The Philadelphia Eagles may have had an encouraging defensive performance against the New Orleans Saints, but that doesn’t mean many of their big acquisitions from the offseason have played up to par. Bryce Huff and Devin White were added to supplement the pass rush and linebacker rooms, and neither of them have stepped up.
Huff, a former undrafted free agent off a 10-sack season with the New York Jets, has yet to record a pressure or solo tackle. White, picked No. 5 overall by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2019 NFL Draft, has yet to suit up for Philly and has been a healthy scratch in their most recent games.
Despite being signed to rehabilitate his career on an Eagles team that is still fairly thin at linebacker, White is not going to play a role on this Philadelphia defense. Perhaps another team that could be a bit more welcoming to the reclamation project could send the Eagles a draft pick.
ESPN’s Dan Graziano highlighted the Buffalo Bills, who are currently dealing with injuries to linebackers Matt Milano and Terrel Bernard as a team who could trade for White. The New England Patriots and Las Vegas Raiders were also mentioned as possible fallback options.
Devin White viewed as trade target for Bills, Patriots, Raiders
Buffalo clearly makes the most sense of these three landing spots. A good defensive coach like Sean McDermott could get the most out of White despite his huge decline in quality, and the Bills could use more depth at ther beat-up linebacker spot.
New England is very much rebuilding, but their defense has some strong individual players. If the Patriots are actually going to make an in-season acquisition like this, an offensive player who can help either protect or catch passes from Drake Maye would be the better investment.
The Raiders have holes that need fixing more than their linebacker spot, though a former linebacker and position coach like Antonio Pierce could squeeze every last inch of talent out of White. It simply won’t happen in Philadelphia, as White is starting to run out of room in Philadelphia.
The Eagles have typically been very good at admitting when they have made a mistake and cutting their losses before any real damage is done. As White has shown by being unable to crack Philly’s defense, a Super Bowl contender like this has no business trying to get him straightened out.
