Philadelphia Eagles: Has the Genard Avery experiment run its course?

In the NFL – and all of sports really – some trades just don’t work out.

A trade could be considered can’t miss, the big-name acquired player could have all of the tools to be a star, or the picks collected in a deal could be so rich that even a mock draft left on auto mode couldn’t miss on building a winner.

And yet, sometimes, a trade just doesn’t work out, and a team rapidly regrets the decision. Take, for example, every quarterback Howie Roseman traded away from the Philadelphia Eagles; do you think the Indianapolis Colts, Minnesota Vikings, and Arizona Cardinals were happy to exchange premium draft capital for quarterbacks they wanted to move off of almost as soon as they arrived? No, I’m sure all three would happily call do-backsies on the deals for Carson Wentz, Sam Bradford, and Kevin Kolb, respectively, but hey, that’s business, baby; you can’t win them all.

But even the Eagles’ general manager isn’t batting 100 when it comes to trading for or away players. Take, for example, his decision to trade a 2021 fourth-round pick – eventually used to draft James Hudson – to the Cleveland Browns for Genard Avery.

Could said deal ultimately break in the Philadelphia Eagles’ favor? I mean sure, anything’s possible, but with Genard Avery’s contract set to expire next month, I sort of doubt it.

Even a position switch couldn’t give Avery longevity with the Philadelphia Eagles.

After struggling to find consistency both in terms of playing time and production under Jim Schwartz, Genard Avery made the tough decision to move further off the ball and try his hand at linebacker with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Once upon a time, this idea felt impossible. Avery had a fantastic rookie season under Gregg Williams in Cleveland, where he amassed 4.5 sacks over 684 snaps as an overachieving speedball coming off the edge, and he graced many “second-year performers to watch” lists in the spring and summer of 2019.

Had Williams stuck around, maybe Avery would have established himself as a legitimate DE2 opposite former first overall pick Myles Garrett, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be; Avery only logged five snaps with the Browns in 2019 and was ultimately traded at the deadline.

And from there? Well, Avery did play more than five defensive snaps, but his production never eclipsed, let alone matched his numbers with the Browns.

From November 2019 through January of 2021, Avery only recorded two sacks, eight QB hits, and 14 tackles over 17 games and looked like a legitimate candidate to be waived heading into 2021.

Instead, Avery moved to linebacker full-time and embraced everything that comes from playing that position in a 4-3 scheme, run support, zone coverage, and the occasional blitz for good measure.

Did it work? Eh, Avery certainly turned in his best season in midnight green, but he was never an effective player in coverage and only really excelled when tasked with taking down a ball handler between the tackles but hey, when you’ve never played linebacker before, why not also try doing so under a new scheme too? I mean, if your job is on the line, you sort of have to, right?

Despite only playing 31.79 percent of the Eagles’ defensive snaps in 2021, Avery started 12 of the 16 games he appeared in and amassed 43 tackles, two QB hits, and a sack, while allowing 9-11 passes completed his way for 46 yards and no touchdowns. While Avery’s missed tackle percentage of 12.2 isn’t ideal, he showed out well as a blitzer and even contributed 98 snaps on special teams, which fell only below his 2019 efforts in terms of volume.

Is that the production a team expects from a player they procured for a fourth-round pick? No, probably not. Is it decent enough production for a player making $920,000? Yes, yes, it is.

Herein lies the quandary at the center of whether or not the Eagles should bring back Avery in 2022 and whether or not he would even like to return: Financial compensation. If Avery wants to return and play Sam linebacker for a quarter of the team’s snaps for $2 million or less a year, then yeah, why not bring him back? Avery looked much better at linebacker in 2021 than as a weird, standup rusher in 2020 and could take another step forward with a second year in Jonathan Gannon’s scheme. Then again, it’s not hard to sign another linebacker who already has experience in a Gannon-adjacent scheme, and cap money could potentially be better used on a vet like Anthony Barr, Anthony Walker Jr., or Nick Vigil, who could shoulder a more expansive role.

And then there’s the question of whether or not Avery even wants to come back to the Eagles in a non-rushing role. In 2018, Avery was a rising star as an edge rusher, and something tells me the 26-year-old would like to take another shot at a similar role in the hopes of cashing out a few years down the line on a massive contract. Could Gannon use Avery more as a rusher? That’s possible, but it doesn’t seem as likely as the role he would receive in another defense.

My prediction? If Avery signs before the 2022 NFL Draft, it will be elsewhere, but if he remains on the market into May, a reunion will become more and more likely.

Look, it’s not Genard Avery’s fault he was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles; it’s on Howie Roseman. It’s also not his fault he wasn’t given expansive opportunities to rush off the edge in a wide-9 scheme; that’s on Jim Schwartz. And it’s not Avery’s fault that he didn’t magically become Bobby Wagner in his first year at linebacker full time, for all of the good Jonathan Gannon was able to do for his production, the learning process just wasn’t as quick as some would have hoped. If Avery opts to leave in free agency this summer, few will fault him, as his trade to the City of Brotherly Love didn’t quite turn out as planned. If, however, he returns, well, that wouldn’t be the worst thing either, especially if the Eagles can fill out their depth chart with a few more proven commodities.