The Eagles held on for a victory over the Lions yesterday, but lost a key defender for the season in the process. Defensive end Derek Barnett tore his ACL, and will miss the remainder of the campaign (Twitter link via ESPN’s Adam Schefter). 
The 26-year-old has been with the Eagles for his entire career since joining them as a first-round pick in 2017. He became a starter in his second year, and set a career high in 2019 with 6.5 sacks. That figure had fallen to just two by 2021, though, leading to the belief that his time in Philadelphia would be coming to an end.
Instead, Barnett re-signed on a two-year deal in March. That kept him in the fold after the Eagles made a sizable investment in free agent Haason Reddick, and re-upped Josh Sweat the previous offseason. While Barnett therefore faced plenty of competition for snaps from those two (along with fellow veteran Brandon Graham), he was likely to at least occupy a rotational role amongst the team’s edge rushers.
Barnett is due to carry a cap hit of just over $4MM next season. The presence of $1.5MM in guaranteed money in his deal, along with several void years, would make a release untenable from a financial standpoint, however. The Eagles will need to hope he can recover back to full health and try to regain his form of 2019 and ’20 to provide an effective return on their investment.
In Barnett’s absence, the Eagles may lean on sixth-rounders Tarron Jackson and Kyron Johnson, who were added in the 2021 and 2022 drafts, respectively, as rotational rushers. With nearly $11MM in cap space, Philadelphia could also be active on the remaining free agent market to add a more experienced option.
Bruh
top available UFAs.. feel free to comment why these guys are available.. I’ll do my best to explain why they’re not in demand..
1. JPP – old, but seemingly useful
2. Blake Martinez ? anyone know?
3. Suh – wants too much money
4. Will Fuller ????????????
5. JC Tretter – not discussing this anymore
6. Dee Ford ??
7. Matt Paradis? even a mediocre center should be in demand right now…
8. Robert Nkemdiche- anyone care to elaborate?
9. Sheldon Richardson ? old?
10. Eric Fisher ?? I know he’s pretty much toast , but he’d be a worthwhile upgrade at LT for many teams , and well worth the money
left OBJ off cuz he has plenty of suitors and we all know he tore his acl
Martinez wasn’t all that great before he tore his ACL, and from what I gather, he didn’t look all the way back in camp.
Will Fuller might not be back at full speed. He might be biding his time to team up with Watson. He might just not be that appealing as a guy who’s missed 34 games in the last four seasons to either injury or suspension.
Nkemdiche has never been good as a pro. Worst player on the list by a mile. He’s played a whopping 1069 snaps in the NFL since being drafted in 2016. I think we can stop thinking of him as a first rounder and instead think of him as journeyman filler at very best.
Paradis is 32 and an offensive lineman even the Panthers didn’t want. That’s not a great sales pitch.
The rest of these guys I could see needing the right offer and situation to bother. Fisher seems like he might retire. Would you blame any of those guys for not wanting to take low offers and/or play for non-contenders at this stage?
Tretter retired.
Did he fall off the bench? He’s been stealing a paycheck for years. Hopefully he gets back to 100%…and signs elsewhere, then again his 100% is only 75% compared to where he was taken in the draft.
I think the Eagles will stay in-house with their younger options and slowly work them in. Barnett wasn’t going to be a huge impact this year anyway… look forward.
Eagles defensive front is still going to be solid.
Fletcher Cox, Javon Hargrave, Jordan Davis, Brandon Graham and Josh Sweat.
They could even try run a different scheme and give NaKobe Dean minutes with a front 3.
However if they do go looking at FA’s I wouldn’t mind a JPP, Dee Ford or Suh.
Janarius Robinson from the Vikings PS, just in time to play the Vikings.