Philadelphia Eagles should sign Larry Warford after Brandon Brooks injury
The Philadelphia Eagles need to replace Brandon Brooks after a season-ending injury.
Entering the 2020 NFL season, the Philadelphia Eagles were already going to be experiencing some transition on the offensive line as longtime tackle Jason Peters was allowed to walk, as of now, in free agency. That put the onus on Andre Dillard to step up. But now they have more questions in the trenches as they’ll be without star guard Brandon Brooks.
Brooks suffered an Achilles tear in offseason training that will already sideline him for the entirety of the 2020 season. Losing a starter on an offensive line already transitioning is tough in its own right. It’s much more detrimental, though, when you consider that Brooks was the best guard in the NFL last season according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required).
While the Eagles had a readymade replacement for Peters leaving with a young player in Dillard, a former first-round pick, they don’t have one for Brooks. Subsequently, the Philadelphia offense needs to look at their options at how to replace their star offensive guard.
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Lucky for them, there might be a perfect replacement still available in free agency: former Saints offensive guard Larry Warford.
Larry Warford is the ideal target for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Warford was released by New Orleans following the 2020 NFL Draft after the Saints used their first-round pick on Cesar Ruiz. They opted for the cheaper rookie and sent the veteran guard packing to save money on the cap. And that could ultimately be to the good fortune of the Eagles in their current predicament.
Per PFF (subscription required), Warford graded out at 73.1 last season overall and was over 70.0 in both pass blocking and run blocking grades. His overall grade would’ve put him at No. 15 in terms of offensive guards in the NFL last season.
There’s no denying that Warford is a step down from Brooks but, considering that he was the best guard in the league last season, so too would any player Philadelphia would put in his spot. However, rather than the unproven guys on the roster, the veteran Warford has proven his success in the NFL and should be able to come in immediately and make sure that’s not an area of weakness.
Another solution for the Eagles, perhaps, would be to re-sign Peters and slot Dillard inside at guard. However, given the injury history of Peters in recent years, that might put them right back at square one if he were to go down as well.
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Subsequently, signing Warford is the best option for the Eagles after the Brooks injury. Philadelphia still has plenty of cap space left at their disposal, so signing one of the top players remaining on the market is surely doable. At the end of the day, to maximize the offense and to keep Carson Wentz healthy, they need to find the best way to fill in for Brooks. To me, that’s Warford beyond a shadow of a doubt.