Eagles LB Devin White A Risk Worth Taking? Five Thoughts on Latest Signing

Once again the Philadelphia Eagles are rolling the dice at the linebacker spot with a one-year deal for Devin White, who is at a career crossroads.

PHILADELPHIA – The signing of Saquon Barkley seemed to signal the end of the Philadelphia Eagles’ running-back-by-committee approach. They aren’t paying him all that money to not be on the field as much as possible.

Now what about the linebackers, a position that hasn’t been as much of a committee approach but a year-to-year stance? The Eagles had T.J. Edwards for four years before letting him walk to the Chicago Bears, and he got better each year.

Since 2020, it’s been a collection of several players for a year or two, such as Duke Riley, Alex Singleton, and Genard Avery. Last year, it was Nick Morrow and Zach Cunningham on one-year deals, then, in an act of desperation down the home stretch of the season Shaq Leonard signed on.

Now comes another shot on a one-year hopeful in Devin White, who signed a one-year deal worth $7.5 million on Thursday.

That’s good money for a player who the Bucs no longer wanted – and more than the Eagles have invested at the position in forever. It’s also more than the Eagles will pay their other linebackers combined - Nakobe Dean, Ben VanSumeren, and another one-year free-agent, Zack Baun.

Devin White / USA Today

Here are my five thoughts on White:

Over-aggressiveness. Sometimes White is his own worst enemy and tends to play an undisciplined style. Vic Fangio won’t stand for that. White will have to play the way the defensive coordinator wants him to risk parked on the bench. Tampa Bay didn’t put up with it last year, and he did find himself benched.

Motivation. White should have it now, you would think. After being taken fifth overall in the 2019 draft, he finds his career at a crossroads. He needs a good season to stay in the league and get paid like the first-round pick that he was. A motivated White will be of great benefit to the Eagles.

Worth the risk. White just turned 26 in February and has made 75 starts. That kind of experience could help Dean – again, with the caveat that he plays the way Fangio wants. White had three straight seasons of 124-plus tackles from 2020-22. He had just 83 last year.

His career also lists nine sacks, nine forced fumbles, six fumble recoveries, and 40 tackles for loss. That’s production worth gambling on.

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Durability. White was hampered by foot and groin issues last year, but he still played 14 games. He played all 17 games in 2021 and 2022. Dean, by comparison, played just five games before needing surgery for a Lisfranc injury.

If Dean can stay healthy and White figures out how to reign in some of his aggression, this could be a linebacker unit worth watching.

What could be next? The belief is that the Eagles aren’t done adding at this position.

They could find another linebacker on Day 2 or 3 of the draft – certainly not on Day 1 when the first round is because they never take a LB in that round – or they could bring back Cunningham, who general manager Howie Roseman praised for having a good season or even Shaun Bradley, who spent last year on injured reserve and who is a free agent.