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Eagles reportedly put in claim for FB Felton

    by Sheil Kapadia
    Published 

The Eagles were one of four teams to put a waiver claim in for fullback Jerome Felton, according to Adam Caplan on The Sideline View.

But the Carolina Panthers ended up with Felton (6-0, 246), a fourth-year player, who was originally a fifth-round pick of the Detroit Lions back in 2005.

Felton, 25, was active for all 16 games last season. He had 22 carries for 76 yards and has 39 carries for 126 yards in his career. He caught eight balls for 54 yards last season and played in 18 percent of the Lions' offensive snaps, according to Pro Football Focus.

He also played special teams for Detroit.

The Eagles currently have two fullbacks on their roster: Owen Schmitt and rookie Stanley Havili.

Overall, Schmitt played in about 33 percent of the Eagles' snaps last season, although that number is a little misleading, considering he saw a lot of action in the Week 17 game against the Cowboys. He was an OK blocker and had 19 catches for 136 yards. Just three of those came in the Eagles' final six games.

Schmitt did not have a single carry in 2010.

Here's how his 363 snaps broke down last year, according to PFF:

Havili, a seventh-round pick, has not stood out at training camp or in the preseason and is a longshot to make the 53-man roster.

The Eagles lined up with just one running back 59 percent of the time last year, according to the Football Outsiders Almanac. That ranked 15th in the league, and the number could be even higher in 2011, especially once wide receiver Steve Smith gets healthy. Considering Ronnie Brown's strong reputation as a blocker in pass protection, my guess is Schmitt won't be seeing the field too much.

I mentioned this yesterday, but it's worth repeating. According to FOA 2011, McCoy averaged 5.9 yards per carry when Michael Vick was at quarterback and 3.8 yards per carry without him last season. All five of McCoy's runs that went for 40+ yards were with Vick in the game.

And finally, I did an interview with TSN 1050 in Toronto, offering my take on the Michael Vick deal and the upcoming season. They were nice enough to put up the podcast. Follow-up question for the group: Would a weekly MTC podcast be of interest during the season?

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