The Philadelphia Eagles are facing a potential five-alarm fire on defense.
Not only did Philadelphia’s pass rush struggle mightily to create any sort of pressure on Kirk Cousins during Monday night’s 22-15 collapse, but the Eagles’ secondary allowed Cousins and the Falcons to walk 65 yards down the field in under 1:30 to score the game-winning touchdown.
Many of the issues that were revealed in the Eagles’ Week 2 loss played a heavy hand in Philadelphia’s colossal collapse from a 10-1 start to open the 2023 season only to finish 11-6 and lose to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, on the road, in the NFC Wild Card Round.
Fortunately, the Eagles have time to fix what ails coordinator Vic Fangio’s unit.
Could the Philadelphia Eagles Trade for Budda Baker?
Eagles general manager Howie Roseman is nothing if not aggressive, a reputation he has bolstered time and again, and as recently as acquiring wide receiver Jahan Dotson in an August trade with the division rival Washington Commanders.
Seeing familiar failures emerge in the secondary could spark Roseman to act.
Bleacher Report NFL analyst Kristopher Knox suggests the Eagles could trade for veteran Arizona Cardinals safety Budda Baker.
“Given their ongoing issues in the secondary,” Knox writes for B/R. “The Eagles should be very interested in trying to pry Baker away from Arizona. Philly has a solid safety tandem in C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Reed Blankenship, but Baker is a versatile defender who could thrive in Vic Fangio’s disguised-coverage schemes.”
Baker would immediately inherit a starting job alongside C.J. Gardner-Johnson and could be exactly the kind of weapon Fangio can move around the field to create maximum havoc on the back-end of the defense.
Likewise, Baker is a physical presence who can add value blitzing off the edge.
The Eagles’ defense wont’ get any breaks in Week 3, against Derek Carr and the high-flying New Orleans Saints, and another aerial bombardment could push Roseman and Philadelphia to try to make a big change.
