Defensive Stat Projections At The Half Way Point

Halfway through the regular season, the Eagles defense has had a rocky start.

They have been decimated with injuries, the secondary has given up eight 40+ yard receptions, and the pass rush didn't get going consistently until a month into the season.

The unit did, however, put together their most complete performance in Buffalo last Sunday.

How do the individual statistics look?

It's time to do some box score scouting as we dive into the current statistics and 16-game projections for key defensive players after the first eight games of the season.

DEFENSIVE LINE: 

DE Brandon Graham 

8-game statistics- 29 TKL 8 TFL 5 SCK 10 QB Hits 1 FF

16-game pace- 58 TKL 16 TFL 10 SCK 20 QB Hits 2 FF 

DT Fletcher Cox

8-game statistics- 23 TKL 4 TFL 2.5 SCK  3 QB Hits 2 FF 

16-game pace- 46 TKL 8 TFL 5 SCK 6 QB Hits 4 FF

DE Derek Barnett 

8-game statistics- 18 TKL 4 TFL 3.5 SCK 13 QB Hits  2 FF

16-game pace- 36 TKL 8 TFL 7 SCK 26 QB Hits 4 FF 

DE Josh Sweat 

8-game statistics- 13 TKL 3 TFL 1 SCK 4 QB Hits 

16-game pace- 26 TKL 6 TFL 2 SCK 8 QB Hits 

DE Vinny Curry 

8-game statistics- 12 TKL 1 TFL 1 SCK 5 QB Hits 

16-game pace- 24 TKL 2 TFL 2 SCK 10 QB Hits 

NOTES- Philadelphia had just three sacks in the first month of the season.

Since then, they have 18. They have the seventh-highest pressure percentage without blitzing.

Brandon Graham is Pro Football Focus's third-highest graded DE. He is ninth in total pass-rush productivity. All five of his sacks have come on third-down where he has the most pressures in the NFL.

Fletcher Cox is healthy and has back to back weeks with a strip-sack.

Derek Barnett is on pace for a career-high sack total, and Josh Sweat has flashed the potential many thought he had coming out of Florida State.

LINEBACKER: 

LB Nate Gerry 

8-game statistics- 30 TKL 2 TFL 2 INT 2 PD 1 SCK 

16-game pace- 60 TKL 4 TFL 4 INT 4 PD 2 SCK 

LB Nigel Bradham 

8-game statistics- 26 TKL 1 INT 3 PD 

16-game pace- 52 TKL 2 INT 6 PD 

LB Kamu Grugier-Hill

8-game statistics- 10 TKL 1 TFL 1 QB Hits 1 FR 

16-game pace- 20 TKL 2 TFL 2 QB Hits 2 FR 

NOTES- The linebackers haven't been a strength of the defense.

Nigel Bradham has missed several weeks with an ankle injury. Nate Gerry and Kamu Grugier-Hill have struggled to replace him.

Gerry has shown off his safety background with two interceptions but his lack of size was apparent against Dallas and Buffalo.

They will need undrafted rookie LB TJ Edwards to continue showing he may be a diamond in the rough. He has certainly played that way without Bradham.

SECONDARY: 

S Rodney McLeod 

8-game statistics - 45 TKL 1 INT 3 PD 

16-game pace- 90 TKL 2 INT 6 PD 

S Malcolm Jenkins 

8-game statistics- 37 TKL 2 TFL 2 FF 3 PD 2 QB Hits 

16-game pace- 74 TKL 4 TFL 4 FF 6 PD 4 QB Hits 

S Andrew Sendejo 

8-game statistics- 27 TKL 2 TFL 1 INT 2 PD 1 SCK 2 QB Hits 

16-game pace- 54 TKL 4 TFL 2 INT 4 PD 2 SCK 4 QB Hits 

CB Rasul Douglas

8-game statistics- 27 TKL 3 TFL 6 PD 

16-game pace- 54 TKL 6 TFL 12 PD 

CB Ronald Darby 

8-game statistics- 16 TKL 1 INT 6 PD 

16-game pace- 32 TKL 2 INT 12 PD 

CB Sidney Jones 

8-game statistics- 16 TKL 1 TFL 1 INT 3 PD 

16-game pace- 32 TKL 2 TFL 2 INT 6 PD 

CB Avonte Maddox 

8-game statistics- 16 TKL 4 PD 1 TFL 

16-game pace- 32 TKL 8 PD 2 TFL 

CB Jalen Mills 

8-game statistics- 11 TKL 1 INT 1 PD 

16-game pace- 22 TKL 2 INT 2 PD 

NOTES- The pace a lot of these cornerbacks are on likely won't pan out as mulitple players have missed chunks of the season. Others will see reduced roles as a result of starters returning from injury.

Rasul Douglas was having a strong season before struggling in Minnesota and Dallas.

Whether he deserved to be benched for Jalen Mills or Ronald Darby is up for debate.

Mills has been very steady through two games for a player that hadn't played a game in a year.

It will be interesting to see who plays in the slot for the rest of the season. Avonte Maddox is back from injury and he was the starting slot CB the first four games.

Sidney Jones played that role well in Buffalo but the Eagles have clearly lost faith in him as a future piece of the defense.

Don't forget about Cre'Veon LeBlanc who is expected to return from IR within the next few weeks.

Rodney McLeod and Malcolm Jenkins continue to be backbones of this defense but Andrew Sendejo has been a nice surprise in his first year with Philadelphia.

The Eagles can still recoup a 4th round compensatory draft pick in 2020 by cutting Sendejo before next week but that isn't likely. The defense uses three safeties the majority of snaps.

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