One position of uncertainty for the Eagles is ILB. Mychal Kendricks is on the verge of becoming a great player. He is a good playmaker and has gotten better each year at being a run defender. DeMeco Ryans future is up in the air. He’s an older player with a high price tag and he’s coming off a serious injury. Those guys rarely stick around, but Ryans is a great leader and Chip Kelly might value that enough to keep him around for one more year.

Beyond those two, the Eagles have Najee Goode, who is also coming off an injury, and Emmanuel Acho. Casey Matthews is a free agent. Matthews and Acho were effective while filling in for Ryans this year, but neither stood out in a way that made you think they should be starting in the future. That said, there wasn’t such a drop-off that you missed Ryans as much as I expected.

The presence of Kendricks gives the team options. You need one star ILB in the 3-4. You can build around him. My preference is for the team to find another really good athlete to put in the middle. They could bring back Ryans and spend a high pick on an ILB. Chip Kelly isn’t a believer in drafting a player and just plugging them into the lineup. He’s fine with letting rookies win jobs, but he’s not going to count on the kid to start.

I used to think the Eagles needed a big run stuffer beside Kendricks, but I’ve changed my mind on that. I’d prefer someone that can cover a lot of ground. Kendricks has become a good inside run defender. He doesn’t need a thumper beside him. A speedy ILB would help with pass coverage. While the Eagles will try to fix the secondary this offseason, it can’t hurt to help out the situation by adding another athlete to the middle of the field.

Safeties might feel less pressure to fly up if they knew there were LBs that could fly to the ball. Big CBs are vulnerable to in-breaking routes. Bigger guys just don’t cut well. This year we saw WRs open on dig routes all the time. Speedy ILBs can help with that issue. At the least, they can fly to the ball and make the tackle to cut down on RAC yards allowed.

The draft has several ILB prospects who could be of interest. One such guy is Paul Dawson from TCU. Tyler Alston wrote a scouting report on him for ScoutsNotebook.

Here is his take on how Dawson matches up to the Eagles.

FIT WITH THE EAGLES: The Eagles aren’t looking for another Demeco Ryans. In the modern NFL you need two ILB’s who can be playmakers and roam sideline to sideline. Both should be able to come up and stuff a fullback on one play, and then tackle the running back in the flat on the next. Bowman and Willis, KJ Wright and Bobby Wagner. Dawson would be an excellent fit for the Eagles 34. He would provide the perfect complement to Kendricks. Dawson would be able to immediately start in the nickel (TCU runs 4-2-5 base). As he fills out his frame (he should be able to get to 245 easily) he becomes a playmaking ILB who possesses strength, speed, and instincts.

Dawson would be an excellent LB to pair with Kendricks. That would give the Eagles a lot of speed in the middle of the field. TCU plays a 4-2-5 as their base defense, which is very demanding for LBs. Their LBs are forced to play the run and cover a lot of ground vs the pass. Daryl Washington was a star for them and is one in the NFL. Jason Phillips was very good in college, but injuries killed his NFL career. Dawson is used to having a lot of pressure on him. That would help him adjust to the NFL.

Check out this highlight play from the Oklahoma game to see the kind of playmaker Dawson can be.

There are several other good options for the Eagles to consider. I hope they add a gifted athlete. Having a pair of athletic ILBs can really help a defense. Just look at what Thomas Davis and Luke Kuechly did for the Panthers down the stretch. Those guys made plays all over the field and really helped the players around them.

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