Philadelphia Eagles lose two linebackers in one day
In a truly unfortunate twist of fate, the Philadelphia Eagles have lost two of their top four linebackers on the same day.
May 22nd will surely go down as a day Philadelphia Eagles GM Howie Roseman would like to soon forget.
After finally deciding to oblige weakside linebacker Mychal Kendricks‘ pleas to be released from his contract, in a move that should allow the sixth-year linebacker to finally secure a full-time starting role elsewhere, the Eagles were awarded for their efforts by losing his would-be replacement, Delaware native Paul Worrilow for the season with a torn ACL on the first day of OTAs.
Sigh, when it rains it pours I guess.
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Though it’s obviously impossible for Roseman to have known that Worrilow would go down with a torn ACL mere hours after he released Kendricks from his deal, it’s a bit confusing why he was even released in the first place so late into the offseason.
After receiving attention from other teams in the 2017 NFL Draft, no rumours of a potential trade came up during the 2018 Draft, and left the vast majority of the fanbase assuming that Kendricks would remain in South Philly for at least one more season, to serve as an insurance policy for Jordan Hicks as he recovers from an ACL injury.
But maybe we shouldn’t be too surprised.
While the Eagles didn’t select a linebacker in the 2018 NFL Draft, a decision I’m sure they wouldn’t replicate in hindsight, the team did add a pair of starting caliber backers in Worrilow and Corey Nelson at the start of free agency, in a move that all but scripted Kendricks eventual exit from the team.
It’s really the timing that comes off as odd.
Though it’s entirely possible that the Eagles were planning on releasing Kendricks all along, as his $7.25 million a year deal was simply too expensive for a player who only played 27 percent of the team’s defensive snaps in 2016, the team is now an injury away from being in serious trouble at the linebacker spot, with only a collection of young, largely unproven linebackers loading up the bottom of the depth chart.
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While the Eagles could very well go out and add a veteran linebacker to pad out their roster moving forward, like, say, Penn State great NaVorro Bowman, it’s clear Jim Schwartz‘s front seven just got a little bit worse, even if it was the best move for all parties involved at the time.