Why Not Christian Elliss at LB for Eagles?

Second-year Philadelphia Eagles' linebacker Christian Elliss made a splash at OTAs.

PHILADELPHIA -The ball never hit the ground for quarterback Marcus Mariota during his “debut” as the Philadelphia Eagles backup quarterback during an OTA practice last Thursday at the NovaCare complex.

A couple of contextual nuggets should be added to that statement, however.

The Eagles don’t do team drills during the spring so Mariota was slinging it in 7-on-7s – or in this case, the rarely-seen 7-on-9s because defensive coordinator Sean Desai left the edge rushers on the field to both mimic the pass rush for the offense and drill the pass rushers to chase from behind when the ball comes out. Either way, it’s, a drill always slanted toward the offense when it comes to success rate.

Mariota’s completion percentage was also not 100 percent despite the football being immune to the turf.

That’s because emerging backup linebacker Christian Elliss made the play of the day when he showed tremendous instincts in zone coverage, almost baiting the veteran Mariota to try to hit a massive 6-7 target in Tyree Jackson. Once the throw was made, Elliss leaped and intercepted the football to the cheers of his defensive teammates.

On perhaps the NFL’s deepest roster, off-ball linebacker may be the Eagles’ most obvious need on paper. Philadelphia is trying to replace the 2,140 defensive snaps T.J. Edwards and Kyzir White combined to provide over 20 games through Super Bowl LVII last season.

The replacements who are going to be asked to do the majority of that heavy lifting are promising second-year rookie Nakobe Dean, who played 34 snaps as a rookie because Edwards and White provided amazing durability in an era where it’s rare at the position, and veteran journeyman Nicholas Morrow.

That’s quite the projection by itself and it gets even murkier at the position when you get the backups like Shaun Bradley, Davion Taylor, Kyron Johnson, who is making the transition from SAM to off-ball, and undrafted rookie Ben VanSumeren.

Elliss, 24, is the one reserve who you look at and might say 'Maybe?'

Elliss is the son of former Detroit Lions Pro Bowl defensive lineman Luther Elliss, who has 12 kids, seven of whom were adopted, and the bother of Saints LB Kaden Elliss, and Noah Elliss, the massive Eagles’ backup defensive tackle, who is trying to return from an Achilles injury.

He played his college ball at Idaho where his dad was the d-line coach and was first signed as an undrafted free agent by Minnesota after the 2021 NFL Draft, thought of as a bit of a tweener after running a 4.58 at 238 pounds during his pro day, perhaps a potential undersized edge rusher or an off-ball candidate depending on the scout looking at his film.

The Vikings’ announced Elliss as a linebacker when signing him and were well-stocked there at the time. Once Elliss was waived by the Vikings, the Eagles came calling with a practice-squad spot. It was hardly, smooth sailing and Elliss actually left the organization for a short time on San Francisco’s PS before returning.

By last season when Philadelphia started to struggle with special teams coverage,  coach Nick Sirianni intimated that there would be changes – both obvious to the naked eye and not so obvious to the untrained ones.

The former was inserting the athletic Elliss, who immediately jumped off the page with his coverage skills.

Much has been made of Dean’s natural instincts in mop-up duty when the 2021 Butkus Award winner produced six tackles in his scant 34 reps, including five in 15 snaps against Tennessee on Dec. 4 of last year. Consider that Elliss recorded seven tackles in only 22 defensive snaps, including three in 10 snaps against those same Titans.

It’s not crazy to think Elliss will be pushing Morrow for playing time by the end of the summer, offering Desai more size and athleticism at a position where talent is needed.

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-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 "Football 24/7 and a daily contributor to ESPN South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen