On Thursday morning, Nick Sirianni announced the Eagles’ captains, and that’s a really nice symbolic honor.
A few hours later, T.J. Edwards announced an honor that might have flown way under the radar but in the big picture is probably more important.
The green dot.
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SIGN UP HERE The helmet with a green dot on the back indicates the one member of the defense who’s in contact with the coaching staff between plays.
Edwards confirmed Thursday that he’ll wear the green dot helmet on the Eagles’ defense this year, and that’s huge because it’s a designation that goes to the player who the coaching staff trusts and a player who never — or rarely — leaves the field.
“I wore it a little bit last year, the back half of the year, but I’ve had it for camp and I’m really excited about it,” Edwards said Thursday. “I did it all throughout college so I’m comfortable doing it, so I’m just excited.”
For obvious reasons, the quarterback is always the offensive player with the green dot.
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Defense is a little different because of the frequent substitutions and sub-packages. If the green dot player does leave the field, another green dot can replace him, but ideally for the sake of continuity and communication the coaches want one player to wear the green dot as much as possible.
On this defense, it’s Edwards.
He has to tackle. He has to cover. He has to blitz. And now communication between the coaches and the other defenders is a big part of his role as well.
“How I look at it is everyone has to have their own role, and that’s something we’ve talked about with the coaches, just what we’re doing and how each guy fits and things like that,” Edwards said. “And I think as a unit we all take ownership of what we’re doing, but it’s exciting thinking about what we all can do as a unit.”
This is just the latest step in a truly remarkable evolution for Edwards, who made the Eagles as an undrafted rookie out of Wisconsin in 2019, became a starter in 2020 and then really took his game to another level last year.
When Edwards arrived at 2019 training camp, he found himself the last guy on a depth chart loaded with veterans, including a bunch from the Super Bowl championship two years earlier — Kamu Grugier-Hill, Zach Brown, Nigel Bradham, L.J. Fort, Nate Gerry, Alex Singleton, Paul Worrilow.
Edwards couldn’t believe he was ninth on the depth chart when he arrived for his rookie training camp, but he never forgets what that felt like.
“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t something that stuck with me just because I thought I was productive coming out of school and things like that and just the way things shake out, but when I got here we had just studs at linebacker so it’s like you’re not going to come in and be the top guy,” Edwards said.
“But it really just makes you more hungry, and it’s something that I carry with me all the time to make sure I never lose that chip on my shoulder, and I’ve got to come in here and prove myself every day and that’s what I want to do.”
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