Howie Roseman and the Eagles front office's pursuit of Jairus Byrd, the top free agent safety this offseason, may not hit the open market at all. (Image courtesy of CBSSports.com)
Jairus Byrd, the top free agent safety on the market and likely among the Eagles targets when the market opens next month may not be going anywhere after all.
Over the weekend NFL insider Ian Rapoport Tweeted what many believed could be unavoidable, that the Buffalo Bills intend to use the franchise tag on Byrd for the second consecutive year.
The #Bills still want to do a deal with S Jairus Byrd. If not, I’m told they plan to franchise tag him. Won’t let him get away for nothing
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 22, 2014
“When you say an ‘A’ player on the market right now, is that player going to get tagged, is that player going to be available?” Eagles general manager Howie Roseman told the assembled media over the weekend at the NFL combine in Indianapolis.
Meanwhile, if Byrd is taken off the market, the top remaining safety available could be TJ Ward of the Cleveland Browns, but it seems their top organizational priority is working out a deal with the 27-year old before the league year opens on March 11th.
Without the top two names on the market, the Eagles may need to re-prioritize their game plan for upgrading the much maligned safety position.
“Sometimes the option is just to get through the moment and to do some stop-gap things,” said Roseman. “And I’m not necessarily saying that’s what we have to do at a particular position, but if you look at the teams that have won the championships over the last couple of years, they’re not perfect at 22 spots. And I think there’s a big difference having a weakness at a particular position as opposed to being solid and getting through. That’s going to be the important thing.”
After spending a fifth-round draft choice on Earl Wolff last season, it wouldn't be suprising to see Roseman and company pluck another safety from the college ranks in the draft in May.
According to WalterFootball.com, the top safeties in the draft are Alabama's HaHa Clinton Dix, Louisville's Calvin Pryor, and USC's Dion Bailey.
Rotoworld.com ranks the top free-agent safties as Donte Whitner, Antoine Bethea, Chris Clemons, Louis Delmas and Malcolm Jenkins if Byrd and Ward are not available after all.
The Eagles certainly still have options in free agency to bolster the secondary, but their philosophy certainly will be impacted by what happens in Buffalo and Cleveland over the next couple of weeks.
