The Eagles lost a linebacker in free agency to Chicago so why not take one back?
Philadelphia agreed to terms with veteran LB Nicholas Morrow on a one-year contract Tuesday, according to a league source.
The team had already lost its 2022 starters at the position — Mike LB T.J. Edwards, who signed a three-year deal with Chicago, his hometown team, and Kyzir White, who inked for two years in Arizona, a reunion with former Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, who is now the head coach for the Cardinals.
Morrow, an undersized player (6-foot, 217 pounds) out of D-III Greenville University, started all 17 games for the Bears last season and recorded a career-best 116 tackles, including 11 for loss, with two pass breakups and an interception.
For now, he’ll pencil in next to Nakobe Dean at the position as new DC Sean Desai takes over what was the second-ranked defense in the NFL last season.
Edwards was the QB of that defense for Gannon and was graded as the sixth-best (of 81) off-ball LB in football last season while White was No. 33. Morrow came in at No. 64, much better in pass coverage (No. 38 of 70) than run support (No. 74 of 85).
Morrow, who will turn 28 in July, entered the league as an undrafted free agent with the Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders and spent his first four seasons with that organization, amassing 254 tackles — 20 for loss — two forced fumbles, 15 quarterback hits, and 20 pass breakups over 62 games with 29 starts. He missed the entire 2021 season with a foot injury before rebooting in Chicago where he played 1,086 defensive snaps last season with 956 of those in the box as a traditional LB.
Morrow will join a LB room in Philadelphia as the most experienced option. Dean was a 2022 third-round pick out of Georgia after winning the Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker but only played 34 defensive snaps as a rookie. Others on the depth chart include special-teams stalwarts Shaun Bradley and Christian Elliss, as well as Davion Taylor, a 2020 third-round pick who has started seven games.
The Eagles also lost the off-ball LB coach, Nick Rallis, who left to become Gannon’s DC in Arizona. Rallis was replaced by former Temple DC D.J. Eliot, who coached Taylor previously in college at Colorado.
