Pivoting again from roster building of years past, the Eagles on Friday added a quality linebacker to the mix by signing veteran Devin White to a one-year contract.
ESPN reported the deal could be worth up to $7.5 million for the 26-year-old White, an LSU product and the fifth-overall draft pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2019.
Later in the day, the Eagles sent a 2024 third-round pick and two 2025 seventh-round picks to the Pittsburgh Steelers for quarterback Kenny Pickett and a fourth-round pick this spring, according to ESPN. Pickett was 14-10 with the Steelers, who took him off the board with the 20th selection in the 2022 draft. That came mere hours after the Steelers signed Russell Wilson to be their starter.
Wilson is now the only quarterback on the Steelers’ roster after the club cut Mitch Trubisky and third-stringer Mason Rudolph — who guided the Steelers to the playoffs after Pickett underwent ankle surgery in early December — signed with Tennessee.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin and general manager Omar Khan each appeared to give Pickett votes of confidence after the end of the 2023 season, but only days after the NFL Combine, they brought in pending free agent Wilson for a visit.
The Steelers took Pickett, a 2021 Heisman Trophy finalist and native of Ocean Twp., N.J., 20th overall the following spring and he was granted the starting job at halftime of a Week 4 loss to the New York Jets in 2022. He led them to comeback wins late in the season over Baltimore and Oakland but it never panned out for him and the Steelers after that.
After recovering from the ankle injury last season, he found himself sidelined while Rudolph acted as starter the rest of the way. With 13 career touchdown passes and 13 interceptions, Pickett will now be the backup to Jalen Hurts.
As for White, he averaged 113 tackles and 4.5 sacks in five seasons with the Bucs, ranking among the league leaders in stops in two of those seasons. He made the Pro Bowl team in 2021 and was second team All-Pro in the club’s 2020 Super Bowl championship season. He had 38 tackles and two interceptions in four 2020 playoff games.
The flip side is he lost his starting job to K.J. Britt last season, and despite intercepting two passes and recording 2.5 sacks, wasn’t as mistake free as earlier in his career. The 6-0, 237-pound White recorded a career-low 83 tackles in 14 games last season.
All that said, White on paper figures to be an interesting piece to the puzzle Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio is putting together. The ability to blitz and drop into coverage is a critical component in Fangio defenses.
The Eagles stunned people by signing running back Saquon Barkley to a three-year, $37.7 million contract early in free agency. Previously, the Eagles had not spent much on running backs since signing LeSean McCoy to a five-year, $45 million extension in 2012. They also signed pass rusher Bryce Huff, formerly of the New York Jets, to a three-year, $51.5 million contract and safety C.J. Gardner Johnson, who left angrily two years ago to a three-year contract worth up to $33 million.
Huff is coming off a season with a career-high 10.0 sacks. Gardner-Johnson played just three games last season due to a torn pectoral muscle and has missed 24 games due to injury in his last three seasons. Gardner-Johnson led the Eagles with six interceptions in their 2022-23 Super Bowl season.
Gardner-Johnson kidded that he gave Eagles fans a compliment when he ripped them after exiting after that Super Bowl loss to Kansas City. He said he and the Eagles wanted each other this time, and that he started something in Philly and wanted to finish it.
“You take your feelings out of it and are just willing to be a man about certain things and accept certain things as a man,” Gardner-Johnson said. “Coming back was a relief. I’m comfortable. I know the people here. The difference between this year and last year is we both see eye to eye.”
So far, Gardner-Johnson isn’t even thinking about his role under Fangio.
“My role is to be a great teammate, help us win games and get back to the Super Bowl,” Gardner-Johnson said. “Your role is to be a great teammate and just let the chips fall, and do your job.”
Of the Eagles fans Gardner-Johnson offended on social media, he smiled and conceded “I’m obnoxious … I thought it was a compliment, to be honest with you.
“All jokes aside, it was just my feelings. You want to be somewhere some bad and you can’t control some things,” he added. “Certain things was said but there was no meaning to it. I’m back. So, I guess we’re all happy. A family reunion, huh?”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
