Tag: T.J. Edwards

4 takeaways from the Eagles releasing Nigel Bradham

Eagles save $4.5 million in cap space by releasing Nigel Bradham

The Philadelphia Eagles had a looming decision to make on Nigel Bradham and according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, Bradham will enter free agency after not having his team option picked up.

With the Eagles set for changes on both sides of the ball, here are four takeaways from the team’s decision to let Bradham test free agency.

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1. Eagles save almost $5 million in cap space

The release of Bradham clears $4.465M of cap space for the Eagles, who aren’t done making moves before the new league year begins.

 

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Nigel Bradham to become a free agent after Eagles decline 2020 option

The Eagles are moving on from Nigel Bradham

The Philadelphia Eagles had a looming decision to make on Nigel Bradham and according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, the talented linebacker will not have his option picked up and he’ll be a salary cap casualty.

The Eagles had until the end of the league year (March 17) to either pick up or decline the $10 million option on the 31-year-old linebacker.

 

Before the 2018 NFL season, Bradham signed a five-year, $40 million deal, with plenty of outs for the Eagles, including team options in the final three seasons.

According to Over The Cap, the Eagles save $4.5 million in cap space by declining his option. If Bradham is to return, it’ll be at a much lower rate than his $8 million per year.

Bradham’s production has dropped over the past few seasons, but he still leads the team in tackles since signing with the Eagles after leaving Buffalo as a free agent.

The Eagles could look to add a more athletic and versatile linebacker in his place, as big offseason changes loom.

Wisconsin Football Season Review: Inside Linebackers

How well did Wisconsin’s inside linebackers play during the 2019 season.

Wisconsin finished its fifth season under head coach Paul Chryst as Chryst improved his overall record to 52-16 and has a posted a 34-10 record in conference games. After not winning the Big Ten West Division title in 2018 the Badgers were back in Indianapolis for the Big Ten Championship game as the West representative for the fourth time in the last six years since the Big Ten went to its current format.

In this Badgers Wire feature we will examine the play of Wisconsin’s inside linebacker from the 2019 season and take a sneak into what the 2020 season may have in store for the position:

Wisconsin lost two impact players in inside linebackers T.J. Edwards and Ryan Connelly as the two led Wisconsin in tackles with 113 and 89 respectively last season. In addition, Edwards 11.5 tackles for loss and Connelly’s 10 tackles for loss ranked first and second on the team not to mention Edwards had a team leading three interceptions.

Despite losing two high impact players the expectation was that the Badgers were going to simply reload with Chris Orr and Jack Sanborn officially taking over at inside linebacker.

Those expectations were correct.

As the previous season, the top two tacklers by the end of the year were Wisconsin’s middle linebackers as Sanborn finished with 80 tackles and Orr registered 78 tackles.

Orr outside of outside linebacker Zack Baun was one of the clear leaders of not only Wisconsin’s defense but also the team. Orr was able to find a way of consistently making impact plays for Wisconsin’s defense.

Orr who appeared in 50 career games started all 14 games for the Badgers this past season as he posted career highs in both tackles for loss (14) and sacks (11.5).

Orr’s ability to generate pressure up the middle complemented Baun well on the outside and made it difficult for opposing offenses to move the football down the field consistently against Wisconsin’s defense.

Sanborn who played as a true freshman made a nice jump from his freshman to sophomore season. Sanborn with Orr made it difficult to rush the football up the middle. Sanborn did a good job of diagnosing plays and then hitting the rushing lanes for him to execute at a high level.

Fellow inside linebackers Mike Maskalunas and true freshman Leo Chenal were able to make positive contributions on the inside too.

Maskalunas appeared in 14 games finishing the season with 16 tackles and registered 2 pass breakups and recovered one fumble. Chenal missed three games because of a head injury but still finished the season with 20 tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack, two quarterback hurries and recovered a fumble too.

