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Apparently the Philadelphia Eagles’ defense is available to the highest bidder. First it was Brandon Boykin rumored to be on the trading block. Not long after, Mychal Kendricks became the next trade rumor after the acquisition of Kiko Alonso. From there, it was revealed that Fletcher Cox might be the key piece in a potential trade for Marcus Mariota. And next up is another Eagle defender who may not be in midnight green come September: Marcus Smith II.
According to Eagle writer Mark Eckel, Smith may be traded away in an effort to move up somewhere in the first three rounds. Eckel further postulates that Smith could be moved to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for Chip Kelly’s former linebacker, and fellow first-round disappointment Dion Jordan.
Trading for Jordan makes no sense for the Eagles — I’ve already outlined my reasons why here. Why would the Eagles take on that extra salary for what would amount to a lateral move? Trading one so-far disappointment for another, plus picking up that bigger contract, doesn’t help the Eagles at all. The Eagles would essentially be paying an extra few million to move up in a middle round. That only makes sense if Miami wants to pick up some of Jordan’s contract to get him out.
But trading Smith also, believe it or not, creates a hole on the defense. Right now Smith is the top outside linebacker backup along with special-teams stud Bryan Braman. I love Braman’s attitude and production on special teams, but I don’t like that he’s the top backup if Brandon Graham goes down. Undoubtedly the Eagles would have a draft pick come in if Smith is traded, but imagine if the Eagles went and got an edge rusher in the draft anyway. Braman’s special teams production would be protected and Smith would still be in the same role he is in now. Only now, the team gets stronger with the draft pick and Smith as the backups.
Besides, how far is Smith actually going to be able to move the Eagles up in any round? He doesn’t have nearly as much value to anyone else than he does in Philly. The Eagles have the first-round pick invested in him, not anyone else. It’s much more valuable to keep Smith around and give him another shot at sticking to the roster — if he finally does pay off like the organization hopes, the Eagles are that much stronger. Packaging him with a pick to move up in a middle round hurts the roster more than it helps.
No, it’s better that the Eagles let Smith stick around for training camp and fight for a roster spot. If he’s really been working as hard as the team has reported, he should be much improved from the nothing he’s shown so far. After all, Smith has nowhere to go but up.
Doug Green is a Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com covering the Philadelphia Eagles and the NFL. Follow him on Twitter @DGreenNFL.
