Philadelphia Eagles: Zach Cunningham is an ugly fit in Philly

Don’t fall for the Zach Cunningham hype, Philadelphia Eagles fans.

There is a belief among a small but vocal segment of the Philadelphia Eagles‘ fanbase that genuinely believes that any external linebacker could immediately come in and be the team’s best player.

Seriously, literally. any. linebacker.

Is this idea misguided? … kind of?

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I mean, according to PFF, the Eagles’ linebacking corps has a brutal average defensive rating of 55.12, with only two linebackers – Shaun Bradley and Alex Singleton – recording a 70-plus mark through seven games. And when just looking at the linebacking corps’ performances in coverage, the stats get even worse, as the unit is combining a putrid 45.4 on 513 combined coverage snaps.

Granted, Jim Schwartz, unfortunately, places his linebackers in man coverage a few too many times more than anyone would like to see – outside of opposing defensive coordinators, of course – but that sheer level of porous play can’t be solely placed on schematic deficiencies, right? Schwartz’s scheme was clearly good enough to win a Super Bowl back in 2018 when they had Nigel Bradham, Mychal Kendricks, and Jordan Hicks manning the middle of the field. Clearly the team’s issues are personnel and personnel alone.

If that’s your opinion, I’m not going to convince you otherwise. Honestly, I don’t even want to, as it’s not a bad take at all; I’m just here to suggest that maybe, just maybe ‘every’ linebacker in the NFL is magically better than the six currently employed by your hometown Philadelphia Eagles.

Fun fact: Statistically speaking, it’s virtually impossible for Howie Roseman to have selected the six worst linebackers in a league that currently employs roughly 190 linebackers. How roughly impossible? Try 0.0000000000023 percent.

Case in point? Texans linebacker Zach Cunningham, a player the Eagles have already been linked to earlier this month.

Cunningham, a 25-year-old ex-second round pick, is a linebacker who plays for the Houston Texans. Therefore he is presumably on the market considering that team is teetering on the edge of a full-on firesale to try to recoup some of the assets erroneously surrendered by ex-GM/coach/talent evaluator Bill O’Brien.

Fresh off a four-year, $58 million extension in August of 2020, Cunningham is the kind of long-term piece a team could trade for and build a defensive front around – presuming, of course, that he fits the team’s scheme.

In that regard, Cunningham is an ugly fit in Philly.

Make no mistake; Cunningham is a good football player. He’s surpassed 100 tackles in each of the last two seasons and is averaging 10 tackles a game this season. If you’re a general manager/defensive coordinator who needs help in the run game or to shore up a leaky middle of the field, Cunningham is one of the more intriguing options on the open market.

But do you know what Cunningham is really not great at? You guessed it: Coverage.

Through the first six games of the season, Cunningham has allowed a perfect 22-22 of the passes thrown his way to be completed for a career-high 11.8 yards-per-target, two touchdowns, and a 146.0 passer rating. To make matters worse, 213 of the 259 yards Cuningham has allowed through the air have come after the catch with 10 missed tackles, implying that he’s not even locking up receivers at the point of contact.

For context, Cunningham has allowed more yards in coverage than Nathan Gerry with a higher completion percentage and a higher passer rating.

To make matters worse, the Texans would surely require a good-to-great draft pick to ship Cunningham out of town, maybe as high as a second-round pick or multiple lesser picks. Is Cunningham worth that? Probably so to the right team, but again, why would the Eagles surrender that many assets – let alone their salary cap space – to a linebacker who isn’t much better in coverage than their worst coverage linebacker?

Short answer: They won’t.

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If the Philadelphia Eagles really want to trade for a linebacker, there are several intriguing options presumably on the market. There are buy-low options like Avery Williamson, high-upside failed picks like Haason Reddick, and even supremely talented linebackers like Myles Jack, who would change their defensive favors for the next half-decade. But of the linebackers who are available, Zach Cunningham should be at the bottom of the team’s list, if such a list exists at all. Why? Because he couldn’t be further away from what Jim Schwartz likes in his linebackers.

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