While the Philadelphia Eagles are still set on the interior defensive line with a pair of primo starters in Jordan Davis and NFL All-Pro Jalen Carter, one of the things that’s been overlooked with the loss of free agent Milton Williams to the New England Patriots is their depth at those positions is out the window.
One of the great things that let all 3 players thrive in 2024 on the way to winning a Super Bowl was that depth. That meant having a constant rotation of 3 high performing interior defensive linemen at all times.
While Carter and Davis are expected to shoulder almost all of that load in 2025, Bleacher Report’s Moe Moton believes the Eagles should try and add back some of that depth by signing free agent defensive lineman John Cominsky.
“John Cominsky is a versatile defender who can line up at different positions across the front line,” Moton wrote on May 24. “After recording 66 tackles, seven for loss, six sacks and 29 pressures in two years with the Detroit Lions, he would be a solid pickup to help replace Williams’ production.”
There’s just one problem — Cominsky announced his retirement from the NFL after 6 seasons on March 23 and approximately $10 million in career earnings.
Former Fourth Round Pick Missed All of 2024
Cominsky announced his retirement on his official Instagram account on March 25 after missing all of the 2024 season with a knee injury.
“After 6 years in the NFL, I am officially medically retiring,” Cominsky wrote. “I am proud of the career I had, but have accumulated a combination of injuries that are overwhelming my desire to continue playing … I had the privilege to play in a lot of big time games on big time stages. I shared the field with players I had admired as a young athlete. I shook hands with hall of famers and met some of the best men and women on this planet.”
It’s on the Eagles to put together an offer that would draw Cominsky, 6-foot-5 and 285 pounds, out of retirement.
Along with the opportunity to win a Super Bowl, another starting point would be to offer him a 1-year, $4 million contract. That’s a slight raise over his last 2 seasons in Detroit.
Cominsky Went From Division II to NFL
Cominsky was always going to be a longshot to make it to the NFL after coming out of NCAA Division II Charleston, where he earned Mountain East Conference Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2018.
The difference for Cominsky ended up being a bravura performance at the NFL scouting combine, where he wowed those in attendance by running the 40-yard dash in 4.69 seconds and was selected in the fourth round (No. 135 overall) by the Atlanta Falcons in the 2019 NFL draft.
Cominsky played his first 3 seasons for the Falcons before the Lions claimed him off waivers in 2022 and he signed a 2-year, $8.5 million contract in March 2023.
He had 6.0 of his 7.5 career sacks over his final 2 seasons with Detroit.
“He was kind of the model of what we were early in this thing. And the value that he brought to us, the type of teammate he was, the type of player that he was, that’ll be missed,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell told ESPN following Cominsky’s retirement. ” ” … He was the best. That’s a tough side of this game, is the injuries.”
