An Awkward Point of View on Depleted Eagles Defense

NFL free agency hadn’t even begun by the time the Philadelphia Eagles (reportedly) lost three key starters on defense.

Their defense hit its stride in the second half of the season with only 12.9 points per game allowed after the Week 9 bye, but the Eagles will attempt to compensate for the losses of Jaelan Phillips (Carolina Panthers), Nakobe Dean (Las Vegas Raiders), and Reed Blankenship (Houston Texans).

Will the loss of key playmakers for the second consecutive offseason devastate Vic Fangio’s stout defense, the unmistakable strength of the 2025 Eagles?

Howie Roseman strategically prioritized key pieces on defense last offseason under tight cap boundaries. He announced a similar strategy for 2026 at the NFL Combine in February.

The Eagles front office’s decisions to let three starters on defense walk away in free agency included the priorities to allocate salary cap resources, emphasize depth at other positions, and leave flexibility for players the organization projects as more impactful long-term cornerstones on defense.

The priorities outweighed their interest in returning the dynamic chemistry on the defensive front that carried a struggling offense to the NFC East title.

Jaelan Phillips hit the ground running after Roseman’s bye week trade. The stocky edge rusher forced a late fumble to stifle the Green Bay Packers in his Eagles debut and pressured Jordan Love eight times.

The 26-year-old was the missing piece that helped the Philadelphia front dominate late in the regular season. Phillips finished the nine-game stint with only two sacks. However, he set the edge effectively in the run game with four tackles for loss, and maybe more importantly, he provided Fangio with the edge threat that enabled effective stunts and sim pressures that characterized one of the NFL’s top defenses.

What price were the Eagles willing to pay after the emphatic short-term performance? Most credible free agent projections estimated his contract in the range of $20-25 million in average annual value.

Phillips signed a lucrative four-year deal reportedly worth $30 million in AAV. 

Roseman set a price, and the free agent market exceeded it. He prioritized cap savings while the addition that synergized a dominant defensive front in 2025 walked out the door.

The ability of Nolan Smith and Jalyx Hunt to drop into coverage on sim pressures frees up linebackers to rush the quarterback as a key layer to Fangio’s defense. Dean mastered the gameplan after the Phillips trade with four sacks after the bye week. He charged interior linemen like a freight train and kept quarterbacks off balance with physicality and determination.

The former Georgia standout slipped to the third round in 2022 mostly because of his size and injury history. He played only five games in 2023 in his first season as a starter. His excellent contributions in 2024 unfortunately didn’t carry him across the finish line to Super Bowl LIX. His knee injury also kept him on the sidelines through the first five games of 2025.

Roseman had already evaluated the long-term future for a linebacker with durability concerns before free agency began. Zack Baun survived last offseason’s defensive casualties with a lucrative three-year contract, and the Eagles invested and a first-round pick in Jihaad Campbell to play off-ball linebacker.

Roseman decided he couldn’t concentrate of Nakobe Dean’s outstanding second half. The thought process forced him to lose one of the defense’s top playmakers from last season.

Blankenship didn’t impact the Eagles defense at the same level as Phillips or Dean. He struggled to master Fangio’s emphasis on preventing explosive plays in a tough playoff performance against the San Francisco 49ers.

However, the Eagles will almost certainly downgrade at the free safety position next to Andrew Mukuba to begin the 2026 season. One more cap casualty creates one more challenge for Fangio to compensate for the loss of a solid starting player.

Instead of re-signing a middling free agent, Roseman set his sights on more important future pieces on defense.

Jordan Davis swallowed a large chunk of salary cap space by signing an extension at the top of the defensive tackle market and above most initial projections.

Bill Colarulo of 97.5 The Fanatic reported a high likelihood that the Eagles will extend Jalen Carter on an expensive long-term deal, downplaying recent trade rumors. While Carter flashed dominance in 2025, he didn’t consistently perform like the cornerstone game-wrecking defensive tackle that his upcoming extension might suggest. Questions have circulated about whether he has the same relentless commitment as NFL superstars that reach the top tier of the league.

Carter is the priority for the front office more because of future projections than past performance. While Phillips and Dean excelled in 2025, Roseman and the Eagles have always valued interior defensive linemen as cornerstones on defense. Their roster decisions to begin NFL free agency reflect the priority about as strongly as they possibly could.

They expect they’ll more easily replace a departed edge rusher and safety while also leaning on strong internal depth at linebacker. The confidence remarkably led them to allow three starters from one of the best defenses in the NFL walk away in free agency.

All advanced stats courtesy of NFL Next Gen and Sumer Sports