Philadelphia Eagles: Don’t count out Gerard Avery just yet
Philadelphia Eagles fans, don’t count out Genard Avery just yet.
In October of 2019, the Philadelphia Eagles were desperate for some mid-season reinforcements.
After trading away a fourth-round pick for Jay Ajayi in 2017 – a good move by any metric – and a third-round pick the following fall for Golden Tate – a decidedly less good move – fans were hungry for the next massive, roster shaking move to turn the table on a season rapidly teetering towards disappointment in a last-ditch effort to represent the NFC East in the playoffs for the third straight season.
In theory, the idea tracked.
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The Birds needed help pretty much everywhere. Their receiving corps was a mess, they still didn’t have a single cornerback anyone could call elite with a straight face, and even their linebacking corps, once considered a strength, was falling apart at the seems – with UDFA T.J. Edwards taking over for free agent flameout Zach Brown as the team’s thumping middle linebacker.
And to his credit, Howie Roseman did pull off another trade – for a young, ascending player midway through his rookie deal no less – only said the move was far from a short-term bandaid.
After impressing greatly during his rookie season with the Cleveland Browns under then-defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, Genard Avery‘s career was at an impasse. He was averaging half a defensive snap a game one season removed from playing 58 percent of his team’s defensive snaps (684) and barring injury, that wasn’t going to change anytime soon. Between 2017 first overall pick Myles Garrett, 2019 tradee Olivier Vernon, and the surprise emergence of 2018 third-round pick Chad Thomas as a viable third rotational end, Avery rapidly found himself the odd man out on a team imploding under the weight of lofty preseason expectation with his very NFL future hanging in the balance.
If given a chance to shine, many, including his former defensive coordinator, believed Avery could be a legitimate NFL game-changer, as evidenced by this quote from the now Jets defensive play-caller, “…he has some very, very good skills. Then when you turn him loose, he can wreck things up really good.”
In exchange for a 2021 fourth-round pick, the Eagles gave Avery that chance to return to the attacking scheme that made him a fringe, ascending star amongst stat-loving NFL nerds like yours truly, only they kinda, sorta didn’t, as you probably saw from his on-field production over an eight-game sample size.
You see, despite rapidly becoming a stalwart of Dave Fipp’s special teams unit – playing an average of 18 snaps per game on kick units – Avery only played 33 defensive snaps during his initial run with the Eagles combined, while only passing the 10 snap mark once in a 17-10 loss to the New England Patriots. Avery did pick up half a sack in his first game with Eagles in a Week 9 win over the Chicago Bears, but other than that, his season was a borderline wash statistically.
So, needless to say, Avery wasn’t the quick fix, number 1 wide receiver many fans had hoped would walk through the door for a premium Day 3 pick. Heck, he wasn’t even the soon-to-be free agency cornerback that could have shored up the secondary for a legitimate playoff push like Chris Harris.
But again, that doesn’t mean Avery is a bust, or will be when his current contract ultimately runs out in 2022.
As crazy as it may be to write, the 2018 Browns used Avery a lot like how the Oakland Raiders and then the Chicago Bears have used Khalil Mack. Like Mack, Avery can rush the passer as a down lineman but is equally capable of dropping into coverage, lining up outside like a 3-4 outside linebacker, and even kick it inside to rush the passer as a stand-up, inside 4-3 linebacker. While the Eagles haven’t been particularly keen on blitzing linebackers under Jim Schwartz’s reign, that was reportedly the plan for 2019 training camp stand out Joe Ostman, who, like Avery, is a hybrid rusher capable of doing damage from anywhere on the field.
Had the Eagles simply targeted Avery as an intriguing scheme fit defensive end who could potentially push Derek Barnett and Josh Sweet for a long-term starting role across from Brandon Graham that would be worth a future fourth-round pick, but adding an additional wrinkle to the defensive arsenal could be just the ticket to taking Schwartz’s relatively predictable defensive attack to the next level.
Who knows, maybe the Birds will even take a page out of Williams playbook and give Avery a shot at playing outside linebacker in their base defensive package, a move the Browns did out of necessity in 2018 when Christian Kirksey went down in Week 9. Would it be a tad unconventional for the Eagles to use a 250-pound edge rusher as a base package 4-3 linebacker? Maybe so, but whoever called the Eagles defense conventional?
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Could this all be for not? Could Genard Avery ultimately fail to find a spot on the Philadelphia Eagles’ defense either at outside linebacker, at defensive end, or as a hybrid do-it-all rusher? Sure, anything is possible, but when you have a fourth-round pick like Donnel Pumphrey not even play a snap over their entire NFL career, taking a shot at a 25-year-old effort guy with 4.59 speed is the kind of long-term move every team would love to make. Frankly, I’m surprised he isn’t a NY Jet.