Who Stays, Who Goes: Edge Rushers

The emerging Josh Sweat is the only concrete option moving forward for the Eagles at a position the organization values greatly

Change is in the air when it comes to the Eagles and the all-important edge-rusher position with the up-and-coming Josh Sweat as the only concrete option moving forward.

The lengthy Sweat, who will turn 25 in March, had a career-high 7.5 sacks in the 2021 season after signing a three-year, $40 million extension in September. He was also very effective when graded with his peers with Pro Football Focus measuring him at No. 22 of 113 edge rushers league-wide.

Jonathan Gannon went into 2021 with the idea of a four-man rotation at DE early in the season with Brandon Graham and Derek Barnett being spelled by Sweat and veteran free-agent signing Ryan Kerrigan.

The group looked great on paper but the foundational piece, Graham, was lost for the season in Week 2 due to a torn Achilles’.

Set to turn 34 in early April, many started to question if Graham would be back but GM Howie Roseman, along with a massive cap hit of the Eagles wanted to walk away, quickly nipped that in the bud.

“We miss BG.," Rosema said. "We miss BG the player, and there is nobody who can replace BG, the person, the leader that he is as well. We know he's attacking this rehab. We see him every day around here. And he has a chip on his shoulder, and we do see a role for him going forward, and we are excited to get him back next year.

“He's a huge part of our football team.”

Barnett, on the other hand, is unlikely to return after playing the final year on his original rookie deal when he was the No. 14 overall pick in 2017, albeit with Roseman pushing $7.25M of the bloated salary spike to 2022.

In theory, that could mean the Eagles and Barnett will explore an extension before free agency but the Sweat extension likely means Barnett is the odd man out after never living up to his promise as a pass rusher when he arrived as the player who broke Reggie White’s sack records with the University of Tennessee.

Barnett got to the QB just two times in 2021 and has a total of 21.5 sacks in 63 regular-season games, along with a reputation of taking some poor and undisciplined penalties.

Despite that, though, Barnett is a good player with a high floor in scouting parlance at a position that is very important, meaning he’s likely to generate interest on the open market with PFF’s valuation three years at a $12.5M AAV for Barnett, something that would be untenable for the Eagles.

With Barnett presumably out of the picture, it will be interesting to see if the Eagles use Sweat as the RDE or weak-side rusher more often.

At 33, Kerrigan was a non-factor in the regular season after a wonderful career with Washington and he may have earned another year in the league with an impressive playoff performance against Tampa Bay that included 1.5 sacks but it won’t be with the Eagles.

Tarron Jackson, 23, played all 18 games for the Eagles in 2021 as a rookie sixth-round pick out of Coastal Carolina and showed some real promise while getting into 22% of the defensive reps in the regular season. The key for the undersized Jackson (6-foot-2, 254) moving forward will be adding strength so he can set the edge in run support.

The Eagles are also bringing back the hard-working Cameron Malveaux, 27, and International Player Pathway hopeful Matt Leo, 29, on futures deals.

Malveaux has intriguing length at 6-6 and 265 lacks top-tier athleticism while Leo is hard-working but will be turning 30 this summer and will need to breakthrough soon.

Set to enter April’s draft with three first-round picks (Nos. 15, 16, and 19), the Eagles are almost sure to come out of the first night with an edge rusher considering how much the organization values the position.

STAY: Josh Sweat, Brandon Graham (rehabbing torn Achilles’), Tarron Jackson, Cameron Malveaux (futures deal), Matt Leo (futures deal)

GO: Derek Barnett (UFA), Ryan Kerrigan (UFA)

To view the entire series, visit www.eaglemaven.com

-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven 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 both PhillyVoice.com and 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

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.