PHILADELPHIA — You have to admire Howie Roseman’s aggressiveness.
Regardless of how many times the Eagles' general manager has shown his willingness to do whatever it takes to become and remain a championship contender, it is still impressive to see when he makes a move.
Roseman, yet again, refused to settle with the roster he had when on Wednesday and Thursday, as he signed two former Pro Bowl defensive tackles in Linval Joseph and Ndamukong Suh.
The general manager saw a defense that was struggling week-after-week to stop the running game, and he did something about it.
Stopping the run has been a significant problem for the Eagles since rookie DT Jordan Davis went down with an ankle injury a month ago that forced him onto the injured reserve list.
Defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon has remained committed to keeping the box light on defense, even without Davis, but the result with Fletcher Cox and Javon Hargrave holding down the fort has not been good.
Just in the last two weeks, the Eagles have given up 320 rushing yards. The team has been gashed by rookies, like Houston Texans RB Dameon Pierce and Washington Commanders RB Brian Robinson, and now they have matchups against many star backs coming up. That includes games against Indianapolis Colts RB Jonathan Taylor, New York Giants RB Saquon Barkley, Tennessee Titans RB Derrick Henry, and the Green Bay Packers top tier duo of Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon.
Roseman, bringing in both Joseph and Suh this week, shows that he is unwilling to sit by and accept there might be a real deficiency with his team. The general manager wants to make sure every option is exhausted so that nothing significant can get in the way of this team not realizing their Super Bowl potential.
These moves also represent just how much the Eagles value the trenches. Not just talent at the top, but the team will never accept not having depth in these areas, either.
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Just look at the trade for defensive end Robert Quinn right before the trade deadline three weeks ago. Could the defense have gotten by with just Haason Reddick, Josh Sweat, and Brandon Graham after Derek Barnett suffered a season ending injury?
Probably.
But, this team wants to be at least four deep in a rotation with proven talent.
The same goes for the middle of the defensive line.
Losing both Davis and now Marlon Tuipuloto to injuries instantly had Roseman acting without hesitation. To have this rotation lose two key contributors and still have five pretty good options shows some impressive adjustments the team made on the fly.
Are Suh and Joseph the top-tier players they once were? No. Neither of the two have even played this season.
But Joseph is still a 323 pound nose tackle that can eat up blocks while Davis works his way back. And Suh finished with six sacks last year with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, so there still might be some juice left there in getting after the quarterback.
It isn’t easy finding solid role players on the open market this late into the regular season, especially after the trade deadline. Roseman did the best one could with both signings, as he hopes to keep this historic season on the tracks.