Eagles Outlook: Extending Milton Williams should be top priority according to PFF

This is the time of the year where Pro Football Focus really starts cooking. With Eagles training camp underway, PFF laid out some key moves every team should make before the start of the regular season.

For Philadelphia, PFF thinks extending DT Milton Williams should be their top priority.

PFF on the Eagles potentially resigning Williams

Williams has been an under-the-radar performer on the Eagles’ defensive line for the past three seasons. The 2021 third-round pick started 10 games in 2023, earning a 70.4 PFF overall grade and adding a career-high 25 pressures and 26 stops.

Philadelphia’s defensive line is getting younger after Fletcher Cox retired in the offseason. The bulk of the interior snaps will be shared between Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter and Williams in 2024. As such, Williams is an important cog in one of the NFL’s more talented defensive lines, and he is also a free agent in 2025. He could get paid big bucks on the open market, so the Eagles will know his value and should plan to extend him.

I don’t always agree with PFF, but this is something I wholeheartedly stand behind. Milton Williams has become a pretty integral part of the Eagles defensive line. Of the three main rotational guys — Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, and Williams — he may be the most well-rounded. He’s certainly more versatile than Davis, and in all honesty, he’s been better than Davis since the Georgia DT has joined the team.

The jury is still out on Davis entering 2024. By season’s end, it’s not far fetched to think Williams may be the second starter alongside Carter. Obviously, the hope is that Davis steps up and the Eagles have a great three-man rotation along the interior of their defensive line. But, that’s far from a guarantee.

As for Carter, it seems like most of us fans have faith he’ll turn out to be a great player. He wasn’t consistently great throughout his entire rookie campaign, but he showed flashes of greatness, and at times, pure dominance.

Resigning Williams before the season starts is the exact kind of move Howie Roseman loves to make. Extend a budding star early to avoid paying him top dollar when he eventually pops. There’s already been some reports that both parties are in contract talks.

Of all the moves Howie and his Eagles could make before the season gets underway, resigning Milton Williams feels like the most likely.