Philadelphia Eagles: 2 second-year defenders due for a bigger role in 2021
By David Esser
With the NFL Draft having come and gone, teams around the league are going to start working towards establishing some sort of projected depth chart for the 2021 season, and the Philadelphia Eagles are no exception.
While the Eagles’ roster could be the beneficiary one of or two late additions (most notably at cornerback), for the most part, this year’s team is set for training camp.
With that in mind, there are two main players selected during last year’s draft class that could be primed for bigger roles moving forward.
Two Philadelphia Eagles sophomores primed for bigger roles in 2021:
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Davion Taylor, LB
Heading into the offseason, linebacker was expected to be a major point of emphasis for Howie Roseman and the Eagles. While Roseman did bring in former Viking Eric Wilson, and drafted hybrid rookies JaCoby Stevens and Patrick Johnson, the Eagles are exiting this year’s offseason with a largely similar linebacker group.
Alex Singleton will get starter reps, and the likes of Davion Taylor, TJ Edwards, and Shaun Bradley will be expected to round out the depth at the position.
Understanding that there’s playing time to be had at the position, last year’s third-round pick Davion Taylor is a player who peaks my interest. The team drafted him with the expectation that he’d be a longterm project, but with an opportunity now present to stack up reps on a team that isn’t expecting to contend, my guess is that Howie Roseman and the Eagles avoided selecting a top-tier linebacking prospect during this year’s draft in order to provide Taylor with an opportunity to “win the job” in 2021.
Albeit severely undersized at 6-0 and 228lbs, Taylor has the athletic profile of someone who could thrive as an off-ball LB, specifically in zone coverage.
Taylor only logged 32 defensive snaps last season. My guess is he’ll surpass that number by Week 2 this season. If the former Colorado prospect fails to secure a starting LB gig this year, I’d also expect Roseman to target the position once more during next year’s offseason.