Will the Defense be better in 2012?

The defense will surely be improved this year with the addition of Texans all pro linebacker Demeco Ryans, the drafting of defensive tackle Fletcher Cox and defensive end Vinny Curry.  In Cox’s final season at Mississippi State he amassed 56 tackles and 5 sacks.  In his career there he had 114 tackles, with 24.5 tackles for a loss and 8.5 sacks in 36 games (27 starts).  Vinny Curry finished his 4 year career at Marshall with 26 sacks, 49 tackles for a loss and 10 forced fumbles.  Now at defensive tackle the Eagles have Cox, Antonio Dixon and Cullen Jenkins. At defensive end we have Curry, Jason Babin, Trent Cole, Brandon Graham and Phillip Hunt.  The Eagles will  have a presence in both the inside defensive line and the outside defensive line, this will allow us to get pressure on quarterback.

The Eagles added Demeco Ryans to the linebackers core: Jamar Cheney, Moise Fokou, Akeem Jordan, Casey Matthews and drafted Mychal Kendrick. We have a strong linebackers corps now with the leadership of Ryan.  If Casey Matthews can improve our inside linebackers with Matthews and Ryan they could be very strong and productive.  With Ryan being the signal caller for the linebackers, the other guys should be able to learn from Ryan.  In my opinion the weakness with the linebackers is tackling.

Now onto the secondary: the safety is an issue and currently we have Nate Allen, and the addition of OJ Atogwe, Kurt Coleman (who did well last year) and Jaiqawn Jarrett who was decent.  Safety is our big issue and we need to emphasize improving our tackling and coverage in this area.

Our cornerback situation is stronger than the safety one. The Eagles have at cornerback: Joselio Hanson, who is good coverage guy, Brandon Boykins, who is going to be a kick return specialist, Dominic Rogers Cromartie and play maker Nnamdi Asomugha. I think our coverage will be better this year than last and we will tackle better with Asante Samuel being traded to Falcons.  That’s what Samuel’s two weaknesses were, and with Samuel gone, that gives more playing time to Hanson, Boykins and Cromartie.  Which I think will make our secondary better.  Samuel’s got burned way too much in critical times when we needed a stop.

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Tags: Asante Samuel, Defense, DeMeco Ryans, Eagles, Robert Fetsick