Skip to main content

Kyzir

 

The Birds signed former Los Angeles Charger Kyzir White yesterday to an est. $5M 1 year deal. 

 

The Good:

  • Fits Roster Need: Played Weakside 4-3 LB, then inside LB when LA moved to a 3-4 in ‘21, and had a lot of snaps in nickel & dime packages as the sub-LB.  He’ll fit well in Jonathan Gannon’s multi-front schemes, with excellent recognition skills.  He fits what the Eagles would like to do with their LB’s in coverage schemes- drop LB’s deeper in zone, cover the curl/flat area, and play the middle of the field.  He'll play alongside SAM/Edge Hassan Reddick & tough interior LB TJ Edwards.
  • Ascender: 4th round college safety coming off his rookie contract who has learned the NFL ins and outs of both weakside and off-ball LB, playing strongly vs. the run and the pass.  “Given his improved play and the jump he took year to year, it's clear that Kyzir White's potential has not been reached.”
  • Performer: Ranked 20th overall across all LB’s by pro football focus, 8th amongst NFL LB’s in tackles, 10th in assists, and 5th amongst LB’s in int’s & forced fumbles.  He’s a volume tackler who is natural in coverage, and also good in pursuit of ballcarriers out of the backfield.
  • Age: He not only just turned 26 yesterday.  Ever increasing snaps his first 4 years (started 3 games as a rookie, 7 in 2019, 10 in 2020, and 17 last year), so “mileage” is good too. 
  • Competitive: Beat out LA’s fine 2020 1st round pick Kenneth Murray
  • Leader: He was a team captain at West Virginia.  White, for the Chargers, was an unquestioned “vocal and emotional leader on and off the field last year, especially when the defense struggled, and was one of the only consistent week-to week performers.”
  • Playmaker: 1 of 3 LB’s in ‘21 to have multiple sacks, multiple forced fumbles & multiple interceptions.
  • Cost: Getting a player of this caliber, age and talent at 5M is a borderline steal. 
  • Depth: He’ll play in Davion Taylor’s spot, hopefully enabling Taylor to learn from a player w/similar skill.
  • Familiarity: Eagles OC Shane Steichen was w/LA from the time White was drafted in 2018 until 2020.

The Bad… Note many of these come with silver linings:

  • Size: He’s undersized at 6’2”, 218.  He’s a converted safety (but he has been willing against the run).  Still, at his size you don’t want him making a living taking on blocks against the run (He’s best when not forced to shed blocks, which is something an Eagles’ restocked defensive front would allow him to do).
  • 2023+: It’s a 1 year deal.  If he performs as expected, it’ll be significantly more expensive to keep him.
  • Davion Taylor: The Eagles 3rd round pick 2 years ago is now likely a bench player.  Taylor made strides last season before getting hurt.  Hopefully, Davion’s knee injury is not too serious (However, if Taylor “figures it out” the Eagles will have 2 speedy LB’s to position simultaneously if/when warranted).
  • Unknown: After demonstrating he was the Chargers best LB, White was not a priority in-house to re-sign, even though he was nationally acknowledged to be the Chargers most valuable FA.  Either (like the Eagles) they undervalue LB’s, or they are confident last year’s #1 pick Kenneth Murray can lead the way.

The Ugly?

  • Eagle FA LB history: Poor!  See Corey Nelson, Zach Brown, Paul Worrilow, Jatavis Brown, and most recently Eric Wilson.
  • Drafting LB Early: Unlikely now, given TJ Edwards success last year (NFL’s 10th best LB per PFF), and heavy investment in LB in FA (Hassan Reddick = top Edge/SAM, White the NFL’s 20th ranked LB last year).
  • Gannon: Put-up or shut up as Eagles get pieces to appropriately play his designed “multi-front” defense.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Derek Stingley Jr.

  First round draft prospect Derek Stingley Jr. is a paradox.   The LSU cornerback had an incredible freshman season, a clear top of the 1 st round talent even that young.   But since… not so much.   A combination of injuries and COVID have forced his stock down in this year’s NFL draft. Injuries have limited him to 10 games over 2 seasons since the 15 he played his freshman year.   And based upon past performance, opposing offenses have shied away from attacking him, thus yielding less tape to evaluate: The Good (from his freshman tape): He had speed, quickness and recovery speed. He had great coverage technique in breaking with opposing receivers. He brought physicality and proper hand use in coverage. He was a playmaker… He had 6 interceptions. He was an All America cornerback in both 2019 and 2020 He’s the 2 nd highest ranked corner in this draft.   A good performance in his pro day on 4/6 could vault him to #1. The Bad: While he c...
Post a Comment
Read more

Birds had to fly high to beat Motor City Roar, 38-35

  Game 1 thoughts… If anyone thinks the HBO show “Hard Knocks” has run its course after 20+ seasons, reference a raucous sold-out home crowd in the Motor City’s game 1 Eagle affair after being dead last in attendance last year!   The show was a credit to what the Lions are doing in building what will eventually be a winner, and it showed! The defense had 4 consecutive series that went- 3-and-out, 3-and-out, 3-and-out, Interception returned for TD.   Aside from those series, the defense was horrible, both before and after.   A combination of poor game planning, sloppy tackling, scheme deficiencies and poor coaching were to blame. Poor game planning: The strength of the Lions offense is their offensive line , and, commensurate with that, they indicated confidence in their terrific starting running back (D’Andre Swift).   Gannon’s defense played an attacking 4 man front that took the Eagles good quality defensive linemen out of position against the equally tal...
Post a Comment
Read more

No Miles times 2

  The Eagles had an opportunity to add a second Miles to their team yesterday (in addition to Miles Sanders).   Miles Boykin was a 6’4” 25 year old 3 rd round pick by the Baltimore Ravens in 2019, with terrific measurables (His spider chart showed top 21% receiving measurables in 10 of 11 metrics, top 10% for 3 of those).   He was not, however, a productive Raven receiver (over 3 years averaged 11 catches a year for 157 yards and 2 TD’s).   The Ravens cut him recently.     He was a physical player when drafted from  Notre Dame  in 2019.   He was projected to be a receiver that would require time to develop (Sounds like North Dakota receiver Chris Watson, projected to be a raw 2 nd or 3 rd round pick from North Dakota State).  He got time to develop as a Raven. So why bet on a Boykin that did not succeed: Baltimore has allegedly not been great at developing receivers in recent seasons Baltimore is a run heavy offense Boykin ha...
Post a Comment
Read more