With the November 1 trade deadline approaching, the Philadelphia Eagles filled one of their holes on the defensive line by picking up 12-year veteran edge rusher Robert Quinn from the Chicago Bears.
The Eagles made a similar move when they signed Chris Long before they went on their Super Bowl winning season in 2017; and most recently, the Los Angeles Rams traded for Von Miller on Nov 1st 2021, giving their line new life before they went on their Super Bowl run.
As many say, you can’t ever have enough pass rushers.
One of the best aspects of the trade is how general manager Howie Roseman made the deal without having to pay Quinn his $7.1 million remaining salary for the season. The Eagles will have solid depth in their rotation, without giving up too much capital in the process.
Let’s go to the film to see how the Eagles plan on fitting in their three-time Pro Bowl edge rusher!
Production
For anyone who thinks that there isn’t enough room for Quinn on the Eagles defensive line, it’s simply not true. Once Derek Barnett went on injured reserve back in September, they never really replaced him. Then Janarius Robinson went down eleven days ago with an ankle injury, Howie Roseman was then forced to make a move.
The Eagles are a top 10 defense (per teamrankings) in several different categories: 1st in time of possession allowed (26:01), 1st in QBR rating (66.0), 4th in points allowed (17.5), and 4th in total rushing first downs allowed (35). But when it comes to sack percentage, they are 12th (6.91%) and in rush yards per carry, they are sitting in 28th (5 ypc).
If the Eagles are preventing first down rushes at a high level but giving up five rushing yards per carry, this means that the defense is stepping up in critical moments, but it’s not done at a consistent basis. Bringing in Quinn, will give the key guys a rest, giving the defensive line a high-level rotation throughout the rest of the season.
Quinn will definitely help in the run game, but his main and best attribute is his ability to rush the passer.
Over his 12-year career, Quin has made the pro bowl three times, and registered five 10+ sack reasons, with the most recent being 2021, where he had 19 combined sacks and 18 solo.
This year his production in terms of sacks hasn’t been as high, but he is currently averaging 45 snaps per game and facing a high number of double teams.
As our own Doug Farrar points out, Quinn is facing a higher number of double teams than two of top pass rushers in the league. Cleveland’s Myles Garrett is in the same ballpark with 61, but that’s how opposing offenses have dealt with Quinn this season — especially after the departure of Khalil Mack. Per Pro Football Focus, Quinn (14), Trevis Gipson (16), and Al-Quadin Muhammad (11) were the only Bears pass-rushers with more than 10 total pressures through the season’s first seven weeks, so imagine how bad that Chicago defensive line looks now.
Robert Quinn has faced 58 double-teams this season. Nick Bosa and Micah Parsons are each in the 40s.
Imagine what that does for everybody else on the Eagles' front.
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) October 26, 2022
With offenses forced to honor guys like Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox, and Haason Reddick, Quinn will have his one-on-one opportunities he will share with Josh Sweat.
Just to put it into perspective, Reddick currently has 21 total pressures and he’s been double-teamed on a total of 15 of his snaps; it seems imperative that opponents will continue to honor him, leaving their newest addition alone to bend the edge.
Let’s dive into the film to see how Quinn attacks offensive tackles when left one-on-one.
Pressure
Quinn has been known to bend an edge really well and also use the chop technique when making his way to the quarterback. Even though the sack number isn’t very high for this season (1), sacks aren’t everything.
But pressure is.
Right now, according to Next Gen Stats, Quinn is averaging 4.32 yards of separation from the quarterback. This is the number of yards a pass-rusher is from the quarterback at the time of each throw. Against the Washington Commanders, he averaged 3.46.
Here he is during week six, getting into Carson Wentz at the time of the throw, disrupting the play.
He also showed this last week against the New England Patriots.
So even though he only has one sack on the year, his production is still there, the double teams provide a lot of context.
Here are some plays from last year, provided by Ben Fennell via twitter. He’s perfectly executing the bend technique where he gets around tackles with ease using his hands and balance when getting behind the pocket.
Favorite aspects of new #Eagles DE/OLB Robert Quinn… High Side Rushes/Strips & Swooping into Gaps
The 12 year vet had a HUGE 2021 season and still has some giddy-up in the tank at 32 years old pic.twitter.com/Mq1sVGO30W
— Ben Fennell (@BenFennell_NFL) October 26, 2022
Where he helps the Eagles
If there is one area Quinn will help the Eagles, it’s with disguises. That said, the Eagles should be concerned with the number of stunts they are currently executing.
With the Bears in the bottom right quadrant, it means they call a lot of stunts, but the pressure isn’t there, which is almost the complete opposite from the Eagles.
Calling stunts requires a solid rotation of high motor pass-rushers and with the current state of the Eagles’ defensive line depth, they just didn’t have the bodies. Now they can have Reddick, Hargrave and Cox on one side of the line with a rotation on the other side with Graham, Quinn and Sweat.
Here is Quinn pulling a double team in an unbalanced front last week against the Patriots.
With Quinn lined up to the far-right side, and the two tackles crashing to the left, it leaves a huge lane up the ‘B-gap’ for the linebacker. This only works because Quinn required additional blocking from the tight end.
The Eagles attempted something similar against the Jacksonville Jaguars this year, but they were unable to pull the double team.
Expect Quinn to come in for nickel packages in an even four-man front on third and long. He can create pressure up without having to blitz a linebacker or defensive back, where they would need those extra guys in coverage.
Quinn should rotate in on first downs lining up next to Cox, who works really well getting between centers and guards. This will leave Quinn on the outside bending the edge, similar to how their line is set up in the clip below.
Fletcher Cox my God. pic.twitter.com/Hu7bTgsNTb
— Brenden Deeg (@BrendenDeeg_) September 25, 2022
The main idea with bringing Quinn to the Eagles defense is to keep the rotation fresh if the Eagles want to make a Super Bowl run. The best defensive line is a revolving door. Back in 2017, the Eagles had Vinny Curry with Derek Barnett backing him up, and on the other side, they had Graham with Long.
Quinn puts the Eagles in a good position to call more stunts and provide a consistent amount of pressure with throughout an entire game. If he was the only player to generate at least a 14% pressure rate in every full season since 2017, per Next Gen Stats, they got a steal with their new 32-year-old pass rusher.
