The Philadelphia Eagles come up a few dollars short on Marcus Williams

On Monday, the Philadelphia Eagles made waves.

While the NFL world looked at the big-name signees, the J.C. Jacksons, the Mitch Trubiskys, and the Zach Ertzs, Howie Roseman kept his head down, his eyes on the prize, and to the script, signing Temple’s own Haason Reddick to a three-year $45 million deal to help fortify the front seven with a do-it-all defensive dynamo.

Do you want an off-ball linebacker who can drop into coverage? Reddick can fill that role in the base defensive package. How about an edge rusher who can shoot off the edge like a speedball in defensive subpackages and on obvious passing downs? Reddick can do that, too. Heck, Jonathan Gannon could even deploy Reddick as a joker rusher on the inside, rushing as a stand-up linebacker between a guard and the center.

Needless to say, Monday was a good day for fans in South Philly, but what about Day 2 of… well, not of free agency but of “pre agency?” Did Howie Roseman follow up his efforts with another big-time Philadelphia Eagles signing? No, but he certainly tried to.

Marcus Williams was almost a member of the Philadelphia Eagles.

After showing reported interest in a number of younger, dynamic free safeties in free agency, the Philadelphia Eagles currently sit in the not so adventurous situation of having Marcus Epps and K’Von Wallace headline their depth chart at safety.

They missed out on Justin Reid, who signed with the Kansas City Cheifs on a three-year, $31.5 million contract, on Jordan Whitehead, who signed with the New York Jets for a two-year, $14.5 million deal, and on the biggest prize of all, Marcus Williams, who signed with the Baltimore Ravens on a five-year contract worth $70 million.

Unfortunate? For fans looking for respite at the back end of the defense, you bet, but when the majority of the teams in the NFL have cap space, and everyone wants an upgrade, sometimes it just doesn’t happen. That doesn’t mean, however, that the Birds didn’t try, as according to Geoff Mosher, Philadelphia did put in an offer that was “close” to the one presented by the Baltimore Ravens but ultimately came up a few dollars short.

Howie Roseman, this clearly wasn’t your lucky day.

Now, as you may or may not know – if not, read about it here – the Eagles had an offer in place to acquire Calvin Ridley from the Atlanta Falcons before the Alabama product was suspended for the season. Had that deal gone through, folks would be looking at free agency in a very different light both financially and from a talent acquisition standpoint, but after whiffing on Ridley due to no fault of their own and watching Williams sign with the Ravens, the initial buzz from the Reddick signing has turned into the ever-present tedium of a team missing out on fan-favorite free agent options.

Has any team ever won a Super Bowl in free agency? No, not per se, but when you have a team like the Eagles with only one player under contract from their 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 draft classes, securing solid contributors in their prime is valuable, especially when the team is expected to have a windfall of rookies coming through the draft.

Whether via an external option or the return of their own impending free agents, it’s pretty safe to say the Philadelphia Eagles won’t go into the 2022 NFL season with Marcus Epps starting at free safety and K’Von Wallace on the strongside. They’ll bring back Rodney McLeod or Anthony Harris, or maybe even Malcolm Jenkins if he’s cut by the New Orleans Saints and hopefully secure a difference-maker in the draft. But goodness, it sure would have been nice to see a player like Marcus Williams choose Philadelphia over Baltimore, even if he (probably) would have had to pick a different number since Haason Reddick wore 43 in Arizona, Carolina, and possibly Philly, too.