Just hours after the free agency, the Eagles lose Milton Williams, Josh Sweat – Key pieces of their championship defense

It is not as if the Eagles of Philadelphia did not know that it was going to happen.

On practically any list of the best free agents that would be available when the so-called Legal Falsification Period started on Monday, there were two defensive players of Eagles in the top five. The defensive platform Milton Williams and the defensive winger Josh Sweat were two of the very rare impact players to reach the free agency.

The Eagles could not afford to sign them before hitting the market. They have many stars to pay, notably Saquon Barkley, who obtained an extension of $ 41.2 million over two years, and the second Zack Baun, who obtained a contract of $ 51 million over three years.

And yet, when Williams and Sweat have agreed big business elsewhere in the first hours of free agency on Monday, she had to sting. Williams agreed with an agreement of $ 104 million over four years with the New England Patriots. Sweatshirt followed with an agreement of $ 76.4 million over four years with the Cardinals of Arizona, via espnBringing together with his former defensive coordinator of the Eagles and the current coach of Cardinals Jonathan Gannon.

In addition to losing these two, the former corner half of the Eagles Darius Slay Jr. accepted the conditions with the Steelers of Pittsburgh, Per Fox Sports. Slay was cut last week by the Eagles, who had to save wage ceiling space and did not want to have the 16 million dollars of Slay on the books.

The Eagles will go well. No one cries for them. But it was a lot to lose in a few hours of leave on a championship defense.

Eagles lose 3 key defenders

The Eagles had a defense that finished first in the NFL last season and experienced a performance of the Super Bowl which will be one of the best of all time. Their domination of the first half against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs of Kansas City will spend a long time.

Sweatshirt and Williams were a large part of this game. They combined for 4.5 bags and it could be said that they were the two best defensive players of the Eagles that evening. Sweat has obtained MVP votes from the Super Bowl.

Slay made three pro bowls during his five seasons with the Eagles and was a large part of the closure of the chiefs while the Eagles took a big lead at halftime.

But time passes to something else. At 34, Slay was tried too expensive for a secondary that struck Grande on the choices of Quinon Mitchell and Cooper Dejean last year. Williams is an exciting talent, but was also the third best defensive tackle of the team behind Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis. Sweat has had 39 bags in the past five seasons and although each team needs as many on -board rushers as possible, the Eagles also have options.

The decisions had to be made, and it becomes more difficult with other teams who wish to walk on the alignment of the Super Bowl champion.

The list of eagles is still deep

The Eagles were fantastic for the acquisition of players, which placed them in Catch-22 enviable this month. The Eagles won a super bowl because they had an embarrassment of wealth, and they could not afford to keep everyone because they have an embarrassment of wealth.

The players who left will do well for their new teams. Williams can finally show what he can do as a full -time player, for a team of patriots who thought it was worth $ 26 million a year. Sweat gives the cardinals a rusher pass that the defense desperately needed to go to a new level. Slay is aging but has not yet fallen and can help a secondary that was looking for depth.

They would also have been precious for the Eagles, but it is difficult to keep everyone together year after year. The good news for fans of the Eagles is that they can trust the director general Howie Roseman to replace them all.