Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz was hit with a couple of linebacker questions at Tuesday’s press conference. The questions came up because the current LB group stinks.

It’s Howie Roseman’s fault more than the defensive coordinator’s fault, unless Schwartz specifically told him that the group is fine and doesn’t need to be upgraded. In that case, he should be fired on the spot, but I highly doubt that’s what happened.

Here’s the first question posed to Schwartz:

Q. You guys have the least amount of resources in the NFL committed to the linebacker position this year. You’ve seen guys like Jordan Hicks, Kamu Grugier-Hill, L.J. Fort come and go during your time. Why is the linebacker position not a priority? Is that an organizational thing? Is that part of your philosophy? What’s behind that? (Tim McManus)

JIM SCHWARTZ: Every position is a priority for us. I mean, every position is important on the field. And I disagree that we haven’t spent resources on it. I mean, you mentioned some of those guys we’ve had. We pay free agent money to guys like Nigel (Bradham). This year, we put some draft picks in there. We have the guys that we have. We’re going to work hard to put those guys in good position. But I don’t think from anyone’s standpoint it’s not a priority for us.

Well, the draft picks they used were on a third-round project who isn’t ready, and a sixth rounder out of Temple. They haven’t used a 1st or 2nd round pick on a linebacker since Mychal Kendricks way back in 2012, unless you want to count Marcus Smith as a DE/OL hybrid (even then, he was a bust).

Question #2:

Q. You mentioned about the resources devoted to linebacker. The Nigel Bradham extension was two off-seasons ago, and the two draft picks are not playing pretty much at all on defense this season. Why wasn’t there enough resources allocated to linebackers who are actually playing this year? (Jeff McLane)

JIM SCHWARTZ: I’ll leave team building stuff and roster management to Doug and Howie, so I really can’t answer your question right there. I’m confident in the guys we have. We’re getting the young guys up to speed. I think our emphasis on 11 guys playing better, not any one position.

Non-answer. Great follow-up from McLane.

Question #3:

Q. About those young linebackers, we haven’t seen them obviously much since training camp. LB Shaun Bradley got a few snaps on Sunday. How have they played and how close are they to having a role in the defense? (Dave Zangaro)

JIM SCHWARTZ: They are all making progress. They are physically talented. When we can work them in, we’ll work them in when it makes sense to the 11 guys on defense. We’re in the business of trying to do whatever we can to win games, and doing what we think is best to win games. When it’s time for those guys that we think it’s best for us to win games with them on the field, we’ll do it.

When Schwartz says they are “physically talented” it means that they are projects who aren’t ready for the NFL. Jordan Mailata was “physically talented” for the first couple of years, and now he’s finally playing.

We knew this about Davion Taylor, who barely played high school football. Howie Roseman went out and made luxury picks when they were not in a position to make luxury picks, and as a result Taylor and Jalen Hurts are sitting on the sidelines and barely playing.