EAGLES SIGN LINEBACKER, RELEASE HUNT
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Eagles
EAGLES SIGN LINEBACKER, RELEASE HUNT
Bob Brookover
Tony Hunt had to see the writing on the depth chart.
In one week, he went from the Eagles' starting fullback to fourth-string tailback who couldn't get on the field Sunday at San Francisco even in the absence of Brian Westbrook.
And now he's the latest third-round pick to be released by the team.
The Eagles announced this afternoon that they had released the former Penn State star to make room on the roster for linebacker Tracy White, who had been released by the Green Bay Packers a week ago.
White, a six-year veteran originally signed by Seattle as an undrafted rookie out of Howard University, has been a reserve special teams player most of his career. He played in 21 games in his first two seasons with Seattle, 15 games with Jacksonville in 2005 and 32 games the last three seasons with Green Bay.
Hunt, drafted in 2007 as a tailback, carried the ball just 10 times for 16 yards and a touchdown as a rookie. The Eagles tried to move him to fullback two weeks before the start of this season, but the experiment was not working and the team decided last week to move Dan Klecko from defensive tackle to fullback. Since 2003, the Eagles have had seven third-round picks and four of them -- Billy McMullen, Matt Ware, Ryan Moats and Hunt -- are no longer with the team. None of the four ever made a significant contribution.
The three remaining third-round picks from that time period are linebackers Stewart Bradley and Chris Gocong and rookie defensive end Bryan Smith.
In other news from the NFC East, the Dallas Cowboys traded for Detroit Lions star receiver Roy Williams on the same day they learned that cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones had been suspended by the NFL indefinitely for an altercation with his bodyguard.
Kansas City tight end Tony Gonzalez remained with the Chiefs after the team had contacted a number of teams, including the Eagles, about trading him.
I agree with what appears to be the concensus. If our linebackers are so good, why do we need a guy cut by the Packers? Hunt was not given enough time at ANY one position to establish himself. None of this makes any sense regarding the apparent weaknesses we need to address now to be competative now and in the postseason. We ned a productive TE (Gonzales) and another big play receiver( Roy Williams) or at least one of the two. I just don't get the thinking here at all. I also agree that not getting Gonzales was the biggest of the three mistakes made. I am very dissapointed and am tired of the BS we get from the front office instead of getting moves that really improve the team.— JimSeitz
