April 27, 2026
Jeff Lange/Imagn Images
Browns safeties Grant Delpit (9) and Ronnie Hickman (33) could make some sense for the Eagles.
Each year after the draft has come and gone, the Philadelphia Eagles typically sign a few veteran players to plug unfilled holes on their depth chart, sometimes immediately, and sometimes a little closer to the season. Here we'll take a look at the positions that could still be addressed, and some potential answers at each spot.
The most obvious glaring hole on the roster — or maybe better stated, the weakest position on the roster — remains at safety. First, the depth chart:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Andrew Mukuba | Michael Carter* | J.T. Gray | Brandon Johnson | Tucker Large (R) |
| Marcus Epps | Cole Wisniewski (R) | Andre' Sam | Maximus Pulley (R) |
We'll put Carter here for this exercise, but he's primarily a slot corner.
The top safety on the roster (Mukuba) is a 5'11, 186-pound second-year player who missed half his rookie season due to injury. The next top two safeties — Epps and Carter — were more or less discarded by their former teams.
Selecting a safety in the first round was never a realistic option for the Eagles, a team that simply doesn't value that position anywhere near a lot other spots. But it was also a mild surprise that they didn't select one until the seventh round.
During his post-Day 3 press conference, Howie Roseman acknowledged that the Eagles still have to improve their safety position.
"You go into the draft understanding that you’re not going to come out of it with everything being perfect, but we probably have a different vision of our safety room than maybe it is publicly," he said. "But again, that’ll all sort itself out. We don’t play our first game until September. At every position we have to see what we have...
"We couldn’t get everything we wanted at any position, but we’re comfortable where we are as a football team right now, and understanding that there’s work to be done."
So what should they do?
After the meaty part of free agency had concluded, I had taken a look at the available free agents, and they were pretty much picked clean. I had also scoured NFL rosters to identify teams with a surplus of players at safety who might be willing to trade one. And again, nothing. It's a pretty weak position, league-wide.
However, eight safeties were selected in the first two days of the draft.
The team that now has a surplus of starting-quality safeties, in my opinion, is the Browns, with Ronnie Hickman, Grant Delpit, and rookie second-round pick Emmanuel McNeil-Warren. Maybe Delpit and/or Hickman could be available.
If I'm the Eagles, I might also check in on the availability of the Panthers' Nick Scott and Tre'Von Moehrig, after Carolina selected Lathan Ransom in the fourth round last year and Zakee Wheatley in the fifth round this year.
Ultimately, the Eagles are probably going to have to trade for a safety, because there aren't any realistic answers on the street.
Again, let's start with the depth chart.
| iOL | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| LG | Landon Dickerson | Willie Lampkin | Hollin Pierce |
| C | Cam Jurgens | Drew Kendall | Jake Majors |
| RG | Tyler Steen | Micah Morris (R) | Jaeden Roberts (R) |
Landon Dickerson is still only 27 years old, but his body has taken a beating and he is probably a year-to-year retirement candidate at this point in his career. Meanwhile, Cam Jurgens played through what sounds like a brutal back injury in 2024, and he was not fully recovered from offseason surgery in advance of a down 2025 season.
And then from a long-term perspective, Tyler Steen was a competent starter at RG in 2025, but he is scheduled to be a free agent after this season.
My understanding is that the Eagles like second-year pro Drew Kendall, but he only played 89 snaps as a rookie in 2025. The Eagles also selected Micah Morris in the sixth round, but they can't reasonably expect him to be a surefire, capable backup ready to play immediately. Their depth is pretty thin. I think the Eagles would feel better if they had a tested veteran backup on their interior O-line.
So what should they do?
Mekhi Becton remains a free agent. I also thought James Daniels made some sense during free agency.
It's worth noting that after Monday at 4:00 p.m. EST, free agent signings will no longer count toward the compensatory pick formula.
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