How Eagles used Myles Jack, Zach Cunningham in 1st practice sends message on devaluing LBs

PHILADELPHIA − The first reaction after the Eagles signed two veteran linebackers with a combined 171 starts, 13 sacks and more than 1,200 tackles could be "Finally!"

As in, finally, the Eagles are changing their strategy to emphasize a linebacker position that they have mostly patched together with the NFL equivalent of duct tape and glue.

But that's not the case even after signing Myles Jack and Zach Cunningham on Sunday night to one-year deals, worth up to $2.5 million for each.

If anything, the Eagles are doubling down on their strategy to de-emphasize the inside linebacker position, even after Jack saw some snaps with the first-team defense in his first practice as an Eagle on Tuesday. Cunningham was mostly with the second team.

BIG SIGNINGS: Eagles add veteran star LBs Myles Jack, Zach Cunningham. What does it mean for Nakobe Dean?

Sure, the Eagles drafted Nakobe Dean in the third round in 2022, and pretty much anointed him one of the two starters this season after both starters, T.J. Edwards and Kyzir White, left in free agency.

But Dean has an ankle injury that has kept him out of practice for the last five days. The Eagles, no doubt, saw the depth, or lack thereof, behind Dean, and moved quickly to get Jack and Cunningham.

That's why Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said the signings aren't an indictment on Dean.

"Shoot, no," Sirianni said. "Just wanted to get some competition in there. I feel really good about Nakobe."

Still, the Eagles saw Dean's top replacement was Christian Elliss, a special teams player who has 29 total snaps at linebacker in two years. The other perceived starter, Nicholas Morrow, was one of those free agents signed on the cheap during the offseason.

Morrow, a starter last season in Chicago, was losing first-team reps to Elliss even before Dean's injury.

The Eagles also tried rookie first-round pick Nolan Smith, drafted as an edge rusher, at off-ball linebacker after Dean got hurt.

Behind them are Shaun Bradley, a special teams ace, who didn't play a single defensive snap last season, and undrafted free agent Ben VanSumeren, who has a long way to go just to make the 53-man roster.

The Eagles had already moved on from Davion Taylor, a third-round pick in 2020, who was considered a project when he was drafted, and never developed.

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No wonder Sirianni said the Eagles signed both Jack and Cunningham because he and general manager Howie Roseman felt they were "low at that position."

If the Eagles had really valued the inside linebacker position, they would have matched the Chicago Bears' offer in order to keep Edwards. Or they would have signed White to an extension. Or heck, you can go back to the 2021 draft when they could have taken Micah Parsons instead of wide receiver DeVonta Smith.

But that was never going to happen. The Eagles haven't drafted a linebacker in the first round since Jerry Robinson in 1979. And Smith is coming off a season in which he had 1,196 yards receiving in an offense that finished third in the NFL in scoring.

So, yeah, you can see where the Eagles' priorities lie — on offense, the defensive line, and cornerback. That was why the Eagles went to the Super Bowl last season — and not because of Edwards and White at inside linebacker.

In other words, Jack and Cunningham still fall under the Eagles' low-cost, one-year, rent-a-linebacker philosophy.

As with those type of players, sometimes they work out like White did last season, but more often than not, they don't.

In 2021, the Eagles signed Eric Wilson to a one-year deal after he was a full-time starter in Minnesota. They released him midway through the season and turned the position over to Alex Singleton, who had spent 3½ seasons in the Canadian Football League, then worked his way up from the Eagles' practice squad.

In 2020, Nathan Gerry, their fifth-round pick in 2017, started seven games. The lasting impression is Gerry futilely trying to catch the Steelers' Chase Claypool, who scored the game-clinching touchdown after Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger saw him matched up 1-on-1 on Gerry.

In 2019, it was Zach Brown, who like Wilson, was released midway through the season. L.J. Fort was gone even sooner. He didn't even make it through training camp.

So yes, Jack and Cunningham should be an improvement.

Then again, they were available for a reason. Cunningham, 28, was a second-round pick of the Houston Texans in 2017. He led the NFL in tackles in 2020, then signed an extension for four years worth as much as $58 million.

But he has already been released twice − by the Texans late in the 2021 season (he was immediately picked up by the Tennessee Titans and started the final four games), and by the Titans in March after he was limited to six games with an elbow injury.

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Jack, who'll turn 28 next month, was a second-round pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2016. He, too, was released twice after signing a four-year extension worth as much as $57 million in 2019. He suffered a season-ending knee injury late that season. The Jaguars released him in March of 2022, and he signed with the Steelers.

Jack had 104 tackles for Pittsburgh last season before he was released again in March.

And now they're both Eagles, trying to fill holes at a position the Eagles don't value greatly, but knew they had to improve. Either way, the Eagles will try again next year to fill the spot next to Dean.

Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Eagles message clear on LBs Myles Jack, Zach Cunningham in 1st practice