Eric Weddle, S
Age: 31
Height: 5-11
Weight: 200
Last team: San Diego Chargers
Scouting report
Weddle isn't the best safety in the NFL — but he's close. He's probably not as good as Eric Berry, who we profiled in the first part of this series. But Weddle's still very, very good and has been for a while now. A little bit of a down year in 2015, but in 2014 he was a Pro Bowler and an All Pro. In fact, he's been a Pro Bowler in three of his last five seasons and an All Pro twice. In 137 career games, Weddle has proven to be a good tackler and has good ball skills. He has 19 career interceptions and has returned three for touchdowns. Pairing him with Malcolm Jenkins would give the Eagles a dynamic safety duo.
My take
Normally, when a free agent of this caliber comes up, one of the favorites to sign him is his old team. That's not happening here. Weddle and the Chargers had a pretty messy split-up and he won't be going back to San Diego. So that makes it seem like the Eagles would have a pretty good chance. The problem is money — Weddle's gonna command a lot of it. Probably not Berry money, but still a lot. Weddle's last contract was five years for $40 million, about $8 million per year.
CBS' Jason La Canfora listed the Eagles as one of the teams "sniffing around the high-end safety market," and thinks Weddle could get a deal around the $8 million-per-year range. The Eagles just paid Jenkins, and re-signing Walter Thurmond would be cheaper than signing Weddle.
Weddle would be a great signing, but it's probably going to be too expensive to put that much money into the safety position. He's much more likely to end up in Philly than Berry, though.