Adrian Fedkiw
It was a release nearly five months in the making, so should the Philadelphia Eagles pursue former Detroit Lions linebacker Stephen Tulloch?
Hell yeah!
The Detroit Free Press reported that Tulloch had an undisclosed offseason surgery and didn’t pass a physical exam until Tuesday. Detroit initially told the 31-year-old linebacker that it would cut him in February. The Lions waited until now because the salary-cap charge would’ve been higher had they parted ways with him earlier in the proceedings.
Tulloch had not shown up for any of the offseason activities.
Not only has Tulloch played under defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz for most of his career, the Eagles don’t have any depth at linebacker besides maybe Najee Goode and the projected starting trio of Jordan Hicks, Nigel Bradham and Mychal Kendricks has never gone through an entire 16-game season unscathed. Tulloch was in Tennessee from 2006-08 when Schwartz was the defensive coordinator with the Titans and then signed with Detroit in 2011 when Schwartz was already the head coach there for two years. Schwartz was fired in 2013. Tulloch ha recorded at least 100 tackles in six of his last seven seasons.
Tulloch is at his best in run defense, something the Eagles lacked considerably once Hicks tore his pectoral muscle against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 9 and was lost for the season. Hicks, of course, had an extensive injury history while with Texas as well and it’s not a coincidence the Eagles’ run defense took a nose dive once he was gone.
Here’s the difference between Philadelphia’s run defense the first eight games compared to the final eight.
When Hicks was in the lineup, opponents ran the ball 222 times for 903 yards, which totaled 112.9 yards per game and 4.07 yards per carry. The yardage per contest would’ve ranked 19th and yards per tote 16th. Because Chip Kelly’s offense ran the second most plays per game in the NFL, that meant his defense was on the field a lot more, so I tend to look at the yards per carry average over the yardage per 60 minutes of game action.
Opponents toted the rock 256 times for 1,250 yards over the last eight games, which turned out to be an astonishing 156.3 yards per contest and 4.91 yards every time someone ran the ball. The Eagles finished the NFL dead last in rushing yards allowed per game with 134.6, nearly five yards clear of the New Orleans Saints, who finished 31st. The yards per attempt surpassed the league-worst Saints’ mark of 4.9. Philadelphia finished 28th in yards per carry allowed with 4.5.
Hicks was greatly missed during the Eagles’ embarrassing performances against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Arizona Cardinals, when Doug Martin and rookie David Johnson ran for 235 and 187 yards, respectively. The holes were gaping and the tackling pitiful. You guys remember that one Johnson run when he ran through the entire team, right?
That wouldn’t have happened with Hicks in the lineup.
And it might not have happened if Tulloch was in there either.