Josh Sweat and Milton Williams had 4.5 of the Eagles’ six Super Bowl LIX sacks between them, and Zack Baun had a team-high seven tackles and one of their two interceptions.
All three also happen to be free agents in a few weeks, so when Jay Gruden joined Chris Russell for the final time this season on Monday, Rooster had to ask Jay just how important those three will be for Philly to re-sign if they want to run it back.
“Baun’s in his first year as a full-time starter, he was up for defensive player of the year, so they got a couple guys that will be hot items in free agency,” Gruden said. “They play good complementary football and the addition of Baun was critical; nobody knew that he would perform like that as a bubble linebacker. Nobody knew where to put him, New Orleans didn't know where to put him, and Howie Roseman found a spot for him and they did a great job. Typically you don’t make that jump from a down on the ball player to a bubble player, usually it’s the other way around, but that’s just doing your work and making plays when you get your opportunity.”
And, of course, Rooster asked what Jay would think about any or all of the three in burgundy and gold.
“Based on what Washington needs, I'd probably take Sweat, even though I like Baun. I don't know what they're gonna do with Bobby Wagner, but if they re-sign Bobby and they have Luvu, then I'd lean toward Sweat because you need a pass rusher for sure if you're out of the Miles Garrett race,” Gruden said. “I don't know what's gonna happen with Dante Fowler, but they need another edge rusher, and Sweat isn’t great but he’s an above-average player and everything. He looked really good last night, but over the course of his career, he's just a barely above-average pass rusher. He's got good length, is very athletic, and can play the run a little bit, so I think he’d be an upgrade for what they have, but I wouldn’t get into a bidding war for a player who is like a solid B.”
And on one final note, our old friend Jahan Dotson did have the big catch that set up the tush push touchdown, but he finished the year with 22 total catches for 269 yards and one touchdown between the regular season and post-season (20 games total), which, yeah, whatever?
“He’s with a good team, and yeah, he made some plays, but I don't think he's a guy that you're gonna look back and say, ‘oh my God, I can't believe we got rid of this guy,’” Gruden said. “He’s getting two or three catches a game, maybe, and I think everybody was surprised that he had more than 1 catch in the game. So, he's not really that big of a force to say we need to keep him and pay him first-round money. I think they did the right thing letting him go, and when you're game planning against Philadelphia, he's like the 46th guy you gotta worry about.”
Take a listen to Gruden’s entire season finale with Rooster above!