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The Philadelphia Eagles made some big additions to their defense through NFL free agency. The team signed a new starting safety in Rodney McLeod and a new starting 4-3 outside linebacker in Nigel Bradham. Former Bills cornerbacks Leodis McKelvin and Ron Brooks were also added to the roster. It's clear Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz had a big role in these signings since three of them are his former players. But there's another clear theme with these players added by the Eagles ... they're physical, hard-hitting dudes. Just take a look at these clips of Bradham and McLeod:
Nigel Bradham can HIT. https://t.co/ucLi8juLgH
— Brandon Lee Gowton (@BrandonGowton) March 10, 2016
Rodney McLeod can also hit. Jim Schwartz really adding some nastiness to this #Eagles defense. https://t.co/qPfgm3ivhG
— Brandon Lee Gowton (@BrandonGowton) March 10, 2016
Brooks can really lay some wood too:
Here's Ron Brooks murdering a Pats receiver: pic.twitter.com/gqkWearFZS
— Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) March 10, 2016
And even McKelvin can hit people!
OK, so maybe Leodis needs to work on exactly who he's hitting.
These new players aren't the only ones who can hit. The Eagles already have some physical guys.
— Brandon Lee Gowton (@BrandonGowton) March 10, 2016
Eric Rowe likes to hit too. https://t.co/i1RpAMI2So
— Brandon Lee Gowton (@BrandonGowton) March 10, 2016
The downside to having a lot of physical hitters in today's NFL is that refs can be flag-happy and penalize big hits that aren't even illegal. The upside is that the Eagles are potentially building a strong, tough, physical defense that will knock the crap out of people.