Eagles rumors: Bryce Huff replacements, edge rusher and running back depth

The NFL trade deadline is at 4 PM and the Philadelphia Eagles have not made a move yet. Howie Roseman loves himself a trade, whether it be a player coming in or a player going out to load his clip of future draft picks. 

A bunch of teams have made trades in the past few weeks for big-time players and not-so-big-time players alike. It sure feels like Howie’s got to have something brewing, and the only question is about the strength. Is it going to be a Chai Latte (trading away a depth corner), a Red Eye with two shots of Espresso (trading for a pass rusher), or just an okay pot of coffee (something in between)?

The Eagles are running out of time to bolster their roster with real talent

Think about it like this: the Eagles had terrible linebackers last year and they didn’t do anything about it at the trade deadline. Then they were forced to put their hopes in on picking up Shaq Leonard in free agency. That, uh… that was really, really terrible and awful.

So, yes, they can get free agents after the deadline, but those guys are free agents this late (or later) into the season for a good reason. 

We’ve heard from defensive coordinator Vic Fangio that he doesn’t want a player who would be bandaid and he would be more comfortable with a player who would be with the team for a longer period.

That’s important because NFL Insider Tom Pelissero said that Bryce Huff might be a guy who is on the trade block. He was on the Rich Eisen Show and said, “There's certainly going to be interest in guys like Bryce Huff. He was one of the Eagles' big free agent signings, played all of six snaps yesterday (Sunday) after getting his hand apparently banged up in warmups, or something. That's a name that I would think is going to get some potential action.”

If Tom’s saying something like this, then it’s more than just smoke and it’s something we should actually consider. The thing about the Eagles trading Huff is that they’re going to need to get another pass rusher either in that same trade, or another one. That means it could be a busy day for Howie and the Eagles.

In the past few weeks, we already covered some potential trades that would be really bad (Von Miller), and some that are realistic and pretty awesome (Travon Walker). This is a last little round-up of some moves that Howie Roseman could make by 4 p.m.. 

In that same segment on the Rich Eisen Show, Pelissero brought up two pass rushers that could be moved at the deadline: Za’Darius Smith and Azeez Ojulari.

Trade for Za’Darius Smith (Edge, Browns):

This would be counter-intuitive to Fangio’s whole, ‘Let’s not trade for guys who are only a short-term fix’ thing because Za’Darius Smith is 32 years old. That being said, he would be one hell of a fix. Per Next Gen Stats, he’s had five sacks, 26 pressures, and eight of those have been quick pressures this season. He’s also had 23 tackles this season, and 17 of those have been run stops.

Not only is he able to get after the quarterback, but he can also make plays at the line of scrimmage. 

There are two problems with this trade: The Lions are also going after him as well, and he would never have a bye week. This means that his price would be high, and he would have to either take a week off to get rest and learn the defense or buy into a very long season.

Trade for Azeez Ojulari (Edge, Giants)

The Eagles making this trade would be tough because not only are the Giants a division rival (albeit a sad and pathetic one) but they’re a rival that is currently being embarrassed with every single yard that Saquon Barkley gains. For the record, that’s 925 yards of embarrassment (YOE) on the ground and 146 YOE through the air. That’s a whole lot of embarrassment.

Now, the one thing to remember about the Giants is that they don’t follow societal rules. Typically, you’d say general managers and the front offices of NFL teams are full of very smart and capable people. Joe Schoen is not a smart person.

That video gets exponentially funnier every single time you watch it, given what Saquon does every single week.

The point is, Joe Shoen can get taken advantage of. The Giants owner John Mara said that Schoen’s job is safe. If that’s true, then Schoen could make some moves to build for the future. If he’s looking to make those moves, he could try (and ultimately fail) to fleece Howie Roseman in a trade. Ojulari could be that trade.

He’s a player that would fall into the young player that a team could build around, just like the Eagles thought Bruce Huff would be. 

Azeez is 24 years old and in his fourth season in the NFL. This season, he has six sacks, 21 total pressures, and four of those have been quick pressures. He’s had 26 tackles and 23 of those have been run stops. So like Za’Darius Smith, he’s also able to get in the backfield and play well against the run.

Both of these guys would give the Eagles what they’re looking for, it’s just that one of them could potentially be around for a relatively longer haul than the other.

Trade for running back depth:

If the Saquon Barkley trade has taught us one thing, it’s that trading for an elite running back is worth it. Now, the problem is the level of talent behind Saquon.

He’s already carried the ball 157 times this season, which is a mondo-sized number. The only three running backs with more carries than Saquon are Derrick Henry (168 carries), Kyren Williams (161), and Josh Jacobs (158). 

Because Saquon has been way more impactful than his already sky-high expectations were, it’s time to start thinking about making sure he has juice for December, January, and maybe (hopefully) February football. 

The fact of the matter is that the Eagles could make an upgrade at RB2. Kenny Gainwell is perfectly fine. He’s not good, and he’s not bad. He’s just fine.

That being said, there are running backs out there who are on the trade market that are better than fine. The Jaguars’ Travis Etienne is young and has been explosive. Their season is over so they should be sellers. 

The Steelers’ Jaylen Warren is a good player who will be a free agent after this season. The problem here is that the Steelers are at the top of the AFC North and when they have two healthy running backs, they use them a whole lot.

The Bears’ Khalil Herbert wouldn’t be much of an upgrade over Gainwell, but he’s good-ish. He’s not able to get on the field behind D’Andre Swift and Roschon Johnson, so they’d be smart to try to get rid of him, especially with their season falling apart. 

Howie Roseman’s best deadline move was when he traded for Jay Ajayi in 2017, and he’s said that the thing that keeps him up at night is not knowing which players are available. Maybe there’s someone out there that doesn’t look totally available and he shocks us all.

We just have to hope that his move isn’t something like the Golden Tate trade, the Genard Avery trade, or the Robert Quinn Trade. Those were bad. Those were really, really bad. Let’s not have that.