Philadelphia Eagles: Kyron Johnson can back up Haason Reddick

And with the 181st overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, the Philadelphia Eagles select: Kyron Johnson, outside linebacker, Kansas.

.. wait, NFL.com lists Johnson as an outside linebacker, a SAM outside linebacker to be exact, but the NFL Network announced the Arlington, Texas, native as an edge rusher? What gives?

Easy: Johnson is a Haason Reddick-style speedball coming off the edge.

That’s right, at Kansas, Johnson played on and off the ball and was able to amass 193 total tackles, 22.5 tackles for a loss, and 12.5 sacks, to go with five passes defensed and eight forced fumbles. Johnson was named to PFF’s All-Big 12 Second Team in 2021, the All-Big 12 Honorable Mention team in 2020, and was even on the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll and Athletic Director’s Honor Roll in 2017 and didn’t log a single penalty during his final season in Lawrence, which is a refreshing change of pace when compared to some other defensive linemen who will not be named.

Will Johnson play a lot as a rookie? Who knows, but he’s got a similar size to everyone’s favorite Temple Tuff $45 million man, and he ran a 4.40 40 at 235 pounds, so he can certainly move and produce as a moveable blitzer capable of deploying standing wide off the line of scrimmage or rushing from the second level Genard Avery-style.

With the “Punt God” gone, it’s nice to see Philly double-down on another athletic performer who can almost certainly play a role on special teams from Day 1, even if it does present some questions about what the Philadelphia Eagles’ base defensive package will look like this fall.

Are the Philadelphia Eagles looking to play more 3-4 into their base defense?

So far in the 2022 NFL Draft, the Philadelphia Eagles have selected a massive nose tackle, a three-down weakside inside linebacker, and a blazing fast Leo rusher off the edge.

Excuse me, those are the positions Jordan Davis, Nakobe Dean, and Kyron Johnson would be playing if they were in a 3-4 defense. In the Eagles’ front, Davis will play defensive tackle, Dean will be a weakside outside linebacker, and Johnson will play strongside linebacker with an ability to kick down to defensive end on obvious passing downs.

… or will they? Recall, if you will, that Jonathan Gannon once said that he would like to see the Eagles have the schematic flexibility to interchangeably switch between a 3-4 and 4-3 defensive front in base packages a la one of his good friends, Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator-turned Los Angeles Chargers head coach Brandon Staley. Having that versatility, at least in theory, would allow the team to add mystique before the snap and allow the Birds’ defense to match up strength-for-strength on whatever an opposing offense threw at them.

Granted, in 2021, that didn’t happen too much. The Eagles didn’t have a true SAM linebacker capable of producing as a blitzer – no offense to Genard Avery – and lacked a true nose tackle to sandwich between Fletcher Cox and Javon Hargrave.

But now? Now the Eagles have the personnel needed to play any front Gannon can dream up, with a Galactus-style field eater in the middle of the defense to envelop interior linemen, a high-character quality ‘backer who can clean up behind him, and a speedy rusher capable of attacking the quarterback when Haason Reddick needs a break or alongside the new number 7. For the price of a sixth and a seventh-round pick, that is a solid value.