By: Jake Rajala

The New Orleans Saints shockingly (to say the least) traded the versatile and ultra-competitive safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson and a seventh-round pick in 2023 to the Philadelphia Eagles for their 2023 fifth-round pick and the worse of their sixth-round pick in 2024. CGJ was undoubtedly a menace for Who Dat Nation last season by registering 3 interceptions, 7 pass deflections, 2 sacks, and 4 tackles for loss in 2021. I’m quite confident that his most impressive moment in a Black and Gold uniform was his interception against Tom Brady in Week 15 last season. With that said, I’m going to simply unveil the grades for each team after the trade.

Saints grade: C-

I wish Ricky Gervais could roast Mickey Loomis and the Saints for at least 10 minutes after that decision. The Saints are competing for the Super Bowl in 2022 and they shipped away one of their top DBs – who was having a potent off-season. I understand that they brought in Tyrann Mathieu and even Marcus Maye, who was the NY Jets most valuable player in 2020. However, CGJ could excel from many spots and he could potentially be a star long-term at the safety spot – as he is five years younger than Maye. If the Saints wanted to move on from him, I would rather have seen them do so at or near the trade deadline.

Eagles grade: B+

I’m sure that Eagles fans want Howie Roseman on the cover of Time Magazine in 2023 after the Eagles off-season. Philly acquired the gifted wideout A.J. Brown, made a bold and witty trade in the draft for Jordan Davis, made a sneaky late-signing in James Bradberry, and then found a way to reel in CGJ. I love the direction of the Eagles defense with Fletcher Cox, Davis, a healthy Brandon Graham, the new edge rusher Haason Reddick, the top-tier CB Darius Slay, and of course: CGJ. The Eagles aren’t planning to just win the NFC East in 2022 – as they clearly have their sights set on winning Super Bowl 57.

Let’s not forget that the Saints and Eagles will square off on January 1st of 2023, too.

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By: Jacob Keppen

The Jim Schwartz era is over in Philadelphia. After five years and one Super Bowl victory with the former Lions Head Coach, Schwartz resigned from his position, stating he would take a year off from football before signing with the Titans as a senior defensive assistant this April. Taking over as defensive coordinator for the new Nick Sirianni led Eagles is his Indianapolis compatriot Jonathan Gannon. Here are three things to expect from the new Jonathan Gannon-led defense.

More Two High Looks

The look of the Eagles defense in the secondary will change drastically from the Jim Schwartz era. You knew what you were going to get from a Jim Schwartz defense week in and week out. The Eagles ran a ton of cover 1 man coverage, at one point late in the season lining up in the coverage 44% of the time.

Jonathan Gannon comes from a different schematic background than Jim Schwartz. Gannon spent four years in Minnesota as assistant defensive backs and defensive quality control coach, learning from Mike Zimmer. Zimmer primarily played a 4-3 front with a ton of cover 2 zone. Gannon would further familiarize himself with the cover 2 scheme, joining the Colts in 2018 as their cornerbacks coach. 

The Colts under defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus have been one of the most cover 2 heavy teams in the league, and while they started to implement more cover 3 concepts into their game plan last year, they still led the league in cover 2 snaps with 29.5%. Look for the Eagles to be a lot more cover 2 zone heavy under Gannon as opposed to the heavy man free defenses of Jim Schwartz. There is a possibility for more varied defenses based on new personnel in the future. 

Heavy Use of the Slot Corner

Last year the Colts had one of the best slot corners in all of football. Kenny Moore is consistently one of the most underrated players in all of football, and had his best year to date last season. On a team that was top ten in interceptions, Moore led the Colts with four interceptions. He also led Indy in pass deflections.

The most important stat the slot corner led the Colts in was defensive snaps. Moore was on the field for 952 snaps, good for 92% of snaps. Pretty much Kenny Moore was always on the field being utilized. Look for the Eagles to try and find their own Kenny Moore, whether it’s using Avonte Maddox in the slot where he belongs, or finding someone else such as 4th round pick Zech McPhearson to claim the role.

Growing Pains

Pretty much everything we think we know about Jonathan Gannon’s defense moving forward for the Eagles is all speculation. It’s all educated guesses based on prior knowledge and history with Gannon. A lot of what the new defensive coordinator is expected to do might really happen for the Birds next season, but there is only one thing we know for sure: there will be growing pains.

The Eagles went young with their new coaching staff, with all three new coaches under 40 years old. Both head coach Nick Sirianni and defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon is going to be calling plays primarily for the first time in their careers. This will be Jonathan Gannon’s first gig as a defensive coordinator, after being a cornerbacks coach for the past three years. There are going to be some up and down moments for the 38-year-old. He has to work out the kinks in a year of growing and development for the Eagles.

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