Young DEs

The Eagles have drafted a DE for three straight years. Let’s take a look at them.

2017 – Derek Barnett – Tennessee

1st round

6-3, 259
Arms: 32 1/8
Hands: 10
4.88
31 VJ
117 inch BJ
6.96 3-cone
4.44 SS

College stats: 52 TFLs, 32 sacks, 3 FF

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2018 – Josh Sweat – Florida State

4th round

6-5, 251
Arms: 34 5/8
Hands: 10 1/4
4.53
39.5 VJ
124 inch BJ
4.28 SS

College stats: 29 TFLs, 14.5 sacks, 1 FF

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2019 – Shareef Miller – Penn State

4th round

6-4, 254
Arms: 33 5/8
Hands: 10 1/8
4.69
16 reps
29.5 VJ
4.45 SS

College stats: 31.5 TFLs, 14.5 sacks, 1 FF

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Sweat is the biggest of the trio. He’s also far and away the best athlete.

Barnett was easily the most productive. He was a star at Tennessee and earned a first round grade.

Miller feels like a compromise. Sweat was the athlete. Barnett was the polished player. Miller isn’t as polished as Barnett or as athletic as Sweat, but he can remind you of each of them.

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Barnett has established himself as a good NFL player. The next step for him is to show he can be an impact starter.

Sweat barely played as a rookie. Either the coaches didn’t trust him or just felt he wasn’t ready. This is a huge year for him. Sweat must show that he can contribute as a role player, if not make an impact off the bench. In his defense, Sweat was coming from a very different college scheme and had a lot to learn.

.@fduffy3 and @gregcosell break down the tape on #Eagles DE Josh Sweat and discuss what he brings to the defensive line.#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/KyRSRvgOmx

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) May 5, 2018

Miller played in a scheme at PSU that moved him around. He understands how to line up wide or in-tight. He understands how to rush in space or in traffic. Miller can play LDE or RDE. He even got some snaps at DT (not many). I feel like he should be more ready to contribute right away than Sweat was.

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There has been a lot of discussion about whether the Eagles should pursue a veteran DE in the next week or two.

You and I can only speculate from the outside. We don’t know what the coaches think of Sweat or Miller. The Eagles are still trying to work something out with Chris Long, but that could be more about their comfort level with him than any thoughts on the young DEs.

If Long isn’t going to be an Eagle and the team doesn’t go after Ziggy Ansah or Pernell McPhee or some other veteran, that tells you the coaches want to see the young guys in action. If the team immediately goes for some veteran DE, that tells you the coaches see these guys as projects.

One X-factor in all of this is that the team should get great push up the middle with Fletcher Cox and Malik Jackson.

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It would be easy to say “Go sign a veteran and don’t take any chances”. Sometimes you have to take chances. You would also benefit from getting the young guys some snaps. They can’t learn if they don’t play.

Like I said, the Eagles actions will tell us a lot about their feelings in regard to the young pass rushers.

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Daeshon Hall and Joe Ostman could each have good moments this summer. Hall is a long, athletic rusher who flashed a couple of times last year. Ostman is small, but was very productive in college and impressed in practice last year.

For fun…

2018 – Joe Ostman – Central Michigan

UDFA

6-2, 253
Arms:  30 7/8
Hands: 10.5
4.80
31 reps
36.5 VJ
122 inch BJ
4.35 SS
7.06 3-cone

College stats: 45.5 TFLs, 26 sacks, 8 FF

2017 – Daeshon Hall – Texas A&M

3rd round

6-5, 266
Arms: 35
Hands: 9 5/8
4.76
18 reps
36 VJ
123 inch BJ
7.03 3-cone
4.38 SS

College stats: 35.5 TFLs, 14 sacks, 4 FF

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Hall is a big, athletic dude. I liked him quite a bit coming out of college so I think he’s still got a chance to carve out a role in the NFL.

I didn’t realize how well Ostman tested. Those short arms don’t help him, but man was he productive.

I think the Eagles have more depth at DE than most realize. That said, they do have a lot of questions. Part of me hopes the team doesn’t sign a free agent so we can find out if these guys can play.

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