Your Newest Eagles

Posted: September 2nd, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | Comments Off on Your Newest Eagles

The Eagles dealt a conditional draft pick to the Bears for DB Deiondre’ Hall on Saturday. Let’s talk about the newest Eagle and why the team wanted to get him.

Deiondre’ Hall
Northern Iowa
6-2, 200
4.68 in the 40 at the Combine
34 3/8-inch arms

Joe Douglas was with the Bears when they scouted Hall and then drafted him in the fourth round of the 2016 draft. Hall played safety, rover and CB in college. The Bears drafted him to play CB. Hall played in 8 games as a rookie. He got hurt in 2017 and spent most of the season on IR.

Hall played safety this summer for the Bears. I went back and re-watched their preseason games to get a feel for him. Hall can play deep, in the box or in the slot. He looks most natural playing deep. He’s not ideal in the box, but is physical enough to play in traffic. He is an effective tackler and doesn’t shy away from contact. Hall is athletic and has good movement skills. He can cover a good amount of ground on the back end. Hall can cover TEs effectively. His long arms help him when dealing with their bigger frames.

Hall had one huge hit in the preseason. Unfortunately it came on a punt when the returner had raised his hand for a fair catch. Oops. Hall lit the guy up, but drew a flag. He was solid on defense, but hardly stood out.

The Eagles dealt for Hall because he’s more ready to play and a more complete safety than Tre Sullivan right now. Sullivan is more physical and better in the box. As Jim Schwartz has said countless times, you can’t have guys who just play the run anymore. You need versatile players who can cover as well as defending the run. Sullivan made big strides this year, but still needs to improve his cover skills.

Hall can step in as the #4 safety and add good depth. The Eagles like former CBs to move to safety. Malcolm Jenkins, Rodney McLeod and Corey Graham all have a CB background, in either college or the NFL. We’ve seen Jenkins in the slot against some bigger WRs. We’ve seen him cover some TEs. Hall can do those same things. He also can drop back and play centerfield.

The Eagles love their key trio of safeties, but need some youth and depth there. Hall can help in 2018 and possibly in the future. We’ll have to see if he can regularly contribute on STs if he’s going to expect to be active.

Hall is suspended for the first game so the Eagles don’t need to make a roster move until next weekend. I would assume they will cut Tre Sullivan and move him to the practice squad. Hall would give then four talented, versatile safeties. He’s still a project at this point, but that’s okay when we’re talking about the #4 safety. You can’t have proven players and outstanding backups at each spot. There are going to have to be some developmental types on your squad.

Hall is a good fit for the Eagles and for Schwartz’s scheme so he’s got a real chance to succeed here. That doesn’t mean he’s going to develop into a starter. If he could take the Corey Graham role in the future, that would make him valuable. Role players can be very important, especially in the secondary.

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The Eagles made a waiver claim.

Alexander is a STs ace. He was with KC in 2015 so Doug Pederson knows him from that year. Alexander was traded to Seattle last year. He is 6-1, 233. Doesn’t seem to have played much on defense, but has played in 44 of 48 possible games in his career. He made the Pro Bowl for his STs work in 2016.

Adding Alexander means someone has to go. This is likely to be either LaRoy Reynolds or Joe Walker. There is an argument for keeping each of them.

Reynolds is more experienced and played better this summer.

Walker is younger and more versatile. He is the primary backup at MLB, but played some on the outside vs the Jets and looked good out there. Walker also might be more valuable because he’s the backup at MLB. Nigel Bradham can play inside if needed, but that’s not ideal.

The Eagles could always keep Reynolds and cut Walker, then put him on the practice squad. We’ll find out soon enough.

I’m guessing Reynolds gets cut.

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I’ll write a piece on the practice squad tonight.

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