The Eagles have solved their pass-rushing depth problem with a familiar face. Vinny Curry is returning on a one-year deal.
Curry, of course, won a Super Bowl championship with the Eagles during the 2017 season and his 27 sacks rank 20th in franchise history. His one-year deal is worth $2 million, including $1.3 million guaranteed, per Spotrac. The Eagles announced the move on Monday after NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo and Ian Rapoport combined to break the news on Friday.
Roster Move: #Eagles have signed DE Vinny Curry to a one-year contract.
Curry, who earned $2.25 million in 2019, registered five sacks last season and now he’ll rejoin an aggressive defensive end rotation that includes Brandon Graham, Derek Barnett and Josh Sweat, along with young guys Genard Avery, Shareef Miller, Joe Ostman and Casey Toohill. The Eagles kept six defensive ends coming out of training camp a year ago.
There had been whispers about the Eagles possibly making a move in free agency for either Jadeveon Clowney or Everson Griffen to boost their pass rush. Plus, one ongoing rumor about them making a blockbuster trade for the Jaguars’ Yannick Ngakoue. Obviously, none of that happened.
Vinny Curry went through two guys for the sack 😱 @MrGetFlee99
Curry, who grew up an Eagles fan in nearby Neptune, NJ, never hid his desire to return to Philadelphia. He’s only played for one other franchise in his eight NFL seasons — a disappointing throwaway year in Tampa Bay (2018) — and just seems to thrive in the locker room and culture established by head coach Doug Pederson.
“This is where home is,” Curry told 97.3 ESPN last year. “You’ve got the most passionate fans in the world, ya got to love it. You’d like to think in free agency, the Eagles would want me back,” Curry stated. “When free agency starts, I’ll be hoping to hear from them.”
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Familiar Face Returns Home, Back in Situational Role
Curry was Philadelphia’s former second-round pick (59th overall) in 2012 and proved to be a solid contributor for them in 2019. He ended last year as one of the NFL’s most lethal edge rushers. He’s getting up there in age after just turning 32 on June 30.
Curry finished with five sacks in a rotational role in 2019, all of them coming after Week 12. He was tied for the fifth-best quarterback pressure rate (16.8%) in the league, per Pro Football Focus, and was named the Eagles’ “Most Improved Player.” Remember, he tallied three sacks, 10 tackles for loss, and 18 quarterback hits during the Super Bowl run.
Another interesting @PFF stat for 2109… Win rate on pass rushers vs. 2+ blockers.
More impressively, Curry ranked fifth in the league on “pass rushes versus two blockers.” Per PFF’s Neil Hornsby, the dominating defensive end faced the situation 106 times and won 20.8-percent of the time. In total, he registered six quarterback hits, seven hurries, 18 pressures and 27 combined tackles on 393 defensive snaps in 2019. He was rated as the No. 22 overall edge rusher out of 107 qualifying players.
Here is what Pro Football Focus wrote about Curry last season:
I don’t think people understand how disruptive Curry was as a rotational pass-rusher this past season on the Eagles’ defensive line. Altogether, 99 different edge defenders rushed the passer 200 or more times over the course of the regular season, and among those players, Curry ranked tied for fifth in pressure rate (16.8%) with T.J. Watt.
Vinny Curry could be next to rejoin the birds….
Derrick Gunn — the great and plugged-in Eagles reporter who was recently let go by NBC Sports Philadelphia — had speculated on the team making this move back in late April. Now it’s official. Welcome home, Vinny.
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Eagles Officially Bring Back Vinny Curry on One-Year Deal