Philadelphia Eagles: Ndamukong Suh’s Philly connection

Ndamukong Suh is a free agent and I guess the Philadelphia Eagles are in the running to land the All-Pro defensive tackle thanks to Jim Schwartz. But why?

Whenever a high profile free agent hits the open market, fans of any franchise, regardless of sports, immediately run to Twitter, Facebook, and other online comments sections to gush about why said player would be a great fit with their favorite franchise, and Philadelphia Eagles fans are no exception.

Whether it be the rumors that ex-Eagles like DeSean Jackson and LeSean McCoy could be available via trade or that cap casualties like Tyrann Mathieu and Richard Sherman could be the ‘missing piece’ to another Super Bowl run, these rumours for the most part are just that, rumors, but one such rumor that has been getting a weirdly high amount of traction online involves three-time All-Pro defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh.

While it may seem ludicrous to imagine the Eagles investing even more money into their defensive line, especially after extending defensive tackle Timmy Jernigan in 2017 and trading for swing defensive lineman Michael Bennett a few days ago, that is exactly what he being proposed, and to be fair, there are some interesting connections between the two parties to justify this speculation.

Want proof?

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Well, one commonly cited example goes back to Robert Klemko‘s January 30th article for Sports Illustrated about Doug Pederson winning a rivalry game as a high school coach in 2007. In the piece, which mostly talks about Pederson’s brief tenure coaching at Calvary Baptist, a small Christian school in Louisiana, Klemko released an interesting anecdote about the Eagles’ joint practices with the Miami Dolphins in August of 2017.

"When the team practiced against Miami, Dolphins players took note of how fast Eagles players moved from drill to drill. Lee recalls Ndamukong Suh being so impressed with the team that he approached defensive line coach Chris Wilson with an offer: “Suh told our defensive line coach, ‘The way y’all practice is unbelievable. I don’t care about money at this point—I think I want to play with y’all next year for free,’” Lee says. “Our coach was like, ‘Uhh, can we get that in writing?’” (Suh, through a Dolphins spokesman, denies the incident.)"

Though Suh was obviously talking superciliously at the time, as he was still under contract with the Fins, it is interesting to hear just how highly the defensive force of nature holds the Eagles work ethic in practice.

Or maybe his interest is because of Jim Schwartz?

As a second-year head coach, Schwartz drafted Suh second overall in the 2010 NFL Draft and quickly inserted the former Nebraska Cornhuskers into his Detroit Lions defensive line with amazing results. Suh started all 16 games as a rookie and recorded 48 tackles, 10 sacks and even an interception in route to his first of five Pro Bowl appearances.

And that was just the beginning for Suh and Schwartz.

Over the duos four seasons together in Detriot, Suh recorded 135 tackles and 27.5 sacks and quickly established himself as the perfect defensive tackle for Schwartz’s wide-nine scheme, but alas, the Lions simply didn’t have enough talent around them to build a dynasty, and Schwartz was fired after the team went 7-9 in 2013.

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Though Suh still played well without Schwartz in 2014, recording 8.5 sacks in route to his second straight All-Pro season, he didn’t jell with new coach Jim Caldwell, and entered free agency the following season, inking a record-breaking six-year, $114 million deal to take his services to South Beach.

But unfortunately for everyone involved, the paring didn’t mesh nearly as well as they had hoped.

Sure, Suh still made the Pro Bowl in 2016, but in three seasons with the Dolphins he never recorded more than six sacks and failed to make the team’s defense elite alongside pro bowl defensive linemen like Olivier Vernon, Cameron Wake, and fellow Schwartz standout Mario Williams.

So when Adam Gase rose to power in 2016, Suh’s ‘me first’ playing style quickly fell out of favor in South Beach. Much like Jay Ajayi and Jarvis Landry before him, Suh was viewed as a malcontent and was unceremoniously jettisoned from Miami because he simply didn’t fit the team’s new culture (sound familiar?) and will now be in the market for a new team.

But after earning well over $100 million in his career to date, would the 31-year-old All-Pro seriously consider taking a serious pay cut (I highly doubt he would be allowed to play for free by the NFLPA) to rejoin Schwartz in South Philly?

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Honestly, it seems like an extreme longshot, but who knows? I mean stranger things have happened, like Nick Foles winning the Eagles their first Super Bowl in franchise history, but this seems like a bit of a stretch.

If Suh wants to compete for a Super Bowl before he eventually hangs his cleats up once and for all, then yeah, Philly gives him a pretty good shot of making it deep into the playoffs for the first time in his NFL career, but would he be willing to do so as a rotational player?

Sure, Suh is obviously immensely talented, but there are only so many snaps in any given game and with Fletcher Cox the unquestioned leader of the Eagles defensive line, and players like Jernigan, Bennett, Chris Long, and Derek Barnett still needing to eat, adding Suh may simply be too much of a good thing, even if it’s on the cheap.

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While Ndamukong Suh reuniting with Jim Schwartz as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles is a dream scenario for many fans in the Delaware Vally, this rumor seems like a lot of smoke with very little real fire to back it up. While Suh is a great player, and his addition to the team would give the Eagles arguably their deepest defensive line rotation in franchise history, it’s hard to imagine Suh forgoing a better situation, both financially and playing time-wise, on another playoff caliber team like Green Bay to become a rotational piece in South Philly, Schwartz or no Schwartz. But hey, will see soon enough.