Wishlist Filled Pressure On
Here we are on the brink of training camp and Johnathan Gannon got everything he wished for from a personnel perspective from GM Howie Roseman this offseason. What does this mean? Answer, the pressure is on. Jonathan Gannon has everything he needs for what is poised to be an exotic multi-front defense.
With the ability to switch between a 3-4 and 4-3 front with the added versatility at the linebacker position with new athletic linebackers like kyzir White, Hasson Reddick, and soon to be rookie sensation Nakobe Dean alongside instinctive TJ Edwards, and extremely raw athletic prospect Davion Taylor, The Eagles are deeper at linebacker than they have been in in a long time. The deep linebacker room paired with the defensive line's ability to rotate at tackle and end provides a great opportunity to run some exotic fronts and packages. There is no reason for Gannon to return to the same vanilla defensive scheme that failed time and time again against any QB with a pulse, allowing short quick passes to beat them.
Last season we saw a lack of press coverage and aggression, two things that will not get you very far in Philadelphia. We love aggressive Jim Johnson and Buddy Ryan style defenses in this city. While i do believe his hands were a bit tied due to last seasons personnel he was limited in certain aspects. For example I attribute some of the lack of press coverage to the safety position last year, playing press is much easier when you have a trustworthy safety capable of covering sideline to sideline in the event the pressing corner gets burnt.
The safety position remains a question mark to this point in the offseason with projected starting safeties Anthony Harris and Marcus Epps and the exit of Rodney Mcleod. The addition of James Bradberry certainly helps with his ability to lockdown opposing receivers and now playing opposite Big play Slay he should get some easier matchups. While the eagles have been linked to some big name safeties it's just tough to assume that we will be in the market for yet another big name player on the defensive side of the ball.
What does all of this mean? Gannon needs to step it up and get creative and create some opportunity for these new big time players to make some big time plays. We hear Merril Reese say it every week some of the biggest keys to the game are creating pressure and turnovers. We need this defense to improve in a major way and in my opinion it starts with the coordinator who had his name in the news as a potential head coach. The pressure is on!
Shawn Campbell- Sunday's for the Birds Pod- Olde City Sports Network
Photo cred Philly Mag
