Former first-round draft pick Derek Barnett will be signing a two-year contract with his longtime team. The EDGE defender has spent the past five seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles registering 147 tackles, 21.5 sacks, 36 tackles for loss, 76 QB hits. He started a career-high 15 games and played a career-high 718 defensive snaps in 2021. Barnett will turn 26 years old this coming June.
Eagles are re-signing free-agent DE Derek Barnett to a two-year deal, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 24, 2022
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Derek Barnett, Philadelphia Eagles, Agree to Contract
Barnett was drafted by the Eagles with the 14th-overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. He finished his junior season at Tennessee leading the SEC in both sacks (13.0) and tackles for loss (19.0) while adding an additional five pass defenses and two forced fumbles. His rookie season with the Eagles was not as productive as his final year at Tennessee, but Barnett played well in his first season as a pro. In 15 games, he racked up five sacks, eight tackles for loss, and 16 QB hits.
However, his biggest play as an Eagle and perhaps his entire career came in Super Bowl LII. After recording just one sack and two quarterback hits throughout the playoffs, Barnett recovered a Brandon Graham forced fumble on Tom Brady for the only turnover of the championship game. The recovery led to an Eagles field goal and was debatably the dagger in the game that handed Philadelphia its first Super Bowl in franchise history.
Following his Super Bowl heroics for the Eagles, Barnett’s career failed to take off. While he was never a complete bust, he failed up to live to the sack-master hype that proceeded him coming out of college. Over five years with the Eagles, Barnett managed to record double-digit QB hits in every season but failed to crack double-digit sacks just once. He has proved to be relatively durable; missing more than three games just once in a single season. His best season came in 2019 when Barnett finished the season with 6.5 sacks, 10 tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, 22 QB hits, and 26 pressures.
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