Philadelphia Eagles: Trevon Moehrig is Howie Roseman’s dream player

Is there a team in the NFL today that prioritizes safety as much as the Philadelphia Eagles?

I mean, they live, laugh, and straight-up love the position, so much so that they’ve consistently maintained one of the highest-paid safety tandems in the league since the post-Andy Reid-era, regardless of head coach, defensive scheme, or that particular season’s free agent market.

Call it taking advantage of a depressed market or a likely side effect of having “Weapon X” roam the back of the defense for a decade-plus during Howie Roseman‘s formative years, but the Eagles’ wily GM loves him some safeties free and strong like Winnie the Pooh loves honey, or Ron Funches loves pro wrestling.

Fun fact: Pooh and Funches love honey/pro wrestling a lot, in case you didn’t know.

So while fans carefully craft their mock draft, comb through Twitter for hints about front office intentions, and rocksteady with the beat marching closer and closer to Kevin Cosner’s favorite day, don’t be too surprised if the name called following the phrase “The Philadelphia Eagles” is shortly superseded by the word “safety.”

If that happens, let’s hope the player in question is TCU’s Trevon Moehrig, because he’s not only a fantastic fit in Jonathan Gannon’s scheme but also the kind of prospect who can make still-bitter fans forget about last season’s top pick from the Horned Frogs.

Trevon Moehrig is the perfect next man up for the Philadelphia Eagles.

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

In the modern-day NFL, safety may be the least-defined position in the game.

For some teams, a safety plays at the line of scrimmage like a quasi-linebacker. For others, a safety is a last line of defense who is responsible for keeping players in front of him over a specified segment of the field. And for others still, he is deployed out of the slot; utilized as a Swiss army knife who many match up with a tight end on one play and a running back on the next.

To play safety in 2021, you don’t just have to be a good coverage player, a sure tackler, or a smart reader of the quarterback. No, you have to be all three and hope to land in a scheme where your specific set of skills can be showcased to their fullest, regardless of what they may be.

If Trevon Moehrig could pick a scheme that best fits the ways he plays, that of the Philadelphia Eagles would surely rank pretty darn high on his list.

Measuring in at 6-foot, 202 pounds with long arms and a ball hawk’s mentality, Moehrig’s game practically “hops” off the tape – insert puke emoji here – for just how energized he plays the game of football. Though some will quibble with his 4.5 40 time versus his slender build – a time Moehrig suggests isn’t particularly representative of his true speed due to a nagging back injury – Moehrig looks plenty fast when he’s dropping back into coverage, reading the quarterback’s eyes, and making the corresponding play to get Gary Patterson’s offense back on the field.

No wonder Moehrig started 24 games for the Horned Frogs over the past three seasons; he’s quite literally been the best player on a defense that generated three draft picks in 2020 alone.

Over the course of his 33 game sted in Fort Worth, Moehrig amassed 124 tackles, two fumbles, and seven interceptions versus 21 passes defensed. He helped the Frogs lead the Big 12 in fewest defensive yards allowed twice, led the conference in pass breakups in each of the last two seasons, and is a big reason why the team won six of their 10 games in 2020 – and 18 of 35 overall – despite having lost their top cornerback, Jeff Gladney, to the Minnesota Vikings in the first round of last year’s draft.

Is Moehrig a plug-‘n-play starter? For the Philadelphia Eagles, probably not, but that’s only because they already have Rodney McLeod and Anthony Harris under contract. But fast forward to 2022, when both of those players are off the books, and suddenly Moehrig could be the guy for a team that’s had a number of good guys filling out the back of their D over the years.

Assuming new defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon does, in fact, transplant a modified version of the Minnesota Vikings’ defense over to South Philly, it’s safe to say the Eagles will be on the lookout for safeties with 1. Experience playing in a two-deep defense 2. Enough speed to play both the pass and the run and 3. The ability to cover tight ends in a division filled with really good ones.

That bill fits Moehrig’s game to a T.

During his three seasons at TCU, Moehrig almost exclusively lined up between eight and 12 yards from the line of scrimmage paired up with Ar’Darius Washington – who is a solid draft prospect in his own right. He made plays dropped deep into coverage, sat pretty in his zones, and was able to consistently keep opposing ball-handlers in front of him while somehow still finding a way to make plays.

While Gannon often gets characterized as being a true Cover 2 guy due to his time in both Indianapolis and Minnesota, neither scheme is predicated on solely running two deep safeties exclusively. No, despite routinely starting off any given play with two safeties roughly 10-12 yards off the line of scrimmage parallel to the nine-tech, Gannon’s mentors would routinely drop one safety into the box post-snap in order to feast on plus matchups and keep opposing QBs guessing. The Vikings and Colts would also routinely use their safties as run support, which required bigger bodies well equipped to deliver some punishment between the tackles alongside athletic coverage linebackers.

If Moehrig can fill out his frame with good muscle – maybe borrowing from fellow Texas collegiate athlete Shake Milton‘s protein stake regiment – there’s no reason he couldn’t swiftly become a decade long starter for the Eagles moving forward, assuming, of course, he suffers an Antoine Winfield-esque drop out of the first round.

Assuming that happens, it’s hard to imagine Roseman not taking Moehrig with the 37th overall pick, even if there are more positionally valuable players still on the board.

Fun fact II: Trevon Moehrig was named TCU’s Special Teams Most Valuable Player during his freshman season. Is there a more Howie-centric player in the entire draft?

No matter how you slice it, the Philadelphia Eagles need to leave the 2021 NFL Draft with as much talent as possible. While they do have a few positions of need littered across their roster, most specifically at cornerback, wide receiver, and fullback – if such a position even exists anymore – when you have a roster as old, expensive, and inefficient as this current one, landing schematic blue-chippers has to be the goal, even if it’s doubling up at a position of strength. Why? Because no position in the NFL is a position of strength forever, as evidenced by last year’s QB musical chairs. If Trevon Moehrig somehow slides out of the first round – which isn’t totally implausible – and falls to Philly at 37, expect Howie Roseman to think long and hard about making that pick.