The Philadelphia Eagles have “some level of interest” in free agent cornerback Tramaine Brock, according to NFL insider Adam Caplan.
Brock was arrested earlier this offseason in an alleged domestic violence incident. The felony case against him was dismissed earlier today, however, due to a lack of evidence.
The San Francisco 49ers released Brock one day after his arrest in April. Unsurprisingly, he didn’t garner any interest on the market with charges pending. But now that the case has been dismissed, it sounds like teams are interested again.
The Eagles appear to be one of those teams. Here’s what Caplan had to say an interview with 97.5 on Thursday. Bold emphasis is mine.
So, I think with Brock, I talked to teams around the league, a lot of people were interested. The word is — other than this thing that had been alleged — there’s really no history in his past of off the field issues. He’s sort of a self-made player, a former starter for the 49ers.
In fact, the 49ers, talking with them about Brock in the past, it’s a guy that they watched grow up in their system. And when the situation was alleged, they decided to release him. And now that he’s available you have to wonder if he’ll go back there. As a matter of fact, there have been reports out there that the Niners have interest in talking to him, that they have interest in him. So you have to see how that goes.
But my understanding is that at least four teams want to bring him in for a visit. Now, I’ve not heard the Eagles are on the list, but my understanding is the Eagles have some level of interest. I don’t know how much, but here’s what we know: the Eagles are probably […] in way dire straights of any team I’ve seen at corner. I’ll also tell you that this is the worst I’ve seen corner depth in the National Football League. It’s really bad now […] I expect him to have a job in a week or so.
Caplan went on to suggest the Eagles could just be doing their homework on Brock, but he said he wasn’t completely sure.
In any case, it’s not surprising to see Brock linked to Philadelphia given the Eagles’ obvious concern at cornerback. The corners have been a huge apparent weakness during the team’s offseason practices.
Brock has started 40 games at corner in 80 career appearances since being undrafted in 2010. He’s recorded 157 tackles, 11 interceptions, 14 passes defensed, and one forced fumble during that span. Last year, Brock finished 24th out of 78 players in Pro Football Focus’ signature coverage stat.
There’s reason to believe Brock would be an upgrade for the Eagles. The question is whether they want to be associated with a player who was accused of domestic violence. Although the case was dismissed due to a lack of evidence, Brock’s girlfriend had reportedly suffered “visible facial injuries” on the night of his arrest. The case being dismissed doesn’t preclude teams from doing their own research and finding reason to be uncomfortable with a signing. The dismissal also doesn’t prevent Brock from still being subject to discipline via the NFL’s personal conduct policy.
If the Eagles don’t end up signing Brock, they could look elsewhere to address the cornerback position. Caplan suggested as much.
“Well, I think that they’re going to add one to two corners. They’re looking heavy at the veteran market. It’s a matter of system fit.”
It would be surprising if the Eagles sat tight with their current group of corners. It feels like they’ve struggled so much that something has to be done before the season starts.
We’ll see if that’s the case.