Philadelphia Eagles: Give Quinton Spain the big bucks

Philadelphia Eagles, please please please pay Quinton Spain.

When the Philadelphia Eagles stole Jamon Brown off the Chicago Bears’ practice squad, it felt like a pretty low-risk signing.

A sixth-year veteran with 47 starts to his name, Brown was an ideal depth piece who could be active on game days, put in work during the week, and maybe even play as a spot-starter if the team ever needed him.

Unfortunately, that happened in Week 6 of the 2020 NFL season, and boy howdy will it go down as one of the worst debuts in NFL history.

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Earning a ghastly 10.5 pass-blocking rating from Pro Football Focus, Brown accounted for two sacks and a penalty in his lone 72 snaps in midnight green and was unsurprisingly handed his walking papers days later.

What does this say about the franchise? Well, for one, even a team as horribly positioned as the Eagles isn’t going to stand by such a horrible performance, even if the team is reportedly interested in bringing Brown back on the practice squad, but more importantly, it means the Eagles could very well be back in the market for another veteran offensive guard to fill out their roster.

If that’s the case, I think I know the perfect man for the job: Quinton Spain.

Spain, a 29-year-old who played his college ball at West Virginia, was unceremoniously released by the Buffalo Bills a little over seven months removed from signing a three-year, $15 million deal to make room for Justin Zimmer, a 27-year-old UDFA defensive tackle out of Ferris State on his fifth American football team since 2016.

Wait; what? Why would any team release a veteran offensive lineman on an eight-figure contract for a depth offensive linemen? Honestly, it beats me. Based on analysis of the move by Billswire, it would appear the Bills really like 2019 second-round pick Cody Ford at left guard and would rather move on from Spain now than have him unhappy on the bench.

Personally, I’d rather have an extra veteran offensive lineman on my roster in this weird, injury-plagued season than pay him to walk elsewhere in free agency, but hey, that’s just me.

Now free to sign literally anywhere he’d like without having to pass through waivers – with $4.5 million in guaranteed money from the Bills no less – Spain will be in high demand from teams around the league looking for some interior offensive lineman depth – with a bidding war of sorts for his services a borderline guarantee.

Which is why the Eagles need to suck it up and give Spain the money.

I mean, think about it, the Eagles just converted $7.165 million of Fletcher Cox’s contract into a bonus, which gives the team an additional $5.732 million in 2020 cap space. While the team would presumably like to roll that money over into 2021, a fact that Field Yates explicitly mentioned when announcing the move, who would have expected Spain to be released not one hour later?

Call it a coincidence, serendipity, or a gift from the football gods, but why not just reinvest that money into the team right now and get Carson Wentz a little extra help?

Despite measuring in at a massive 6-foot-4, 330 pounds, Spain is an athletic big man capable of pancaking would be pass rushers and moving bodies as a lead blocker in down-the-field running plays with his 5.08 speed. Spain also hasn’t given up a sack since 2018 and hasn’t given up multiple sacks in a season since 2017.

Just for context, the Eagles have eight offensive linemen on their contract right now with at least one sack in 2020, with only Iosua Opeta and Luke Juriga having a clean record through six weeks on five combined offensive snaps.

Signing Spain would also allow the Eagles to kick Nate Herbig back to right guard, the position he played during his final two seasons at Stanford and initially played to start the 2020 NFL season. Though Herbig hasn’t exactly been elite in his first six professional starts, he’s at least been able to stay on the field for all 424 of the team’s offensive snaps with two sacks and three penalties to show for it. If he can be put in the best position to succeed while simultaneously upgrading the left guard position, why not, right?

Next. Brandon Graham is the team’s best trade asset. dark

If upgrading two spots on the offensive line is worth $1 million, $2 million, even the full $5.7 million freed up by Fletcher Cox’s adjusted contract, isn’t that something the Philadelphia Eagles have to do, right? According to Jimmy Kempski of PhillyVoice, Howie Roseman still plans on being a buyer at the trade deadline because he genuinely believes this team can win the NFC East with some further fortification. If the team is willing to surrender future draft capital to make a play at a short-term player like Jordan Howard (or whomever), why not pay up for a veteran offensive lineman to keep Carson Wentz upright?

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