Philadelphia Eagles: It’s time to bring Sean Chandler home
With a sneaky need for depth at safety following Andrew Sendejo’s release, the Philadelphia Eagles should sign versatile hometown hero Sean Chandler.
With Andrew Sendejo back with the Minnesota Vikings after a nine-game tenure in the City of Brotherly Love, the Philadelphia Eagles are left with only three safties on their active roster – two really if you exclude special teamer Rudy Ford.
While the team should be able to get by without Sendejo backing up Malcolm Jenkins and Rodney McLeod thanks to a season of Avonte Maddox cross-training at safety in 2018 (more on that here), conventional logic would suggest that the Eagles should at least try to find another safety to fill out their secondary.
Fortunately, the Birds may not have to look far for a suitable replacement.
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After spending the better part of two seasons on the New York Giants, Sean Chandler was officially released to make way for the return of Sam Beal from IR. While releasing a part-time defender – regardless of his special teams prowess – for a potential starter in the same position grouping is a pretty obvious call, that doesn’t mean Chandler is a bad player per se – far from it.
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2014, Chandler played a huge role in Temple University‘s renaissance in the mid-2010s – leading the way to a 33-20 record and three straight Bowl Game appearances.
This, however, didn’t elevate the four-year college starter’s draft stock despite amassing 183 tackles, three sacks, and 10 interceptions in 48 games of action. No, with his college eligibility officially up, Chandler entered his name into consideration for the 2018 NFL Draft and waited in vain to hear his name called.
From there, Chandler signed on with the Giants as a UDFA and appeared in every single game since making his improbable inclusion on the team’s opening day 53 man roster.
Sure, he didn’t play a ton of snaps for the Giants on defense – 141 snaps in 2018 and 24 in 2019 to be exact – but Chandler made the most of what was available to the tune of 22 tackles, two QB hits, and a sack. Chandler was also a force on special teams, playing 52 percent of the snaps (241) in 2018, and 78 percent (166) of the snaps this season.
Just for context, no member of the Eagles, not even Ford, has played more than 76 percent of Dave Fipp‘s special teams snaps.
So if you’re keeping track at home, Chandler is a local legend, a Temple alum, a superb special teamer, and a versatile DB who could actually contribute defensively at a variety of different positions: what’s there not to like?
Next. JJ Nelson can ease the loss of DeSean Jackson. dark
Granted, for all we know, the Philadelphia Eagles may forgo defense entirely and fill Andrew Sendejo’s roster spot with a speedy outside option like JJ Nelson (more on that here). However, if adding a four-core special teamer who can spot start at safety/cornerback/nickleback with ease is in the cards, there isn’t a better player available on the open market or a practice squad than Temple’s Sean Chandler.