The Philadelphia Eagles have a few steps they need to take to officially rid themselves of the Chip Kelly era. One, if not arguably the biggest, area they need to accomplish that in is through the offensive line, which Kelly famously ignored. That came back to bite the Eagles hard. Fixing that is going to be an important task for Doug Pederson to figure out, and an excellent start to that process would be to sign Kelechi Osemele in free agency.

Osemele is facing the increasing likelihood of hitting the market, largely because the Baltimore Ravens can’t afford to franchise him at a cost of nearly $14 million. I have no doubt at all that the Ravens would want to hang on to him, but financially they just can’t swing the big contract Osemele is bound to find in free agency.

And Osemele is going to get every bit of that huge contract somewhere, because he’s got a trait every team loves in offensive linemen: Versatility. Osemele started out as an interior lineman but showed the ability to play left tackle well enough to pull both positions off. Given that fact, plus the fact that left tackle Cordy Glenn will get a big contract that Osemele can bargain against, Osemele is sitting on a golden opportunity.

He’s an ideal target for the Eagles because he essentially solves two problems. The first is that he would provide insurance against Jason Peters and his uncertain future. If Peters has another down year and shows he’s in decline, Osemele can man a tackle position along with Lane Johnson. But if Peters bounces back and plays up to par, Osemele kicks inside to guard and massively upgrades that spot over who the Eagles currently have.

The problems Osemele solves makes it completely and entirely worth it to the Eagles. They can probably afford to swing one big free agent deal right now, and Osemele would be one of the safer investments they could make. Life could be made easier all around with him on board, and it’s a no-brainer if he becomes available.