The Eagles made a pair of moves today, signing an impact LB and S. Unfortunately that impact won’t come in the form of sacks or INTs…it will come on Special Teams.

This morning the Eagles signed S Chris Maragos and this afternoon they added LB Bryan Braman. While those moves don’t sound sexy, they can be impact moves. Check out this blurb from Bo Wulf.

Last season, the Eagles’ coverage units improved under Kelly, going from 31st in punt coverage to 11th and bumping up from 21st in kickoff coverage to 19th. Clearly, Kelly has aims on making both those units top-10 quality, and Braman is the next in line to help that process.

This is where you need to understand the cyclic nature of field position in the game of football. I had a college assistant coach talk to me about this years ago and it changed the way I looked at the game. Fans now are smarter than ever, but sometimes they still overlook the importance of field position and the kicking game.

The Eagles offense was much less effective when starting from the 20 than when starting at the 30 or the 35. So how do you avoid starting possessions at the 20? The return game needs to be more of a weapon. While a lot of that is on the returners, the blocking was far from ideal last year. Guys like Braman and Maragos can help that. A good block here or there could spring someone for an additional 5 to 10 yards. We’re not talking about significant blocks or 90-yard TDs. That stuff would be great, but isn’t needed for the STs to improve.

The reason the other team had to KO is because they scored. If you can keep them from scoring, you’ll help your chances of getting the ball in better field position. One reason the other team was able to score (sometimes) was that they started with good field position. Back them up with good punt or KO coverage and you’re more likely to keep them from scoring and get the ball back to your offense.

Jim Johnson was brilliant at coming up with complex blitzes and creative looks. Sometimes his genius was just simplicity, though. He used his 11 defenders plus the sideline plus the length of the field to stop offenses. JJ believed that forcing offenses to methodically move the ball down the field increased the chances they would make a drive-ending mistake. That might come in the form or a penalty or dropped pass or turnover. He counted on the offense to make some mistakes.

While his reputation was that of a super-aggressive blitzer, that really wasn’t the case. He focused on his zone blitzes until the offense got inside the Eagles 40-yard line. That’s when he turned the dogs loose and the 7 and 8 man blitzes came flying at QBs. Once a team had gotten that far, there was no need to worry about getting beat deep. They were already in scoring position.

When JJ’s defenses were at their best, they were aided by strong STs play. The Eagles opponents had to drive the long field and that played into his strategy.

We all agree the current Eagles defense is no juggernaut so anything the STs can do to help put the opposing offense in worse position could be a real help. This is where every yard can turn out to be important. Stop a team at the 45 and they are probably going to punt. Stop a team at the 40 and they are more likely try a long FG. That 5 yards could have come from a play by the defense, but also could have been the starting field position due to excellent coverage by the STs.

Even though the Eagles didn’t add an offensive or defensive player, they might have just helped both units in a big way.

I don’t know if Braman and Maragos will be counted on as defensive backups. They’ll obviously be on the depth chart, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be looked at as anything other than emergency options. I don’t know enough about them as defenders to know if they can help or not.

PE.com on Maragos

PE.com on Braman

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No word on any other moves.

Local reporters are killing the idea of Darrelle Revis as a target.

Mike Neal re-signed with Green Bay.

DeMarcus Ware went to Denver.

Seattle cut Chris Clemons and I wondered if he might be of interest, but he’s already visiting another team.

Seems quiet for now, but we’ll see what happens.

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