IS LEARNING THE PRINCETON OFFENSE
The Eagles have released Tony Hunt, abandoning his experiment at fullback, and signed journeyman linebacker/special teams player Tracy White, reflecting continuing concerns about their special-teams play.
The release of Hunt shows the Eagles made a mistake in their evaluation prior to the 2007 draft. They chose Hunt in the third round out of Penn State, despite the fact that he played in an offense not at all like their offense and was not a good receiver or blocker or particularly quick.
He was moved to fullback before the exhibition game against Carolina in a last-ditch effort to keep him on the roster and won the job coming out of the preseason. He started two games, but the Eagles shuffled their running backs last week with Brian Westbrook's absence and Dan Klecko saw more time at fullback, with Hunt not even getting on the field.
Hunt had four carries for nine yards this season.
White, a 6-year veteran, spent the last two-plus seasons with the Green Bay Packers before being released last Tuesday.
Originally signed by Seattle as an undrafted rookie in 2003 out of Howard, White played in 20 games with the Seahawks, recording 26 tackles and one sack. He spent the 2005 season as a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars, before signing with the Packers in 2006.
White has racked up 68 career special teams tackles in 69 games, including two in the 2007 postseason. He also recovered a fumbled punt in the end zone for a touchdown on last September against the Eagles.
In case you are wondering, White will wear Jeremiah Trotter's old No. 54.
Of course, the big news of the day on the trading deadline is bound to inflame Eagles fans as the Dallas Cowboys have acquired wide receiver Roy Williams from Detroit. The Cowboys gave up a first-round pick in 2009, plus a
third- and sixth-rounder in 2009 for Williams and a seventh-round pick in ’09.
Meanwhile, Kansas City tight end Tony Gonzalez was not traded at the deadline. An Eagles source confirmed that the team did make an effort to get him.
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.
Paul Domowitch has been with the Daily News since 1982. He has spent most of his 27 years at 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 came to the Daily News from the Fort Worth (Tx.) Star-Telegram, where he covered some god-awful Texas Ranger baseball teams. His first beat at the Daily News actually wa s boxing, which he covered just long enough to lose two sports coats to blood spatter before moving on to football. Domo and his wife Shelley, a University of Oklahoma grad and very dangerous to be around following a Sooner loss, have been married 29 years and have raised 2 terrific daughters – Allison, 26, a lawyer and graduate of Boston University School of Law; and Amy, 23, who graduated from Clemson and works in marketing and sales for a professional baseball team.