2020 Wisconsin Inside Linebackers

Losing Orr will hurt as he was a great leader for Wisconsin as he had the respect of all of his teammates. But at the same time with Sanborn returning and the expectation that Chenal will slide in at the other inside linebacker position the Badgers once again should be set at the position like they have been the last few years. Maskalunas will return for his senior season as he’s a reliable player that the coaches can count on as he has a comfort in Wisconsin’s 3-4 defense. The Badgers will need to have a reliable fourth inside linebacker as that responsibility could fall to redshirt freshman Maema Njongmeta or Malik Reed, Jordan Turner, or Preston Zachman as the three will be true freshman. Turner and Zachman both enrolled early at Wisconsin, which will give themselves a good chance of seeing the field early if they can gain a comfort in Wisconsin’s defense.

Eagles undrafted rookie LB T.J. Edwards has turned into a special teams ace this season

Eagles rookie linebacker T.J. Edwards among highest-graded special teams players in NFL

The Philadelphia Eagles struck gold when Howie Roseman was able to snag former Wisconsin star linebacker, T.J. Edwards via an undrafted free agent deal.

Edwards, a highly-skilled thumper with the Badger, went undrafted over concerns about his height, and ability to play in space. In his first season with the Eagles, Edwards has persevered and now looks like the middle linebacker of the future.

Even if he hasn’t assumed the duties of an every-down middle linebacker, Edwards has become viable for the Eagles on special teams and according to Pro Football Focus, is one of the highest-graded players in the NFL.

Edwards has played the second-most special teams snaps on the team this season and ranks second on the team with seven special teams tackles.

While addressing the media this week, he harped on knowing from day one that special teams were the key to him making this roster.

“I think from the start, I knew I was going to make this team off of special teams because I knew what we have here at linebacker and how good we are,” Edwards said via Penn Live. “And so my biggest thing was just becoming the best special teams player I could be, and still trying to do that. But now, a little bit of defensive responsibility as well, so just trying to maintain both, but I don’t ever want to drop my level of play at special teams.”

Edwards ascention up the depth chart was held up by the struggles that every rookie deals with when attempting to digest Jim Schwartz’s complicated defensive scheme.

With Schwartz being a great teacher and developer of talent, look for Edwards to continue to improve as a player, looking towards a breakout 2020 season.

Eagles rookie LB T.J. Edwards to play a crucial role vs. the Cowboys

T.J. Edwards to play a crucial role vs. the Cowboys

The Eagles struck gold when they signed former Wisconsin Badgers star, T.J. Edwards as an undrafted free agent. Edwards name rung bells throughout the offseason and training camp and the Eagles rewarded the potential by keeping him on the 53-man roster.

After moving on from L.J. Fort and Zach Brown, Edwards has finally blossomed into an impact player, and it couldn’t come at a more urgent time.

Ezekiel Elliott has owned Philadelphia over the last five games (114 yards rushing per) and the Eagles need a player capable of stopping the Cowboys star running back at the point of attack.

Add in Kamu Grugier-Hill’s playing time declined decrease and subsequent placement on injured reserve, and you can now see that Edwards has emerged a presence on the Eagles defense.

“I would expect T.J. Edwards to get some more time, yes,” Pederson said earlier this week.

According to Pro Football Focus, Edwards grades out as one of the top linebackers in the NFL, and without constant playing time outside of special teams.

98 snaps on defense and 283 on special teams.

– 91.2 overall (#1 Eagles, #3 NFL)
– 90.8 run defense (#1 Eagles, #3 NFL)
– 81.5 tackling (#1 Eagles, #21 NFL)
– 69.5 coverage (#2 Eagles, #32 NFL)

The numbers suggest that with constant playing time, Edwards would easily be the team’s most productive linebacker and his emergence could shift Nigel Bradham outside for the final two games, although it’s been Edwards who has been playing on the outside in spot duty.

With Grugier-Hill set to become a free agent and Nigl Bradham due $8 million next season, Sunday marks a great time to see just how physical a player that Edwards can be against Elliott and the Cowboys.

