Philadelphia Eagles: Keep an eye on Joe Schobert

Heading into the 2021 NFL season, optionality was the buzzword surrounding the Philadelphia Eagles‘ defense.

Jonathan Gannon, a disciple of both Mike Zimmer and Matt Eberflus, talked openly about his admiration of coaches like Brandon Staley and Vic Fangio and detailed how teams in the modern-day NFL can’t stick too stringently to one defensive alignment.

Oh goodness, were the Eagles going to run some 4-3 and 3-4 fronts with Javon Hargrave at nose tackle? Would they experiment with a variety of different defensive sub-packages, from dime to the big nickel, or even some speedy packages with Brandon Graham and Milton Williams aligned at defensive tackle?

Well, as it turns out, the Eagles’ defense was actually fairly vanilla, though not exclusively to the fault of Gannon. Despite his best efforts to secure schematically-compatible veterans on one-year, low-budget deals, most of Howie Roseman’s defensive free agent signings came up flat. Outside of Anthony Harris and Steven Nelson, who were both average NFL starters, Eric Wilson and Ryan Kerrigan were incredibly underwhelming, and Andrew Adams didn’t even make it out of camp.

With Jonathan Gannon officially set to return in 2022 and notably more available salary-cap space than a spring before, the Philadelphia Eagles should be able to go out and secure a few more schematically flexible players to further fortify their defensive front. One of those players is currently employed by the Pittsburgh Steelers, but he might not be for much longer.

Schobert would’ve been an upgrade for the Philadelphia Eagles over Avery.

When the Pittsburgh Steelers traded a sixth-round pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars for Joe Schobert, it was an opportunity too good to pass up.

A long-time member of the AFC North who spent four seasons mostly as a starter with the Cleveland Browns, Schobert was coming off a 141 tackle season during his first year as a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars; a season that also saw him record three interceptions, two forced fumbles, and 2.5 sacks in 16 games with 16 starts. Schobert was a popular player in the locker room, a veteran presence in the middle of the Jaguars’ defense, and after signing a five-year, $53.75 million contract, was presumed to remain in both of those roles for a very long time.

So naturally, when Trent Balkee and Urban Meyer made Schobert available, more than a few teams looking to shore up their linebacking corps placed calls to Jacksonville.

Despite his expansive cap hit, which the Jaguars reportedly paid part of to get him off the books, Schobert ultimately landed in Pittsburgh, where he was paired up with 2019 first-round pick Devin Bush. While Schobert’s performance didn’t take him back to the Pro Bowl for his second campaign, he ranked second on the team in total tackles at 112 – his fifth-straight 100 tackle season – and only allowed one touchdown in coverage on 48 total targets. Sure, he missed some plays in coverage and didn’t record a sack or forced fumble for the first time in his career, but after playing middle linebacker in a 4-3 in 2020, switching back to a 3-4 SAM linebacker clearly took some time for the 28-year-old.

If there were no salary cap, the Steelers would likely bring back Schobert for a second season with the team but considering Pittsburgh could save $7.8 million by allowing him to walk following a “down year,” might just make the most financial sense for a Pittsburgh team in the market for a new quarterback.

Would the Eagles take on that $7.8 million via a trade for Schobert? No. Would the Eagles pursue Shoebert as an upgrade over Genard Avery for, say, $3 million if he is released before the start of the 2023 NFL league year? Yeah. I think that could make a good bit more sense.

Like Avery, Schobert is an athletic Sam linebacker who can rush the quarterback from a standing position, blitz between the defensive tackles, and make an impact in the run game. Unlike Avery, Schobert also had a history of being a playmaker in the passing game and has the added bonus of having 4,942 more defensive snaps at linebacker under his belt.

Would a two-man tandem of T.J. Edwards and Schobert be an elite unit? Probably not, as neither is the sort of sideline-to-sideline coverage specialist the Eagles have been looking for for years now, but the floor of that group is much better than any pairing Philadelphia trotted out in 2022 save maybe Edwards and Davion Taylor. When you consider Schobert wouldn’t affect the Eagles’ compensatory pick formula if he is released by another team – which doesn’t really matter, since the Eagles aren’t expected to have a comp pick, but is not worthy nonetheless – his addition as one-third of the Eagles’ new-look linebacking corps would be a solid get, especially if the team can come away from the draft with a coverage specialist.

Who knows, maybe Joe Schobert’s career is on a downward spiral? Maybe his performance in Pittsburgh is the new normal, and his game won’t rebound back to his Cleveland production. But do you know what? I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing the Philadelphia Eagles sign the former Pro Bowler to a one-year deal to try to find out. If it works, Schobert is a dynamic, schematically flexible linebacker who could help to open up Jonathan Gannon’s defensive playbook. And if he isn’t? Well, how would his signing be any different than those of Eric Wilson, Ryan Kerrigan, Andrew Adams, or Andrew Sendejo before him?