Safety first? It’s a deep free-agent market and the Eagles have a need, but probably not for top money

The Eagles definitely will strengthen themselves at safety this offseason.

Last year’s miscalculation, that the returning group would be just fine and that any depth problems would be solved by enticing 33-year-old Corey Graham to come back for another year, late in training camp, was one of the big reasons the defending Super Bowl champs ended up having to claw their way into the playoffs after starting out 4-6.

So here we are, with free agency officially starting Wednesday and the “legal tampering” period opening 48 hours before that. The franchise-tag deadline has passed, and safety looks like the deepest position in the market. This ought to be a good thing for the Eagles, but it might not portend an immediate, top-of-the-market signing.

The Eagles probably aren’t looking for a big-money, automatic starter-type safety.

They expect Rodney McLeod to be full-go by the start of the 2019 season. McLeod reworked his contract to take less money rather than risk being released and hitting this crowded market. He is well-regarded.

“Rodney’s been an incredibly valuable player for us since we signed him in free agency. great work ethic,” Howie Roseman said at the NFL scouting combine. “Fits our defensive system and our scheme. We’re excited about bringing him back to Philadelphia."

So, most likely the guy the Eagles sign is going to have to be OK with assuming Graham’s role, or what Graham’s role was going to be before McLeod tore his ACL against the Colts last season in Week 3. It isn’t that bad a job – the Eagles play a lot of dime, and somebody could get hurt again, Malcolm Jenkins is 31 and McLeod turns 29 in June – but it isn’t the role any of the more coveted free-agent safeties is looking for.

There is a good safety draft to consider. It wouldn’t be shocking if the Eagles sat out safety free agency and used one of their three picks in the top two rounds next month on a safety, such as Philly’s own Nasir Adderley, of Delaware, or Maryland’s Darnell Savage, from Bear, Del., who ran a 4.36 40 at the combine.

The Eagles, who have five selections in the first four rounds, haven’t drafted a safety before the fifth round since Temple’s Jaiquawn Jarrett, a second-rounder in 2011. It’s time. Especially with both Chris Maragos and Graham no longer on the roster.

But ideally, you address needs in free agency, and then use draft picks on the best players on your board when your turn comes, instead of saying, “We have to have a safety here.”

Roseman has acknowledged that the disastrous 2011 draft was a painful lesson in what happens when you draft exclusively for need. (Jarrett was a big hitter whose lack of speed left him hitting air most of the time.)

With so many safeties available in free agency, there are going to be guys who don’t get the megadeals they’d anticipated, guys who might eventually be persuaded that a shorter-term deal with a presumed contender could work out OK in the long run. That is the Eagles’ sweet spot.

So, probably no Instagram shots of Brandon Graham arm-in-arm with Earl Thomas in the Eagles’ locker room, the 2010 draft put to rest at long last. Landon Collins is going to be expensive, certainly will expect to start, and is pretty much a box safety, lacking the versatility the Eagles covet.

Lamarcus Joyner from the Rams might be an answer, if the Eagles want to spend some cash. He played last season under the franchise tag, at $11.287 million, then Los Angeles declined to tag him again. The Eagles might be able to sell him on the idea of competing with McLeod for the starting job opposite Jenkins, even if they secretly expect McLeod to start. Joyner’s size (5-8, 191) might be an issue, but he’s only 28, with lots of good snaps left.

Glover Quin, at 33, is the same age as Corey Graham, but also better. Adrian Amos and Tyrann Mathieu are top-level starter types, and there has been talk that Amos is bound for the Broncos.

The Eagles were big on Ha Ha Clinton-Dix when he was coming out of Alabama, but that was the Chip Kelly personnel regime. Tre Boston, from the Cardinals, who also has played for the Panthers and the Cardinals at age 28, might be exactly what the Eagles are looking for, especially if they hope to draft a future starter and are just looking for some veteran insurance who is less creaky than Graham.

San Francisco’s Jimmie Ward has been hurt a lot. The Eagles have enough of those guys. Clayton Geathers from the Colts is a big hitter, box-safety type.

At the combine, Roseman talked about how the Eagles are rarely in on the top-dollar, splashy free agents. He wasn’t addressing safety particularly, but he might as well have been.

“When you’re talking about the top guys, you’re bidding against 20-to-25 teams. At the step below, you’re bidding against five or six,” the Eagles executive said. “It’s just hard to stay in that ballgame, because we have a lot of players on long-term contracts that are making good money.

“It’s hard to be in a situation where we’re going to be the highest bidder for the top free agent. And that’s not really how we want to build a team. We want to give our own top players top-of-the-market deals, and then look to free agency to kind of supplement that.”