In what was a surprise to me, the Las Vegas Raiders have signed Marcus Epps, one of the Eagles starting safeties. They have inked him to a two-year deal worth $12 million dollars. So the youngster will be getting paid about $6 million a year and $8 million of it, is guaranteed. I didn’t think he would get this much on the free agent market, but I think it was a good move by the Raiders. He’s a talented young safety, who has good size and athletic ability, along with being alert and smart.
Epps has already shown that he’s willing to come up and tackle ball carriers, as well as being adept at playing the ball in the air on pass plays. This is a youngster that I know the Birds hate to see go, because you know he’s going to get better each year he plays because he’s got good work habits.
One of the big things about the safety position is that he’s got to be able to read formations and schemes. That mental acuity of Epps is a very important quality that the Raiders personnel department obviously say in their evaluation of the young safety. He’s going to recognize plays quicker, the longer he plays. Again, Epps is going to get better and better because of his skills and his work ethic.
Looking at the rest of the secondary, I think it’s going be very difficult for them to sign safety/nickel corner C.J. Gardner-Johnson, as well as starting cornerback James Bradberry. There’s no telling what the Birds secondary is going to look like when the season starts. They’ve lost Epps and are likely to also lose Gardner-Johnson and Bradberry, and they’ve let Darius Slay know that he’s being given the opportunity to find another team that would like to trade for him.
There is no telling who will be lining up in the Eagles secondary when the season starts. I hope they will be able to both sign and draft a number of talented defensive backs, who can come in here and help the Birds get back to the playoffs.
