2009 NFL Free Agency: Defensive Ends

Trent Cole will dominate on the right side of the Eagles defensive line in '09, and four quality players platoon the left end.

The Eagles are fairly deep right now at Defensive End, and have a nice mix of young talent and veteran leadership.  Trent Cole and Juqua Parker (Thomas) are currently listed as the starters, but by the end of the 2008 season it seemed like Darren Howard and Chris Clemons were both playing more than Juqua.  In addition to those four players, the Eagles have unproven but promising youth in Victor Abiamiri and Bryan Smith.

I like where the Eagles stand at DE a lot, but if Peppers weren’t tagged I would be screaming for the Eagles to sign him.  Cole is an unstoppable force on the right end, but adding another Pro Bowl Defensive End across the line from Cole would bring our defense to levels we have not seen.  When it comes to DE’s, I expect the Eagles to be very quiet in Free Agency.  Hopefully it isn’t that way across the board.

Impact Players
•    Terrell Suggs (Franchised) – 26 – Baltimore
•    Julius Peppers (Franchised) – 29 – Carolina
•    Bertrand Berry – 33 – Arizona
•    Antonio Smith – 27 – Arizona
•    Chris Canty – 26 – Dallas
•    Igor Olshansky – 26 – San Diego

Depth
•    Ebenezer Ekuban – 32 – Denver
•    Renaldo Wynn – 34 – New Jersey A
•    Kevin Carter – 35 – Tampa Bay
•    Antonio Smith – 27 – Arizona
•    Orpheus Roye – 36 – Pittsburgh
•    Jerome McDougle – 30 – New Jersey A

Signing any of these players would be a luxury that the Eagles don’t need right now, and it would be very possible that any player signed may not make it to the regular season in an Eagles uniform.  Igor Olshansky is an interesting prospect, as he is young run-stuffer.

The Defensive End rotation will again be a position of strength for the Eagles in ’09, whether we sign anyone or don’t.