Philadelphia Eagles safety Nate Allen (29) defends during the fourth quarter at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports
The Philadelphia Eagles have decided to re-sign fourth-year safety Nate Allen to a dirt cheap, one-year deal, and this means that the only big difference between last year’s awful Eagles safety corps and this year’s version is that Malcolm Jenkins is at free safety and last year’s free agent bust Patrick Chung won’t start anywhere. I wish the Eagles signed Jairus Byrd, and I honestly don’t buy the scheme argument. Why wouldn’t you want to sign an elite FS and upgrade your entire defense in the process instead of signing a safety who wasn’t really even effective in coverage last season?
Hopefully it all works out for the Eagles, and there’s no doubt that they are better off at safety this year than last year. Earl Wolff will improve in his second season, and Allen will also get better.
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane reports that Allen’s deal with the Eagles is for one year and will play him $2 million with another $1 million in incentives. This deal carries no risk, and I’ve always liked Allen a bit. He isn’t a good starter, but he’s improved each seasons and has some playmaking ability. He could be an adequate starter with a much better coverage FS next to him to help hide some of those weaknesses, so we’ll see if Jenkins can be that guy on the Eagles defense. The man starting across from Jenkins will either be Allen or Wolff, and that’s an interesting training camp battle worth watching for closely.