With the departure of Jim Washburn, it appears the era of the Wide-9 as a base alignment is over. (Brandon Graham said on Monday that the Eagles won’t use it for the rest of the year). While it was exciting at first, this year the alignment clearly contributed (heavily in my opinion) to the historically bad defensive performance.

As a result, everyone should play close attention to the performance of the DBs for the rest of the season. The Wide-9 forced the Safeties to take on greater than typical run responsibilities, which may be why there has been such an issue defending PA.

Or Kurt Coleman and Nate Allen are just that bad…

Regardless, the coaching change will hopefully provide some clarity heading into the offseason, as a return to a base 4-3 alignment will make it easier to judge each defensive player (because their responsibilities will be easier to infer).