Philadelphia Eagles: Releasing Will Parks makes no flippin’ sense

The Philadelphia Eagles never really appreciated what Will Parks brings to the table.

When news broke that the Philadelphia Eagles were signing Will Parks to a one-year, $1.5 million deal, the move was universally lauded.

A native son of our fair city who played his college ball at Arizona but maintained strong Philly roots, Parks turned down bigger money elsewhere to sign with the Eagles and bring his career full circle.

On paper, Parks had everything going for him. He spent the offseason working with fellow safety Rodney McLeod and the player he replaced, Malcolm Jenkins and had filled a similar stong safety role with the Denver Broncos under Vance Joseph in 2018. Though his 2019 season was nothing to write home about, Parks looked primed for a comeback season and had ‘fan-favorite’ written all over him.

More from Section 215

• 4 Eagles on the Bubble Who Have Clinched Their 53-Man Roster Spots
• Best Pennsylvania Sportsbook Promos: Win $650 GUARANTEED Bonus PLUS $100 off NFL Sunday Ticket
• 3 Punters the Eagles Must Target to Replace Arryn Siposs
• Cowboys Trey Lance Trade Proves How Screwed They Are With Dak Prescott
• Devon Allen Took Britain Covey’s Job on Eagles

Fast forward to Tuesday, December 1st, not 24 hours removed from an ugly loss against the Seattle Seahawks, and Parks is gone, having been outright released to make room for practice squad safety Grayland Arnold.

For fans keeping track at home, this marks the second year in a row where the Eagles released their free agent safety addition to make room for a practice squad player. Hopefully, Arnold works out a tad better than Marcus Epps.

If we’re being honest, this shouldn’t be that surprising. If anything, the team has actually been choreographing it for some time now.

Since suffering a hamstring injury in camp, Parks has appeared in six regular season games. In said six games, Parks has played an average of 19 defensive snaps, with his season-high (39) coming in his Week 6 debut against Baltimore.

While some of this may have been attributable to how opposing teams chose to play the Eagles in each of those games, the fact that he failed to reach his season average number of snaps in four of the team’s last six games is a pretty big red flag.

Factor in Parks’ placement on the Eagles’ trade block back in October, with the Minnesota Vikings reportedly showing some interest in his services for the second time this calendar year, and it’s clear Howie Roseman and company just weren’t all that into the now former number 28.

But, like, why?

Sure, Parks isn’t exactly a man coverage player by modern-day standards. He can’t really hang with shifty slot receivers, gets bodied up on by bigger tight ends, and can’t reliably be counted on to shadow running quarterbacks like Lamar Jackson and Daniel Jones. But what Parks can do, and do pretty darn well, is play in the box as a zone defender.

For how bad the Eagles’ linebacking corps has been this season in coverage, it’s pretty incredible that Parks wasn’t used more often as a weakside coverage linebacker – especially after Nathan Gerry landed on IR. Even at a paltry 194 pounds,  19 pounds lighter than Jamal Adams, Parks is more athletically gifted than players like T.J. Edwards and Alex Singleton and could be more reliably counted on to blanket the middle of the field without needing additional safety help from over the top.

Is Parks a perfect player? No,  but it must sting to explicitly take less money to play for your hometown team only to be underutilized and outright released midway through the season. Maybe Parks should have stayed a Cowboys fan after all.

So Will Parks, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry things didn’t work out with the Philadelphia Eagles. I know eagles are your favorite air animal, and having to pack up for less green pastures is going to be hard, but hey, maybe your next team – probably the Vikings or Joseph’s Cardinals, if we’re being honest – will actually appreciate you.