Philadelphia Eagles: Marcus Epps highlights his own strong season

When the 2022 NFL season officially opens up on March 16, the Philadelphia Eagles will have three safeties under contract: Marcus Epps, K’Von Wallace, and Jared Mayden, who signed a futures contract with the team back in January.

That’s… not an encouraging group of proven players. Would you like to know what else isn’t encouraging? That the team will actually be paying more money to Rodney McLeod and Anthony Harris in dead money than the rest of their safeties combined despite both players being unrestricted free agents in 2022.

Ideal? No, every team would like to return established stars at vital positions, but with a ton of draft capital and a rapidly growing cache of cap space at their disposal, the Eagles’ front office should be able to address the position group as they see fit heading into Year 2 with Jonathan Gannon at defensive coordinator.

But hey, just because the Philadelphia Eagles will likely be in the market for some new blood at the safety position doesn’t mean the players already on the roster couldn’t take a step forward and establish themselves as starters long-term. Despite entering the 2021 season without very high expectations, Marcus Epps specifically looks primed to build on a successful third season, and he has an ever-growing highlight reel to show for it.

Marcus Epps’ 2021 season was largely overlooked by Philadelphia Eagles fans.

According to Pro Football Focus, Marcus Epps was the Philadelphia Eagles’ fourth-best defensive player in 2021. He ranked 19th among 94 qualifying safeties, had an elite run defense grade of 88.9, and finished out the season with a better overall grade than Avonte Maddox, Fletcher Cox, and Javon Hargrave.

Now granted, would most honestly suggest that Epps was better than every defensive player on the team minus Darius Slay, Josh Sweat, and T.J. Edwards? No, advanced numbers are certainly useful but they don’t tell the full picture of a player’s on-field impact, especially when their particular roles and usage rates are desperate.

With that being said, Epps did take a notable step forward under Jonathan Gannon versus Jim Schwartz and looked far more natural in his two-high scheme than as a single-high free safety roaming the middle of the defense.

For one thing, Epps is a bigger safety, who looks natural playing closer to the box. He has enough speed to cover half of a field, good vision to diagnose the play once the ball is snapped, and enough pop to be a player in run support against running backs between the tackles. He’s also pretty good at stopping a play once the ball gets caught, as he only allowed 62 yards after the catch in 2021 versus 218 through the air.

But hey, don’t believe my words? Well, why don’t you watch for yourself here, as Epps went to Twitter to share a highlight reel of his performances in midnight green and frankly, it’s pretty impressive. Epps, or someone else, assembled his huge hit against Washington, his prevented touchdown versus Cincinnati, and his big interception versus Zach Wilson in Philly’s lone game without Jalen Hurts.

Throw that all in a blender and what do you have? A player worthy of another season to prove his worth, especially one with a sub-$1 million cap hit.

Will Marcus Epps establish himself as a long-term starter for the Philadelphia Eagles? Maybe, maybe not. For all we know, Howie Roseman will go out and sign a big name player like Marcus Williams and draft another big time safety on Day 2 of the draft and Epps will once again be nothing more than a subpackage performer. But hey, after some called for his job at the end of 2020 for some truly horrible coverage on DK Metcalf, it’s clear the pride of Wyoming might have a second life yet.