Very few players have caught the wrath of Eagles fans this season like linebacker Nate Gerry.
Fans were worried about him coming into the season, and through the first month, have not been happy with how he has played — especially in coverage.
Speaking Tuesday, defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz stood up for his starting linebacker.
"Nate has been a very solid player for us, and has helped us win a lot of games. And I would just caution this: There's probably a lot of plays that people outside of our building think might be his fault; that he just happens to be the closest guy when someone else made a mistake, and I think they end up blaming him a lot of times. He's sort of the closest guy just from plays, and I mean that's just sort of the way the ball bounces," Schwartz said. "We just need to be more efficient overall, and more consistent overall and he just plays his part in it. So I think that any time that you have people outside the building that grade players, you can get things like that. I tend to try to keep our evaluations in-house and just work on improving in our own building."
Despite Schwartz's vote of confidence, the truth is that Gerry has had some issues in coverage so far this season.
The linebacker has been targeted 19 times through the first four games, allowing 19 receptions for 212 yards and two touchdowns, according to Pro Football Focus. As mentioned by Schwartz, it is possible not all of those receptions fall right onto him, but at the very least Gerry hasn't been a positive in coverage.
Overall, Gerry has 33 tackles, three tackles for a loss and one pass deflection so far this season.
The question is, does Gerry deserve the intense criticism he has been getting?
The truth is that Gerry entered 2020 coming off of the best season of his career. He played a career high 620 snaps last season, finishing with 78 tackles, five pass deflections, five quarterback hits, 4 tackles for a loss, 2.5 sacks, two interceptions and one touchdown. Those all-around numbers put Gerry second on the team in tackles, and first among linebackers in quarterback hits, sacks, tackles for a loss and pass deflections.
With that in mind it was somewhat understandable for the Eagles to not make any big moves at linebacker. The team already had big money invested in the defensive line, signed cornerback Darius Slay to a big extension after trading for him, and used their draft capital to try to help fix the offense.
There simply weren't enough resources to go around in terms of also addressing the linebacking core in any major way (yes, taking one in the second-round over a quarterback likely would have made sense, but that could go for almost any other position as well).
The truth is, Gerry is a fourth-year player making just under $1 million this season. The Eagles defense should not live-or-die with him. Gerry has not been perfect, but he is a good enough player to be an effective linebacker if the defensive line and secondary — two positions the Eagles invested heavily in — are playing at the level they should be.
You can reach Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com
