Sims defends his size
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Eagles
Sims defends his size
Jeff McLane, Inquirer Staff Writer
You got to give Ernie Sims credit.
He didn't lie about his height.
The new Eagles linebacker was introduced at the NovaCare Complex today and when I went to shake his hand I noticed that at six-feet tall I had an inch or two on him. Sims is listed at 6-foot, 230 pounds.
"You're right, I'm not the biggest linebacker -- six-feet, maybe six feet and 225 [pounds] is my natural weight," Sims said. "But I feel very explosive and I feel very quick and fast."
How fast is Sims?
He said he ran a 4.50 40-yard dash at the Indianapolis combine four years ago. I'd imagine he still runs in that vicinity, which is very fast for a linebacker. He said his fastest time in the 40 is the 4.38 he ran as a junior at Florida State.
The Eagles are hoping they found the solution to their annual trouble of covering a linebacker.
"I feel like covering tight ends, that's where I use my speed," Sims said. "That's the name of my game -- speed. I definitely feel like there's not a lot of tight ends that can run away from me."
Sims met with the Eagles' coaches today.
"They want to put me in at the [weak-side linebacker] position," Sims said.
If that ends up being the case, Sims will compete with Akeem Jordan for the job. Eagles GM Howie Roseman also said that the Eagles think Sims can play strong-side linebacker in certain situations.
"It won't be all the time guaranteed, but ... when you get to the third down distance and other situations, where you know the tight end is going to get the ball, you want to put a good player on him," Sims said.
well there is the coverage lb that the eagles haven't had in almost 6-7 yrs?— sasquatches- Except Lions fans say he can't cover anyone in space. Ha ha. I hope he's legit. I'm rooting for him.— BIG_PHILLY
Comment removed.- Sims is ready to ball i wish the season started tomorrow.— amann08
- Poor Jordan - all he has done since he arrived is work his tail off to become a starter. Still, I think that we need a more disruptive force at the weak side LB, and we definitely need powerful tackling near the line of scrimage. Unclear whether Sims will cover as well as Jordan in the intermediate routes.
- welcome to philly, where your first headline about you can reference your negative traits and you "defending" yourself. Stupid players trying to act like they are confident in their skills... we don't need articles about how the FO picks undersized players for D, we rather read about how the media already has him backpedaling on his skills.— diesler123
move is a no brainer - he might not be the stud many thought he was coming out of fsu - but he's a significant upgrade from last years LB corps and we got him for nothing, essentially even exchange for gocong who stinks. but he can't cover, by his own admission, he hasn't done it very much - so they still need to upgrade the strong side. wish we coul find a carlos emmons type..— CosmoK- i like him. love an intimidator at the LB position a hitter. his speed is a plus. to get him for a 5th rounder is stealing. in what lifetime would you get that kind of value out of a 5th rounder? i don't care if he's 5 2'— brownrice
- Not to be negative but its curious....if we pick Taylor Mays and start him at Safety - our Safety (6'3", 235lbs) will be bigger than our WIL...— shova
- no doubt his size is a concern....but somebody got all those tackles for the Lions. (Maybe he got all those tackles chasing a tight end?)— SouthJerseyPhantom
- "The Eagles are hoping they found the solution to their annual trouble of covering a linebacker." Jeff, did you even proof read this? Man, that one sticks out sooooo much. I usually don't bash you guys, but you've read like a bunch of idiots lately.— lateofphilly
- Comment removed.
- We don't know NOTHIN' til we see reports from training camp, and more importantly we see him in pre-season games. But then again, we've seen Linebackers look gangbusters in those (Joe Mays) and flunk out when the bell rang. Here's hoping we got a guy that can limit tight ends to just freakin' NORMALCY against us. (Yes, I mean that big nasty in Dallas...whatever the hell "normal" for that monster.)— TBear
- Comment removed.
- i think this is a very good risk to take, he has experience in the league and all we gave up was a 5th rounder, thats a great deal for us.— LukeSaw07
