Lindley, Graham and the Eagles' rookies
The Eagles will count on their rookies down the stretch. Trevard Lindley figures to see his most playing time of the season Sunday against the Bears.
Lindley, Graham and the Eagles' rookies
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
On Nov. 21, 2009, Brandon Graham's football season was over.
Michigan fell to Ohio State, and Graham's focus turned to getting ready for the NFL.
Now, a year later, the stretch run of his football season is just beginning.
Graham is one of several rookies the Eagles are counting on as they focus on winning the NFC East and establishing themselves as a legitimate contender in the NFC.
Of the 13 players the Eagles selected in April's draft, 10 have at least dressed at one point or another this season: Graham, Nate Allen, Daniel Te'o-Nesheim, Trevard Lindley, Keenan Clayton, Mike Kafka, Clay Harbor, Riley Cooper, JaMar Chaney and Kurt Coleman.
Three have started (Graham, Allen and Coleman) and at least two more (Lindley and Harbor) figure to play fairly significant roles down the stretch.
The Eagles announced Saturday morning that Asante Samuel will not make the trip to Chicago. That means Lindley will likely get on the field in nickel situations.
On the season, the Birds have gone with their nickel defense about 43 percent of the time.
Lindley has been active for five games this season: Weeks 1, 2, 5, 8 and 9. He's played a total of 27 defensive snaps, but will be counted on to play well on Sunday afternoon.
As for Graham, he played over 72 percent of the snaps last week, with Juqua Parker sidelined. He figures to see just as much playing time tomorrow.
On the season, Graham's played more than 56 percent of the defensive snaps. Only Trent Cole has played more among defensive linemen.
As for the Eagles' other rookies, Allen will obviously continue to start at free safety, and Coleman will fill in if Allen or Mikell goes down.
Te'o-Nesheim has been inactive for the last three games. Clayton has been active for three straight after not dressing for the first seven. Harbor has been used as the second tight end in the last two (more on him here). And Cooper is the fourth wide receiver (12 snaps last week against the Giants).
You can follow Moving the Chains on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.
Download our NEW iPhone/Android app for even more Birds coverage, including app-exclusive videos and analysis. Get it here.
This is the time of year the Eagles begin to show off their depth. The Giants are currently crying about injuries, and the Eagles are trotting out some fresh faces that were brought on board for this purpose.
That is the difference in the two teams. Everyone has injuries, biut getting your guys healthy with time off and not getting a big fall off in production is the key.of two or three years ahead will go out there and do a good job in the playoff run.
Good job to the folks that assembled this team.
Our big guns need some time off, and the stars— CoolRunnings
And other rookies that the Eagles did not draft: Calvin; Howard; and Colt Anderson (well, maybe he's not technically a rookie, since he was on the Vikings P-squad last year, but he had his first NFL action with the Eagles this year).— ICDogg- Both Eagles and Patriots are benefitting from the same strategy. Young legs and fresh bodies, regardless of experience, can reap positive benefits. Hopefully, they have learned enough by now to minimize the mental mistakes.— Rick Wise Guy
- Pretty good rookies. Can't expect too much the first year, but you never know, maybe one of these guys will break out in the final stretch here. Next year we oughta be better, just because all of these 22-26 year-olds have one more year experience.— tacklinjoe
Its why you won't hear me criticize the draft too much. There are always disappointments when they don't do what you think they should, but how can you argue the contributions from ALL of these guys? It seems like a good strategy now, and they must have alot of confidence in their coaches.- Howie Roseman-----he's the man---'Mr Draftnik'.— Romus
- Coolrunnings: I agree, but another key difference between the Eagles and the Giants is that the Eagles are better coached. Reid routinely outcoaches Coughlin.— p-diddy
- I've said all year, if healthy, this team with all the youth will mesh and will be great at the end of the season. They have been fortunate not to have had too many injuries. They have overcome any that they have had. I hope it stays that way. Go Eagles.— simplefreedom
- In retrospect, last year's draft really was exceptional. Coleman looks like a steal, and Cooper and Harbor were excellent value picks. Obviously, the 1&2 count the most, and Graham and Allen should be long-term Eagles. The one player who looks marginal now is DTN, who was a 3rd, but now does not fit the DL rotation.
- Amazing. There are 9 comments and they are all positive. I've never seen that.
- Hey, where are the guys that were blasting Rosenman for trading down and getting tons of 4th and 5th rounders? I thought you said they were all garbage?? I hope when the next draft comes around, the haters remember how even the lower round rookies this year contributed so much to the team (who am I kidding, the haters don't have enough of an intellect to remember anyway). In real life, if you keep commenting so irresponsibly without even a speck of evidence to back up your claims, it's going to cost you your job pretty quickly. Only on the internet can we see such a lowly display of complete ignorance and inadequacy.— goeagles87
Follow
Sheil on Twitter. And become
a fan of Moving the Chains on Facebook.
Download our NEW iPhone/Android app for even more Birds
coverage, including app-exclusive videos and analysis. Download it here.
