Eagles Sign LB Kyzir White

White is a starting-level, off-ball LB coming off a big season with the LA Chargers

The Eagles made a somewhat significant move during the second wave of free agency Saturday, signing off-ball linebacker Kyzir White to a one-year, $5 million deal.

A Lehigh County, PA native White, where he attended Emmaus High School, is the template of the modern NFL linebacker in many ways, an undersized, converted safety from his college days at West Virginia.

White just turned 26 on Thursday and finished up his rookie contract with the Chargers as a 2018 fourth-round pick on an up note, piling up 144 tackles over 17 starts, which ranked eighth in the NFL. He also had two interceptions.

At 6-foot-2 and 218 pounds, White will be penciled in as the Eagles’ starting off-ball LB next to T.J. Edwards and, on paper, at least, those two look like a good complement for each other with the 240-pound Edwards serving as the thumper in run support at MIKE (middle linebacker) and the speedy White being able to run with backs and tight ends in coverage as the WILL (weakside LB).

The Eagles have consistently used the Band-Aid approach in recent years at LB in free agency but White is a step up from previous attempts such as Eric Wilson, Jatavis Brown (once a teammate of White's with the Chargers), Corey Nelson, L.J. Fort, and Paul Worrilow.

Last season, ProFootballFocus.com graded out White as the 20th best off-ball LB in the league while Edwards finished at No. 10.

The Eagles also gave Haason Reddick significant money in free agency to play a hybrid SAM/edge rusher roke so the revamped second level shapes up as much more talented than the group last year which leaned on Edwards, Alex Singleton, the oft-injured Davion Taylor, and Genard Avery.

Singleton was not tendered by the Eagles as a restricted free agent and ultimately signed with Denver while Taylor will be back as the top backup to Edwards and White inside. Avery remains an unrestricted free agent who visited Atlanta this week and is not expected back.

The signing of White also makes it unlikely Philadelphia will look toward off-ball LB in the first round of the draft again despite the luxury of three first-round picks. The last time the Eagles went that direction at the top of the process was 1979 when they selected two-time Pro-Bowler Jerry Robinson.

The current depth chart at off-ball LB for the Eagles after Edwards and White also includes special-teams standout Shaun Bradley and another college safety making the transition in 2021 sixth-round pick JaCoby Stevens.

-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen