Philadelphia Eagles: Kwon Alexander fits the bill of a Jonathan Gannon LB

Chuck Bednarik, Jeremiah Trotter, Seth Joyner; these players will forever go down as some of the best to ever take the field for the Philadelphia Eagles. Will we ever say the same about Alex Singleton, T.J. Edwards, or… Shaun Bradley? Davion Taylor? A player to be named later?

No matter how you slice it, the Eagles are not a team particularly flush with talent in the middle of their defense. Call it the logical byproduct of failing to address the position with quality starters in free agency and failing to invest a top-100 draft pick in the position in well over half a decade, but for many reasons compounded on top of each other, the Eagles haven’t had an elite interior linebacker in years.

To make matters worse, when the team is able to land a quality player at their perpetual position of need, they seldom opt to extend them, as evidence by Jordan Hicks‘ migration west to play quality football for another team with a mascot of the avian genus.

Did Hicks have injury concerns that may have made Howie Roseman a tad worried about offering him up a four-year contract? Yes, but Hicks hasn’t missed a game with the Arizona Cardinals through the midway point of his contract and looks every bit like a player worthy of a $32 million contract.

And as for the Eagles? Well, they’ve perpetually prioritized pretty much every position but inside linebacker and have struggled mightily to field a consistently competent unit as a result.

But what is there to do? Should the Eagles once again look to the draft to add another player barely over the legal drinking age to one of the youngest linebacking corps in the entire NFL? Or should they instead try to execute a trade for a proven commodity, considering all of the household names are off the board this deep into free agency?

Well, what if I were to tell you there’s an option still on the market who is an incredibly intriguing fit in Jonathan Gannon’s scheme and could fit nicely into the Eagles’ current cap situation?

That’s right; we’re talking about Kwon Alexander.

Kwon Alexander is the kind of linebacker the Philadelphia Eagles have wanted for years.

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Kwon Alexander hasn’t had the best go of things in the NFL.

A former fourth-round pick out of LSU by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Alexander has only played a full 16 game season one time during his NFL career. He’s missing time due to a cornucopia of issues ranging from a torn pec to a pair of torn ACLs – but when he’s been available to play, it’s hard to argue that Alexander isn’t one of the more dynamic interior presences in the NFL today.

Though some initially questioned if Alexander could hold up to the rigors of being an every-down inside linebacker at an admittedly slender 6-foot-1, 227 pounds, the former safety has proven himself a viable force against the run, the pass, and even against the QB as an interior blitzer.

Do you know who is particularly fond of having players with such varied skillsets in the middle of his defense? Mike Zimmer, but also new Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon.

Whether adjacent to a linebacking corps headlined by two-time All-Pro Darius Leonard or the dynamic duo of Anthony Barr and Mychal Kendrick’s younger brother Eric, Gannon’s entire run as a defensive backs coach – assistant or not – has been predicated on exemplary play from the second-level helping to make life easier on his cornerbacks and safties.

In theory, it makes sense, right? Having a linebacking corps capable of handling the run allows a team to run two safeties deep, as opposed to engaging one closer to the line of scrimmage as a box defender. The same goes for deploying linebackers who can lock down the middle of the field in zone or help to neutralize running backs and/or tight ends in shallow coverage, which allows the team to run more Cover 2 defensive looks without committing additional bodies between the hash marks.

Heck, if teams can generate pressure by rushing an additional linebacker between the tackles, it leaves less time for quarterbacks to make a throw and thus affords cornerbacks less time to remain engaged in man coverage, which, obviously, is nothing but a good thing.

In a normal world, landing a linebacker like Alexander to fill either the Leonard or the Kendricks role would be a dream come true and something a team like the Eagles would surely have to pay a premium for, but in this particular spring, that isn’t so much the case. No, after tearing his ACL in Week 16 of the 2020 season, Alexander is what would call a depreciated asset; the kind of asset a team like the Eagles would be wise to invest in in the hopes of winning the lottery on a long-shot bet.

Had Alexander not torn his ACL, he would 100 percent still be a member of the New Orleans Saints, albeit on a slightly restructured contract. Sean Payton’s team traded a conditional fifth and our old pal Kiko Alonso to secure Alexander’s services in the hopes of shoring up their tight end coverage, and though the sample size was small, the Oxford, Alabama native did just that, allowing only 38 yards on seven receptions over his first three games in a black and gold uniform, versus the team’s average of 49.4 yards surrendered to tight ends per game.

But that wasn’t all Alexander brought to the Saints’ table.

No, according to our friends over at Canal St. Chronicles, Alexanders’ presence helped to make life easier on the Saints’ formidable safety trio headline by another one of our old friends, Malcolm Jenkins, and help to disrupt opposing teams’ short passing games, which was a big issue for New Orleans last season.

While the Eagles have presumably upgraded their secondary heading into the 2021 season, as Anthony Harris is a better defender than Jalen Mills, and most cornerback options the team could line up across from Darius Slay would presumably present an upgrade over Avonte Maddox, landing a player like Alexander, even if he isn’t ready to play until a few weeks into the regular season, would surely help to make the entire defense run smoother, both in the back seven and front seven.

Pairing Alexander up with a linebacker like Singleton in the nickel would give the Birds a pair of players with sub-4.6 40s who are big enough to impact the run and quick enough to be players in zone coverage. Heck, adding a player like Alexander would probably make Singleton’s life easier, as the former could take on more on-ball coverage responsibilities and allow the former CFL star to continue to develop as a weakside defender.

And the best part? Alexander is only 26, two years younger than Jordan Hicks, and could conceivably parlay a solid season with the Eagles into another big money, long-term contract, the ultimate goal of every NFL player.

Next. How Ja’Marr Chase influenced the Philadelphia Eagles to trade down. dark

Normally, Kwon Alexander wouldn’t be available to the Philadelphia Eagles at this point in the process. If his health was copacetic, some other team would have surely swooped up his services if the New Orleans Saints allowed him to test the open market in the first place. But 2020 wasn’t a particularly good normal year, so why would the free agency period directly following it be anything but unusual? While Alexander may not be all that interested in playing for a team that’s rebuilding, if Howie Roseman and company are aggressive in courting Jalen Mills’ former teammate, they may just land a difference-maker at a position of need both now and moving forward. As far as buy-low candidates are concerned, Alexander’s name should be at the top of any Philly fan’s wish list.

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