Philadelphia Eagles: Myles Jack is the defensive superstar Philly needs

Myles Jack could be the face of the Philadelphia Eagles’ defense.

With Week 8 of the 2020 NFL season basically in the books, it’s time for fans to turn their attention to arguably the most important day on the NFL calendar: The trade deadline.

On November 3rd – which, fittingly enough, is also election day – NFL general managers will have to objectively look at their roster, look at their place in the standings, and look at their forthcoming schedule make one simple but incredibly consequential decision: Buy, sell, or hold steady.

For the Philadelphia Eagles, that decision became a whole lot clearer the night prior, when the team handily defeated a similarly injury-depleted Cowboys squad to take a game and a 1/2 lead in the NFC East. With a documented desire to make a splash on the open market and an extra week to incorporate any new players into their system, the Eagles look perfectly positioned to exchange future capital for a short term return In a moonshot attempt to put the NFC East in their rearview mirror.

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Who could that player be? Could they go trade for a wide receiver like Texans star Will Fuller? How about taking things a different route and exchange a late-round pick for a Browns tight end? Articles have been written with double-digit options that could conceivably go down, most of which remain on the table even after a flurry of pre-deadline moves for everyone from Desmond King to Kwon Alexander.

But in this humble writer’s opinion, there is only one move that could make the kind of splash the Eagles need to not only finish out 2020 with a winning record – or at least a not-losing record – but also sure up the team for the foreseeable future.

Myles Jack is one of the best players in the NFL, and it’s about darn time he gets to prove it on a perennial playoff contender.

Now I know what you’re (probably) already thinking, “the Eagles would never be willing to trade premium assets for a linebacker, no matter how good.”

Okay, fair. You’re right, by the way. Historically, the Eagles have been very stingy at the linebacker position under Roseman’s rule. But don’t think of Jack as just a linebacker. Really he’s not, as he is more of a do it all coverage player capable of filling any position in the back seven from middle linebacker to perimeter cornerback.

And guess what, he’s been really good at all of them.

Back in his UCLA days, Jack was a machine. When he played inside linebacker, he rushed the passer with a hand in the dirt and even played further off the ball as a strong safety. If the Bruins needed to close off an edge, they turned to Jack. If the Bruins needed support in the run game or neutralize a read-option quarterback, they turned to Jack. Heck, if the Bruins needed someone to blanket an opposing outside receiver having a field day, they would even give Jack snaps on the outside in the hopes of having one team’s best player neutralize another.

Over his career in Westwood, Jack amassed 178 tackles, four interceptions, and a sack splitting time between safety and linebacker. If it wasn’t for a medical red flag that arose during the pre-draft process, it’s entirely possible Jack would have been a top-10 player in his draft class as he clearly outperformed many of the players selected in front of him like Leonard Floyd, Eli Apple, Vernon Hargreaves III, and Corey Coleman.

As a pro, Jack has proven remarkably durable, having only missed seven games for the Jaguars through his first five seasons in the league due to a late-season knee injury in 2019 and an ankle injury in 2020. He’s also proven one of the better coverage players in the league as either an inside or outside linebacker, as evidenced by his 9.25 Average Value grade from Pro Football Reference.

Just for context, the Eagles haven’t had a linebacker with an AV of 9 since Nigel Bradham back in 2017, let alone one average that number over a 59 game stretch.

Since returning to his natural role as a weakside linebacker in Todd Wash’s 4-3 defensive front alongside free agent acquisition Joe Schobert, Jack has been playing the best football of his career. According to Pro Football Focus, Jack is the second-highest graded coverage linebacker (86.6), the second-best red-zone defender (93.0), and the highest-overall graded linebacker in the league (88.6) through the first two months of the regular season.

Jack is a playmaker, a run-stuffer, and a certified defensive star at what is rapidly becoming one of the premier positions in the NFL. He can man up with an opposing tight end on first down – arguably the Eagles’ biggest defensive deficiency through the first eight weeks of the season – drop into the box in base coverage on second down, and then stay on the field in dime packages as the Birds’ lone linebacker on the field versus an empty backfield on third down.

And unfortunately for Jack, his prime is being wasted away on a team that is about to willingly start Jake Luton against a similarly bad Houston Texans team.

Now granted, the Jaguars may not want to trade Jack. He’s the kind of player you build a team around, and the Jaguars aren’t exactly a team with very many players of that caliber. With that being said, the Jaguars are also lightyears away from being a contender, and having a high draft pick on a cheap four-year contract may better fit into their timeline than a fifth-year linebacker signed to a four-year, $57 million deal.

Conversely, the Philadelphia Eagles are perfectly suited to add a 25-year-old linebacker who is under contract through the 2023 season, even if they have to shuffle some money around to sneak his $9.75 million hit under the cap in 2021.

Say what you will about the Eagles’ lack of interest in employing quality linebackers, let alone paying them. Still, Jack is so freakishly good that even Roseman may have to make an exception to his typical ethos. Heck, the Eagles could even call Jack a safety if that makes them feel better, whatever works to secure a future defensive face of the franchise for the foreseeable future.

If the Eagles can get a deal done for a Day 2 pick, do it. If they have to surrender a first-round pick, I’d still lean towards doing it, though I’d probably try to include Alshon Jeffery in the deal to make the money work a tad bit better.

Still not convinced the Eagles would make such a move for a non-offensive player? Well, guess what? Jack actually played running back with the Bruins too, and he did a fine job at it.

Over his three-year tenure with Los Angeles’ premier college football team, Jack ran the ball 68 times for 387 yards and 11 touchdowns. He’s one of the rare players who won both Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the Year honors in the Pac-12 back in 2013 and could conceivably be used as a change of pace ‘trick play’ threat a la Jalen Hurts in 2020 or Beu Allen as a goal line fullback in 2017.

Really, it’s hard to find a role Jack can’t play on a football field, as he even spent some time as a return man with the Bruins and logged 380 special teams snaps over his first four seasons with the Jaguars.

Next. Why didn’t Howie Roseman trade for Desmond King?. dark

There’s no doubt about it, Myles Jack is one of the best players in the NFL that very few national fans know about. He’s a bit of an NFL hipster special, an analytics darling, and a true talent who will continue to make play after play for a team very few people watch with regularity. But on the Philadelphia Eagles, Myles Jack would be a star. He’d be thrust into the national spotlight for the first time in half a decade and would finally get the due respect his play deserves. And as for the Eagles? Well, they’d finally have newer, younger Malcolm Jenkins-esque swiss army knives who can do-it-all on the defensive side of the ball and finally sure up the defense long-term regardless of down and distance. That sort of tangible guarantee is worth far more than any hypothetical pick.

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