Philadelphia Eagles: T.J. Edwards can’t breakout if he doesn’t play

Will the Philadelphia Eagles give T.J. Edwards a chance to shine?

Back in the early months of summer, before NFL training camps – and the season as a whole – were a guarantee, NFL content creators the (football) world over had to get creative when it came to covering their favorite teams.

Totally natural, right? Just because football isn’t on doesn’t mean fans don’t still want to read about it and writers don’t want to keep doing their jobs. However, on the oh so rare occasion, writers may get a tad presumptuous and write preseason predictions that prove to be almost completely irrelevant once the live bullets start flying in early September.

The era of the ‘Cold Take’ is here and if Twitter is of any indication, people are all about it.

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So naturally, once the season came underway, fans the world over started gazing back on said preseason predictions to gauge their accuracy and unfortunately for fans of the Philadelphia Eagles, one of the franchise’s starters was plastered all over some if not most of those preseason, ‘second-year players who could blow up in 2020‘ lists: T.J. Edwards.

In theory, the idea tracked, as Edwards played deceptively well for the Birds in four starts last season, missing only one of his 30 tackles while generally making the right reads when dropped into zone coverage. With an additional offseason of, well, seasoning, surely Edwards would come back a better, stronger player; one capable of filling public enemy numero uno Nigel Bradham‘s former role in the middle, right?

Well, in a way, that assertion was proven correct, as Edwards was named the Eagles’ starter with virtually no resistance through 2020’s abbreviated camp and even received a start in the Eagles’ Week 1 contest versus Washington, but in practice, not so much.

Why? I’m glad you asked.

You see, despite being a starter, Edwards was only on the field for 20 defensive snaps, good for 29 percent of the team’s defensive total – less than Duke Riley, less than Nate Gerry, and even less than nickel cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman, who technically didn’t even start the game.  All in all, 13 defenders played more defensive snaps than Edwards, which, as you know, is more players than there are defensive starters.

Heck, Edwards actually played more snaps on special teams (27) than he did on defense, a particularly rare stat that you’ll seldom see for any NFL starter regardless of his position or team.

But how could this be? Well, because the position Edwards plays is rapidly growing out of vogue in the NFL.

As the three wide receiver, 11 personnel grouping becomes the base offensive package in the NFL, with some teams going with four or even five wide receivers with increasing frequency, teams are relying more and more on nickle defense as a necessary counter. For a 4-3 team, even one like the Eagles who utilizes an attacking wide-nine variant of the front, that means giving an increasingly diminutive role to the once-prominent between-the-tackles thumpers who used to man the middle of any decent defense.

Edwards is one of those throwback, old-school thumpers of yore who is having a tough time trying to find his place in the modern NFL. While his instincts are solid and his ability to read-and-react are among the best of the Eagles’ current corps, you can’t coach up 4.77 speed and on some plays, Edwards simply can’t be confidently counted on to hold his own in coverage.

Furthermore, when Edwards was actually on the field for the Eagles in Week 1, he wasn’t particularly impressive, as he missed one of his two tackle attempts, and had the second-lowest PFF grade of any player on the team behind only Avonte Maddox.

Maddox, for what it’s worth, allowed five catches on eight targets for 58 yards and a touchdown, so yeah, I’d tend to agree with their evaluation.

Now granted, that was just one game, and basing Edwards’ usage or overall performance value off of one game is rather premature, even for an Eagles fan, but when you look at the forthcoming schedule, the chances for the middle linebacker to shine versus an appropriate challenger are relatively few and far between.

According to Pro Football Reference, only four of the Eagles’ 13 forthcoming opponents started two tight ends and/or a fullback in Week 1, with the Saints improbably starting two quarterbacks if you count do-it-all offensive weapon Taysom Hill. Assuming his in-game usage remains copasetic, that doesn’t look particularly good for Edwards’ chances to shine as a sophomore.

When T.J. Edwards was named a starter but Nathan Gerry was given the added responsibility of wearing the earpiece in Jim Schwartz‘s defense, it should have served as a rather telling, um, tell in regards to the Philadelphia Eagles’ plans for the second-year linebacker. While Edwards certainly has his place and will all but certainly see his game level out to the solid baseline he set in 2019, it’s hard to be a “breakout player” when you don’t have a chance to actually get out on the field and prove it.