IS GLAD SPRING TRAINING IS FINALLY HERE
UPDATED: The Eagles have confirmed the trade and issued a press release. Darryl Tapp has spoken to reporters in a conference call. And a league source says the Eagles and Tapp have agreed to a three-year contract, pending Wednesday's physical.
Tapp, 25, who signed his restricted free agent tender Monday, said he was "really shocked" and that the deal came together over "the last couple of days." A source close to the situation confirmed the Birds and Tapp's agent, Fletcher Smith, were working out a contract extension. (Just think, a day or so, "Eagles working on extension with Fletcher Smith" would have been a huge scoop. Smith's other Eagles client is Donovan McNabb.)
"I think I'm an athletic end," Tapp said. "A lot stronger and quicker than people think I am."
Said Eagles coach Andy Reid: “Darryl is a very intense football player and we’re happy to acquire him. He plays very hard every snap. He’s smart, he’s a good person and he’ll fit very well into our defensive scheme.”
Said Eagles general manager Howie Roseman, “Darryl is an up-and-coming player in this league, in my opinion. He’s a good player and a good person, and we liked him very much coming out of Virginia Tech. We believe he’ll be a good addition to our defensive line.”
EARLIER: The Eagles have sent defensive end Chris Clemons and a fourth-round pick to Seattle for defensive end Darryl Tapp, a source close to the situation confirmed to the Daily News. The Eagles have two fourth-rounders; the deal involves the later pick, which originally belonged to the New York Jets.
The deal was originally reported by Fox Sports' Jay Glazer via Twitter.
Tapp, 6-1, 270, was dealt a day after he signed his restricted free agent tender. Tapp signed a 1-year, $1.76 million contract with the Seahawks. Coach Pete Caroll has repeatedly mentioned Tapp's possible role as a roving pass rusher.
The Eagles have been searching for a defensive end to play opposite Trent Cole. It is unclear whether the Eagles intend for Tapp to be that guy.
Tapp, a second-round pick out of Virginia Tech in 2006, has played in all 16 games in each of his four NFL seasons. Tapp's best year was 2007, when he started all 16 games and had seven sacks. He started 11 games and had 5.5 sacks in 2008 and started five games with 2.5 sacks last season.
In his career, he has appeared in 64 games (32 starts) in his four-year career, posting 177 tackles, 18 sacks, eight forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries, and two interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown.
The Eagles signed Clemons to a 5-year deal as a free agent from Oakland before the 2008 season. Clemons played in all 16 games last season, with three sacks and two hurries. He also had a sack in the Eagles' NFC wild-card loss against Dallas.
"We had a big group of defensive ends, six defensive ends, last season, and I knew it was going to be hard to keep that many," Clemons said last night. Asked if he minded being traded, Clemons said: "If it was going to get me more opportunities to get on the field, I didn't have a problem with it."
He said he learned a lot in his two years with the Birds, especially from late defensive coordinator Jim Johnson.
After the trade, the Eagles now own six picks in the 2010 draft.
They have their own picks in rounds 1-4 and have an extra pick in round 3 (from Seattle in 2009 trade) and round 6 (from Indianapolis in 2009 trade).
Their sixth and seventh round draft picks were traded to Buffalo and New England, respectively. A fiftth round pick acquired from New Orleans in a 2009 trade was sent to St. Louis in exchange for LB Will Witherspoon. A fourth-round pick acquired from NY Jets for cornerback Lito Sheppard was sent to Seattle in exchange for Tapp.
More to come.
Les
Bowen has covered the Eagles for the Daily News
since 2002.
Before that, he spent nearly 13 years covering the Flyers. It took Les
only a few seasons after the switch to figure out that there was no
penalty box at the Linc, and that the time really wasn't his, despite
what Andy Reid kept saying. Les came to Philadelphia and the Daily News
from Charlotte in 1983. In the intervening years, he has pretty much
lost track of NASCAR, and his accent. He, his wife Barbara, and their
two sons live in Haddon Township, New Jersey.
E-mail Les at bowenl@phillynews.com
and follow
him on Twitter.
Paul
Domowitch has been with the Daily News since 1982.
He has spent most of his nearly 3 decades with the paper covering the
Eagles and pro football. For the last 10 years, he’s been a
selector for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A native of Wilkes-Barre
and a graduate of Wilkes University, Domo started his career in Texas,
working first for the Midland Reporter-Telegram (1976-78), and then for
the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where he covered some god-awful Texas
Ranger baseball teams. His first beat at the Daily News actually was
boxing, which he covered just long enough to lose 2 sports coats to
blood spatter before moving on to football. Domo and his wife Shelley,
a University of Oklahoma grad who still hasn’t gotten over
that Fiesta Bowl loss to Boise State 5 years ago, have 2 terrific
daughters -- Allison, 28, who is an attorney in South Jersey, and Amy,
25, who works in administration for a professional baseball team.
E-mail Domo at PDomo@aol.com and follow
him on Twitter.
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