5 candidates to be moved if Eagles are sellers at trade deadline

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The Eagles have already traded away two players and the NFL’s trade deadline isn’t for another six days.

With that Nov. 2 date looming, the Eagles have a 2-5 record. While Howie Roseman claimed after the Zach Ertz trade that they won’t be sellers, there might be a reason to be, especially if they lose in Detroit on Sunday.

Here are five trade candidates to be moved before the deadline:

Andre Dillard

Jordan Mailata is the Eagles’ left tackle of the future and they’re still financially tied to Lane Johnson beyond this season, which means Dillard doesn’t have a starting job. And when Mailata was out with a knee sprain, Dillard played well enough to improve his draft stock. If a team is in need of a left tackle, he might be a viable option.

The problem is that Johnson left Sunday’s game early after his ankle was stepped on and Mailata is still dealing with that knee sprain. So there’s a chance the Eagles will need Dillard the rest of the way, especially with Jack Driscoll playing at guard. A trade would leave their top backup tackles as Brett Toth on the active roster and Le’Raven Clark on the practice squad (although they could and would likely move Driscoll back to tackle in a pinch). Another hurdle is that Dillard is still under contract through next season and has at least proven himself to be a valuable depth player who doesn’t get paid a ton.

So any trade for Dillard would need to be worth it for the Eagles. Would a third-rounder get it done? Yeah, probably. It doesn’t look great for the Eagles to trade a former one for a three, but that would be adequate compensation in this case.

Steve Nelson

The 28-year-old cornerback has been pretty solid this season for the Eagles and is here on a one-year deal. So trading him to get something before he leaves as a free agent would make some sense. And there would probably be some teams interested in his services.

In the short-term, it would definitely hurt the Eagles. But if this ends up being a lost season, they’d maybe want to see what they have in younger corners like Zech McPhearson, Tay Gowan and Josiah Scott anyway.

Anthony Harris

Like Nelson, Harris is here on a one-year deal. He is dealing with some injuries (two hands and a groin right now) but those injuries don’t appear to be very serious. He’s day-to-day. Harris, 30, has started six games this season and hasn’t been great. He’s ProFootballFocus’s 70th rated safety in the league.

This could be another case of a one-year deal guy potentially getting moved just to get something back from him. And it would give a chance to get an extended look at Marcus Epps and K’Von Wallace in a starter’s role. I’d like to see Wallace get a shot at playing more once he’s back from a separated shoulder.

Derek Barnett

Maybe it’s a pipe dream to trade a guy with zero sacks and a $10 million salary, but Barnett has at least been an average player throughout his career. He’s never lived up to his draft status but if there’s a team that really liked him coming out of Tennessee in 2017, maybe they still think there’s some first-round talent in there.

When the Eagles signed Josh Sweat to a contract extension earlier this season, it made it much less likely Barnett would return in 2022. The Eagles don’t really have a ton of young players waiting in the wings at defensive end but if they could get something for Barnett, it might make sense.

Ryan Kerrigan

Speaking of pipe dreams, anyone want a 33-year-old pass rusher who has 1 tackle in 7 games? Yeah, I get it, there’s not going to be a line for Kerrigan. But maybe Howie Roseman can convince another team that Kerrigan isn’t producing simply because he’s not a fit for this defense — which is partially true and really makes you wonder why the heck they signed him in the first place, but that’s not the point.

Kerrigan had 5 1/2 sacks as a rotational player in Washington last year, so maybe the Eagles can point at that production as evidence that scheme, not decline, is the reason for his lack of production. I doubt there will be a lot of suitors but give the Eagles a seventh-rounder and you can have him.

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