Heading into Week 13, the Philadelphia Eagles are decimated in the secondary, especially at the safety spot. Rookie safety Andrew Mukuba, who has started 10 games for Philly this season, will be sidelined for the foreseeable future after suffering a fractured ankle against the Dallas Cowboys that requires surgery.
The other starting safety, Reed Blankenship, left the game against the Cowboys with a thigh injury, so he’s a bit banged up. Behind them is Sydney Brown, and then… no one. They literally don’t have a fourth safety listed on the depth chart. That obviously isn’t ideal.
As a result, the Birds may want to look outside of the organization for some added safety depth and free agent safety Justin Simmons could be the perfect target.
Simmons started 16 games for the Atlanta Falcons in 2024, but he remains unsigned this season. At 32, Simmons’ best days are probably behind him, but it’s not like there are many other viable options out there.
Simmons was an All-Pro as recently as 2023, and if nothing else he could provide some depth and eat up some safety snaps for Philly. Plus, he should be fresh after not playing at all this season and he already has experience playing for defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.
The Eagles were recently listed as an ideal fit for Simmons by Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report, and that was before their latest round of safety injuries. It also wasn't the first time that Philly has been mentioned as an ideal landing spot for Simmons.
Simmons himself even mentioned the Eagles as a desirable landing spot for himself earlier this year and he has previously credited Fangio for much of his own personal success.
“I owe a lot of my success to Vic and his staff, because just the way they implemented their defense and made me learn the game in a whole new perspective,” Simmons said when Fangio was hired last February. “It was a whole new defense, it was a whole new way of learning. So Philadelphia’s got a great one.”
On paper, the fit between Simmons and the Eagles makes sense. Let's see if they pursue it.