Along-tenured Philadelphia Eagles veteran may be on the hot seat entering the 2023 season.
According to Glenn Erby of Eagles Wire, fourth-year safety K’Von Wallace is entering a “make-or-break” season in 2023. With the Eagles losing both of their starting safeties from last season — C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Marcus Epps — Wallace will finally have the opportunity to cement a role in the starting lineup.
Wallace is entering the final year of his four-year, $4 million rookie contract.
“Wallace is entering year No. 4 and will look to finally cement a role in the Eagles’ defensive back rotation,” writes Erby. “After losing snaps to Reed Blankenship in 2022, Wallace is the longest-tenured safety on the team, and a breakout season could have him on many most improved lists. The former Clemson star will enter the final year of his contract and battle Blankenship, Sydney Brown, Justin Evans, and Terrell Edmunds for playing time.”
K’Von Wallace Has Yet to Cement Himself as Eagles Starter
Wallace has played mostly a special teams role over the past three seasons for the Eagles. He appeared in 53% of the special teams snaps during the 2020 season, 56% of the snaps in 2021 and 71% of the snaps during the 2022 season.
By comparison, he appeared in 19% of the defensive snaps during the 2020 season, 22% of the snaps during the 2021 season and 15% of the snaps during the 2022 season.
In other words, if Wallace has any opportunity to crack the Eagles’ starting lineup, this is the season. Wallace has started just seven NFL games during his career with 64 tackles and zero interceptions to show for it.
K’Von Wallace Will Compete With Terrell Edmunds for Starting Role
Wallace will likely battle it out with former Pittsburgh Steelers veteran Terrell Edmunds for the strong safety starting job. Despite entering his fourth season with the Eagles, it won’t be an easy job to win considering Edmunds possesses starting experience from his days with the Steelers. In fact, the former first-round draft pick has been a starter since his rookie year back in 2018, starting 75 of his 79 career appearances.
According to Pro Football Focus, Edmunds posted a solid 69.1 defensive grade last season. That’s been around par for the duration of his career, as Edmunds also posted a 70.9 defensive grade during the 2020 season.
With the exception of Reed Blankenship (79.4 defensive grade), Edmunds posted the highest defensive grade last season of any safety on the Eagles’ roster. By comparison, Wallace posted a 61.4 defensive grade and Justin Evans posted a 61.0 defensive grade.
If Wallace loses out on the starting job to Edmunds, it wouldn’t exactly be a surprise. Edmunds has been one of the more consistent safeties in the league over the past five years. However, he did sign only a one-year deal with the Eagles. Philadelphia basically has little financial commitment to Edmunds, which means the better safety in training camp will win the starting job.
Assuming Wallace loses out on the starting job during training camp, the Eagles still could retain him considering his value on the special teams unit. However, they could also consider releasing him since they have four other safeties on the roster, including rookie draft pick Sydney Brown.
Wallace could very well be looking at his final training camp with the Eagles if he doesn’t win the starting safety job.
Eagles’ $4 Million Veteran on Hot Seat Entering Training Camp: Analyst