit a one-year, prove-it deal, which the Eagles are currently specializing in because what’s wrong with a team full of guys hungrily playing for their next contracts?

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This will probably involve $8 to $9.5 million for the season with incentives, and one or two more nonguaranteed years on an incline.  The cap hit is either going to be $12 or $120 million – I forget which.  However, Howie “The Magician” Roseman has to make this work.  If Haden can pass the physical, this would be as almost as impressive as last year’s move to acquire Carson Wentz.