Eagles sign free-agent linebacker Jatavis Brown to 1-year contract

The Eagles signed free-agent linebacker Jatavis Brown to a one-year contract Saturday, his agent Drew Rosenhaus said.

Brown, 26, spent his first four NFL seasons with the Chargers. He started in 23 of 56 games played over that span but only one last season as he was used less on defense. In his first three seasons, Brown tallied 255 tackles, 4½ sacks, 14 tackles for loss and 12 passes defensed.

He played primarily on special teams last season.

He’s battled various injuries over his career -- a foot sprain in 2017 and an ankle sprain in 2018. Brown was placed on injured reserve near the end of the 2018 season and started the following training camp on the physically unable to perform list. He came off the list during camp and was ready by the season opener.

Brown was selected out of Akron in the fifth round of the 2016 draft. He began his NFL career as an inside 3-4 linebacker. The Chargers, though, switched to a 4-3 before his second season, and he would play both middle and outside linebacker in that scheme.

The Eagles’ linebacker corp will look different next season after they released starter Nigel Bradham and allowed Kamu Grugier-Hill to leave via free agency and sign with the Dolphins. Nate Gerry is the only returning linebacker with significant playing time on defense. T.J. Edwards, Duke Riley, and Alex Singleton are also under contract for 2020.

Brown will presumably get an opportunity to compete for playing time, but with defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz increasingly using nickel and dime sub packages, there aren’t as many linebacker snaps to go around.

The Eagles, who have long spent little of their resources on the position, are likely to add some more linebackers either in the draft or with undrafted rookies.