Philadelphia Eagles: Letting Dallas trade for Michael Bennett is just the worst

After watching the Philadelphia Eagles lose in embarrassing fashion to Dallas in Week 7, the Cowboys’ decision to trade for Michael Bennett is just the worst.

When the Philadelphia Eagles take the field in a darn-near-must-win Week 8 bout against the Buffalo Bills, it will be with their worst defensive line in years.

While that isn’t too surprising for fans who’ve tuned in over the last month – or really, since Malik Jackson suffered a Lisfranc injury in Week 1 – things just keep getting worse with each passing week.

Akeem Spence? Released. Hassan Ridgeway – the Texas tackle Howie Roseman cashed in a sixth-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft to acquire from the Indianapolis Colts – relegated to IR after suffering an ankle injury against the Dallas Cowboys.

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So barring a miraculous recovery by Timmy Jernigan(‘s foot), Jim Schwartz‘s defense could trot out a line featuring an alarmingly ineffective Fletcher Cox and practice squad signees Anthony Rush and/or Albert Huggins.

Simply put, Roseman needs a hero; he’s holding out for a hero to make the season right.

That player – the perfect player – became available earlier this week, and in the blink of an eye was swooped off the market – by those dastardly Cowboys no less.

After demanding a trade away from the City of Brotherly Love in the spring, Michael Bennett was officially suspended by the New England Patriots after complaining about his playing time. While there is some justification to his comments, as the 11th year vet had only been on the field for 30 percent of the Pats’ defensive snaps, is there an easier way to get on Bill Belichick‘s bad side than to complain to the media?

Smart money is on no.

Despite flipping Philly a 2020 fifth-rounder for Bennett’s services not six months prior, GM Belichick shipped Martellus‘ brother to the Dallas Cowboys for a conditional seventh-round pick, that could become a sixth as per ESPN NFL Reporter Mike Reiss.

What? Why? Whyyyyyyyyy?

As fans in the 215 saw first-hand last weekend, Dallas already has a solid pass rush both from the inside and out, making Bennett, a Texas A&M alum, the ultimate low-risk, high-reward acquisition.

But in Philly, Bennett could have been everything.

While it’s no secret that the Eagles’ pass rush hasn’t been the same since Bennett migrated north to Boston, things have gotten downright ugly as players like Chris Long, and Joe Ostman, and Jackson, and Jernigan, and Ridgeway, and Spence started dropping like flies. Had Roseman instead opted to reacquire Bennett from the Patriots, one would have to assumably he would have slotted in as the team’s starting defensive tackle in Week 8 alongside Cox, and would finally get the 80-plus percent of the defensive snaps he’s craved since leaving Seattle.

I mean, Roseman could have literally handed Belichick back the very same fifth-round pick they received from New England in the first place, in a move that would have both outbid Dallas and made things “even” – as if the trade had never happened in the first place.

While we as outside observers may never quite know just how bad things got between the Philadelphia Eagles and Michael Bennett before his ultimate trade in March, barring an absolutely disastrous blowup between the two parties, it feels like an absolutely crushing blow to watch a formerly productive player with 716 snaps in Jim Schwartz’s scheme make a division rival better mere days after the worst loss of the Doug Pederson-era. That’s just the worst.