Philadelphia Eagles: What’s next for K’Von Wallace?

When the Philadelphia Eagles signed Jaquiski Tartt to a one-year contract, it generated a ton of reactions across the fanbase.

To some, it marked the end of the Marcus Epps-as-an-unquestioned-starter speculation, as Tartt is a pro’s pro with 3,000 more snaps at the NFL level than the pride of Wyoming. No offense to Epps, who was the team’s most efficient performer according to PFF, but his lack of on-field experience gave some pause over whether or not he’d be able to remain as effective in a more expansive, grueling role.

But recall, if you will, that Epps isn’t the Eagles’ only safety or the only safety who will be impacted by the addition of Tartt. No, even if Tartt is the player who ends up a fixture of Jonathan Gannon’s starting lineup doesn’t mean Epps won’t still have a pretty sizeable role this fall – if anything, his spot as a top-3 safety is a borderline lock.

No, the performer who is really impacted the most by Jaquiski Tartt’s addition might just be K’Von Wallace, has he might have just gone from the team’s third safety to a special teams-only performer in what is very likely the most important season of his professional career.

Can K’Von Wallace stand out on the Philadelphia Eagles with improved competition?

In 2021, the Philadelphia Eagles had three safeties who recorded at least 500 defensive snaps: Anthony Harris, Rodney McLeod, and Marcus Epps.

Surprising? Nope; those three players were on the field the most of any member of the Eagles’ safety unit, so it’s rather predictable to see all three play at least 44.8 percent of the team’s total defensive snaps.

Okay, that’s all well and good, but how many snaps did the Eagels’ fourth safety, K’Von Wallace, play? Was he in the 400s? Or at least the high 300s?

Try 188, or 16.34 percent of the team’s defensive snaps. To make matters all the worse – at least for Wallace – 83.5 percent of his defensive snaps came in Weeks 1, 2, and 18, when McLeod wasn’t active. In games where McLeod could go, Wallace played just 16 snaps total and was a healthy scratch in four-straight games from Weeks 4-7.

Granted, could the role of a fourth safety on Gannon’s scheme expand in 2022? Sure, maybe he’ll roll with more of a platoon or even cycle in different performers situationally, but barring injury, the chances of a fourth safety earning enough snaps to prove worthy of a full-time starting role moving forward appear rather slim, especially if the player in question can’t beat out three other performers as a third-year pro.

There’s no doubt about it; the addition of Jaquiski Tartt shakes up the Philadelphia Eagles’ defense in a way that’s very good for the team – and the fans watching at home – but less than ideal for the players who were hoping to expand their role heading into 2022. While I guess it’s possible that Tartt could ultimately fail to make the team or get beat out by Epps and/or Wallace for playing time, Howie Roseman clearly signed him up because he wasn’t thrilled with his current collection of players, and thus, wanted to pad the room out. For someone, that’s bad news indeed.