As you may or may not have heard, the Philadelphia Eagles have had a very eventful offseason.
They’ve re-signed some of their own, said goodbye to a few fan favorites, but replaced them with a few interesting players along the way as well, with the potential to land even more new performers in the 2025 NFL Draft.
But before the Eagles can fully commit to their draft board, they should consider scouring the NFL to see if there are any deals to be had on the trade market before Roger Goodell officially kicks things off on Thursday, April 24, in Green Bay. In recent years, the Eagles have been among the best trading teams in the NFL, using their veteran players to secure future draft picks while trading away selections for young players who are still on rookie-scale deals in order to maintain cap flexibility.
Could the Eagles use a safety? Yes, that is arguably their biggest need, but they could easily fill that hole in free agency with a player like Julian Blackmon or Justin Simmons, or in the NFL Draft, where starting-caliber safties can often be found in any round, from the first to the seventh and even undrafted free agents like Rodney McLeod, who went on to have a fantastic career in and away from the Eagles.
No, if the Eagles are going to trade for a player, it needs to be someone who wouldn’t be available to them in this year’s class or on the open market, especially for the price. Fortunately, there’s a player who is rumored to be on the block who fits that bill very well, and *bonus points* he just so happens to have gone to Georgia: Travon Walker.
Travon Walker is a big Bulldog with Pro Bowl upside
Heading into the 2022 NFL Draft, Walker was widely considered a consensus top player in the class.
Though his college production wasn’t elite by any means, amassing just 9.5 sacks over his time in Athens, Walker flew up draft boards thanks to his incredible off-field athleticism, where he ran a 4.51 40 at 272 pounds to go with a 1.62 10-yard split, a 35.5 inch vertical jump, a 123 inch broad jump, and a 4.32 20-yard shuttle.
Sure, Aidan Hutchinson had the size, the production, and Pro Bowl written all over him, but if Walker hit his ceiling, the sky was the limit on how good he could be as a pro.
So far, it’s clear the Lions landed the better player, as Hutchinson is everything fans expected him to be, but Walker’s production hasn’t been terrible to say the least.
A proud owner of two-straight double-digit sack seasons, Walker played his best football last season for the Jaguars, recording 61 total tackles, 15 QB hits, and 13 tackles for loss in 17 games of action. While his advanced measurables do leave something to be desired, as he recorded just five QB hits, 13 hurries, and 29 pressures on 911 snaps, all the while missing 14 percent of his tackles, Walker looks like a good-to-very good starting-caliber edge rusher who should have a long career in the NFL.
The problem? When first overall edge rushers look more like Chase Young and Jadeveon Clowney than Myles Garrett, they often don’t stick with the same team for their entire careers, as it’s hard to hand them the sort of market-setting contracts typically garnered by a player of that caliber when they perform at a Josh Sweat level.
Clowney ended up getting franchise tagged by the Texans after his fifth season with the team and was traded to the Seattle Seahawks, where he played one year before going to the Tennessee Titans, the Cleveland Browns, the Baltimore Ravens, and then the Carolina Panthers, where he is entering the second year of a two-year, $20 million deal.
Young’s career follows a similar arc, playing in Washington until his rookie deal’s conclusion was approaching before being traded to the San Francisco 49ers. From there, he signed with the New Orleans Saints, where he is about to enter his second year with the team on a new three-year, $51 million deal.
Is Walker better than Clowney or Young? Debatable, but he isn’t better than Josh Hines-Allen, his Jaguars teammate who signed a five-year, $150 million contract with the team in 2024. Unless Walker is willing to swallow his pride and accept a deal worth as much as $10 million less per season to stay with the Jaguars, Jacksonville would be wise to consider trading him when his value is high, as opposed to allowing him to walk in free agency or be moved in the future when his contract has less time remaining on it.
Travon Walker could be a fantastic addition to the Eagles
As the first overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, Walker is not nearly as cost-controlled as most players acquired on rookie scale contracts.
In 2024, he’s slated to make $11.9 million, and if his fifth-year option gets picked up, he will be on a deal worth $14.75 million, both according to Over The Cap. With that being said, those aren’t terrible numbers for a starting-caliber edge rusher, especially one who would be reuniting with over a half-dozen of his college teammates in the City of Brotherly Love.
In two of the past three seasons, Walker has actually been a better run defender than pure pass rusher, where his ability to set a hard edge and chase down backs helped to keep him on the field for 76 percent of the Jaguars’ snaps. While Walker doesn’t win a ton of his one-on-one rushes straight up, in Philadelphia, he would be playing alongside Jalen Carter, who draws in as much additional attention as a defensive tackle as any other player in the NFL. This gravity has allowed players like Nolan Smith and Josh Sweat to have career years in his presence and made Milton Williams into a $104 million man.
Even if he only stays in Philadelphia for two years, Walker would be an ideal starting edge rusher who could kick it inside on obvious passing downs Brandon Graham-style to make way for a pure OLB like Azeez Ojulari. If he plays up to his potential and becomes a $30 million defender, the Eagles could choose to pay him what he’s worth, but if he instead follows in the blueprint laid out by Young and Clowney, Howie Roseman could simply allow him to walk and recoup a comp pick in the future. Either way, the Eagles win, which is the kind of deal they enjoy executing.
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