Philadelphia Eagles: Could Logan Ryan find a new home down I-95?

Though free agency isn’t even 100 hours old – excluding the legal tampering window, of course – the Philadelphia Eagles‘ defense, which was low-key pretty good in 2021, is sort of in shambles at the moment.

Gone are franchise stalwarts like Fletcher Cox and Rodney McLeod, at least for now, in addition to more recent contributors like Alex Singleton, Anthony Harris, and Steven Nelson, and in their place is Haason Reddick, who appears fired as all heck up to play some football close to home and… well… that’s it.

Now granted, could that change in an instant? You bet, Howie Roseman could go out and sign the biggest-named free agent left on the market – Tyrann Mathieu? – and allow fans in the Delaware Valley and beyond to gloat all over the internet like nobody’s business, but as premier players continue to come off of the board, the list of free agents with a PHI next to their name remains a one-man list, which isn’t a list at all if we’re being true to the term’s definition.

But remember, free agency isn’t a one-way transaction. As we saw earlier on this very day, the Eagles – and every other team – can release players to free up money moving forward and pursue different avenues of team building. That happened today in East Rutherford, where the new-look New York Giants pulled a Cowboys/Commanders and released one of their 2021 starters, in their case free safety Logan Ryan, to pursue a new gig elsewhere.

Could the Philadelphia Eagles swoop in and woo the two-time Super Bowl champion down I-95? Considering the other options left on the board, you’d best believe that’s a strong possibility.

Logan Ryan would be a wonderful consolation prize for the Philadelphia Eagles.

What do the Philadelphia Eagles need in a safety?

Well, for one thing, they need a player with experience deployed deep from the free safety spot. Jonathan Gannon wants to play a two-high safety shell more often than not in the hopes of disguising looks, and having a traditional “box” safety on the field would help to “tell” their intentions before the ball is snapped.

The Eagles also need a safety with the versatility to cover multiple positions, as anyone from a slot receiver to a running back or even a tight end could end up in their zone depending on the play call. Securing a safety with solid coverage skills would similarly allow Gannon to call man coverages with a safety dropped into solo coverage in the slot, which, again, would afford maximum pre-snap intrigue.

And last, but not least, the Eagles need safeties who are comfortable dropping into the box from a deep deployment to help support the run, as it allows fewer players to be anchored into the box and, in turn, more back seven members to be dropped back into coverage.

That’s… sort of a lot, right? Well, in a way, it is, but in a way, it isn’t. Across the NFL right now, there are multiple dozen safeties of all different ages, experience levels, and, most importantly of all, price tags who can fit that bill and do so at a competent-to-great level.

Is Logan Ryan one of those players? Well, you’d best believe he is.

A college cornerback out of Rutgers, Ryan spent the first seven years of his NFL career as a slot cornerback before transitioning to safety by his own request when he signed a one year, $5.05 million prove-it deal with his quasi-home state team – Ryan is from Berlin, New Jersey – as a member of the New York Giants. Though he didn’t transition to safety at the NFL level until just after his 29th birthday, Ryan took to the position well and was extended by then-Giants GM Dave Gettleman to the tune of a three-year, $31 million contract that would have run through the 2023 season if he played out the entire deal.

Over his two seasons in New Jersey York, Ryan played an average of 519.5 snaps at the free safety spot versus 204 in the slot and 227.5 in the box. Ryan was targeted 105 times in coverage and allowed a total of 68 passes to be caught for 778 yards and four total touchdowns, two in 2020 and two more in 2021. Are those numbers good? Well, Ryan allowed one fewer touchdown and a lower yards-per-completion than Anthony Harris on 24 more targets, but his yards per catch and total yardage were much higher than Rodney McLeod, who was lightly tested over the past two seasons.

To make matters all the more impressive, Ryan has graded out as one of the Giants’ better safeties at both run defense and as a pass rusher over his two seasons at his new position, grading out with a run defense grade of 74.1 and a pass-rushing grade of 71.9 in 2021 according to Pro Football Focus.

Is Ryan going to make folks forget about Jamal Adams anytime soon? No, probably not, but after striking out young safeties like Marcus Williams and Justin Reid, Ryan would serve as a solid stopgap a la Harris in 2021 to pair up with a Day 2 rookie – or Harris – and live to fight until the draft.

Considering the prospects currently on the team’s depth chart, committing a one-year, $5 million sort of deal to a player like Ryan is a small price to pay in order to avoid entering the draft with a desperate need at a historically undervalued position.

For whatever reason, when a player is cut, they have a tendency to enjoy staying in the same division to ensure they prove their former team wrong. It happened with Terrell Owens, it happened with his archrival Donovan McNabb – albeit via trade – and it happened when the Philadelphia Eagles signed away players like DeMarco Murray, Ryan Kerrigan, and almost Byron Jones, who ultimately spurned Howie Roseman for the Miami Dolphins. Could Logan Ryan join that actual multi-player list? Only time will tell, but considering Berlin, New Jersey is a little over 18 miles away from South Philadelphia, and he probably wouldn’t even have to move, the prospects of cashing in red, white, and blue for midnight green might be too good to pass up.