Doug Pederson calls Kamu Grugier-Hill “selfish” for lying about concussion symptoms

Kamu Grugier-Hill lied to Eagles training staff about concussion

Kamu Grugier-Hill self-reported concussion symptoms last week in advance of him missing the Eagles game against the New York Giants.

Grugier-Hill missed the Giants game and questions about the Eagles training staff once again jumped to the forefront.

The problem stems from Grugier-Hill suffering a concussion on his very first play from scrimmage against the Miami Dolphins in Week 13, and lying to the Eagles training staff, stating that he suffered a shoulder injury.

On Thursday, almost two weeks after the fact, Grugier-Hill admitted that he pretended he’d suffered a shoulder injury and went and played the rest of the game.

Doug Pederson addressed the matter on Friday, calling it “disappointing” that Grugier-Hill misled the training staff via NJ.com.

“We know how important head and neck injuries are out our league and just ht person and player himself and the well being of the player. From that stand-point to have this come back like this and for him to admit what he has said and done is very disappointing for me as a head coach after putting our players through meetings and instructing our players.”

“It’s a little bit of a selfish act to make that decision when he could’ve gotten checked out right away and probably would’ve been cleared to go back in that game at that point. I’m disappointed.”

Grugier-Hill has been a full participant in practice thus far this week and he’s expected to return against the Redskins on Sunday.

Eagles snap count vs. Giants: Breakdown, Analysis as Boston Scott has coming out party

Eagles snap count vs. Giants: Breakdown, Analysis as Boston Scott has a coming-out party

The Philadelphia Eagles moved to 6-7 on Monday night and in a tie for first place after a come from behind win over the New York Giants in overtime.

With the team set to for a trip to Washington to face the Redskins, here’s the Eagles snap count for the game vs. the Giants.

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QB

Carson Wentz 89 snaps

Wentz went for 75 yards and was 4-for-4 for 34 yards on the game-winning touchdown drive.

Offensive Line:

Jason Peters 89 snaps, Brandon Brooks 89 snaps, Isaac Seumalo 89 snaps, Jason Kelce 89 snaps, Halapoulivaati Vaitai 63 snaps, Lane Johnson 28 snaps

Johnson is week to week with a high ankle sprain.

 

Running Back

Miles Sanders 50 snaps, Boston Scott 39 snaps, Jay Ajayi 5 snaps

Scott filled the stat sheet, carry the ball 10 times for 59 yards and 6 catches for 69 yards.

Wide receiver

J.J. Arcega-Whiteside 80 snaps, Greg Ward 77 snaps, Alshon Jeffery 20 snaps

Already thin at wide receiver without Nelson Agholor, Jeffery logged 20 snaps before leaving with a serious foot injury.

Tight end

Zach Ertz 79 snaps, Dallas Goedert 60 snaps, Josh Perkins 30 snaps

Perkins and Ertz played more like wide receivers and all three guys played crucial roles in the Eagles’ most important drives.

Defensive line

Fletcher Cox 49 snaps, Brandon Graham 45 snaps, Vinny Curry 39 snaps, Josh Sweat 26 snaps, Timmy Jernigan 23 snaps, Anthony Rush 14 snaps, Daeshon Hall 10 snaps.

Vinny Curry came up big in relief of Derek Barnett with 2 sacks.

Linebacker

Nigel Bradham 52 snaps, Nate Gerry 33 snaps, T.J. Edwards 7 snaps, Duke Riley 2 snaps

Bradham registered 4 tackles.

Defensive backs

Malcolm Jenkins 52 snaps, Rodney McLeod snaps, and Ronald Darby 52 snaps, Avonte Maddox 44 snaps, Jalen Mills 43 snaps, Marcus Epps 16 snaps, Rasul Douglas 8 snaps, Cre’Von LeBlanc 4 snaps, Sidney Jones 1 snap