Jeanty and the Eagles' LB situation
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Jeanty and the Eagles' LB situation
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
The Eagles announced today that they've signed linebacker Rashad Jeanty to a one-year deal.
Linebacker is probably the Eagles' most uncertain positional group, and there will likely be jobs to be won whenever the Birds prepare for the 2011 season.
Here are the linebackers currently listed on the roster: Stewart Bradley, Jamar Chaney, Keenan Clayton, Moise Fokou, Omar Gaither, Akeem Jordan, and Ernie Sims.
Of that group, Bradley, Gaither, Jordan and Sims are not under contract for next season. In other words, the Eagles have a lot of offseason decisions to make.
Chaney was a pleasant surprise after filling in for Bradley last season, but doesn't have a large enough body of work to be considered a sure thing.
Bradley's future is up in the air. Will he be back? Will be play in the middle? Will he be moved to the strong-side?
Clayton was active for seven regular-season games as a rookie. Fokou was OK, but not great, after taking over the strong-side position from Jordan. He was also the Eagles' leading special-teams tackler.
I'm not expecting either Gaither or Sims to be back. And Jordan is a tough call. He couldn't hold on to the strong-side job last year, and the Eagles kept Sims at the weak side instead of him. Jordan was a valuable contributor on special teams though.
As for Jeanty, he played the strong side in Cincinnati, but fractured his fibula during the Bengals' playoff game against the Jets in January of 2010. He didn't play at all last season after the Bengals released him in August, and there was some controversy around their decision.
Jeanty's agent David Canter told The Cincinnati Enquirer that the Bengals incorrectly advised him not to have surgery after his injury.
"It’s tremendously disappointing on the way this has been handled," Canter told The Enquirer's Joe Reedy last year. "We don’t see how the Cincinnati Bengals can do this without any inclination that this was even a possibility. It’s a tad shocking how he was released and was done in a disheartening, callous and unfair manner. The only reason why he isn’t healthy and wasn’t able to pass the physical is because they failed to fully diagnose and mistreated the injury."
According to Adam Caplan of FoxSports.com, Jeanty got looks from the Dolphins, Jets, Seahawks and Vikings.
In 2009, he led the Bengals in special-teams tackles, and in 2008, he won the Ed Block Courage Award. Jeanty is 27 years old and listed at 6-2, 243.
According to Mac's Football Blog, Jeanty can earn up to $1.25M in 2011, so this looks like a low-risk signing by the Birds.
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No surprise here, low risk, high reward signing coming off an injury. Unfortunately it is high risk, though, when Andy thinks this signing is filling a hole, a la Marlin Jackson, and doesn't have a backup plan.- I agree, Joey "nickels" Banner looks for bargins. His approach does not change. — Lerze777
- I don't think this signing has anyhting to do with high reward. This kid isn't any bigger than Sims and he's a lifetime back up at the position. This is an aweful signing and there is no ifs ands or buts about it. — papabear702
I don't have a problem with it if it's a depth move made because they don't plan on re-signing Gaither or Jordan.- One of these days Birds are going to hit it big with an injured player signing, the odds just keep getting better with every bust.— Z-Force
- Low risk, high reward. Clearly, we need competition at LB. Based on what was reported, he broke his leg and had over a year to heal. It's not like he had torn ligaments. Good job Andy.— cocheese
- So long as Andy considers the linebacking corps as something not worthy of top draft pick consideration, this is the kind of thing we will see. I have no quibble with it at all. We need studs at cornerback and defensive end, with good players at safety and tackle. Linebackers are the hit-or-miss players that the present management usually go for. The game-changing players at linebacker can be counted on one hand. And they usually are used as blitzers allowed to either roam free or have schemes designed for their talent. We have been to the playoffs ten of his twelve years here....not too shabby. He must be doing something right.— TBear
- Agree TBear. — cocheese
- You and TBear are drinking too much of the green Kool Aid. They will not win a Super Bowl without quality linebackers. You cannot be happy with what your seeing out of that position, when you compare them to the elite teams of the league. — watsonmr
- In fact, most of the "game changing" linebackers are playing in 3-4 defenses. It would appear that in using a 4-3 defense, Reid had made the determination that DE's are of much more value/consequence.
With the exception of Chaney, none of the LB's on this roster impresses. And if memory serve me, there were high hopes for Bradley after his initial appearances. And we now know how that turned out.— CarpGuy - Sheil, don't discount Keenan Clayton. In the playoff game did you notice that Clayton and Chaney were the linebackers in the nickel package. The coaching staff thinks highly of Clayton as well as Chaney. Next season Clayton will start on the weak side with Chaney in the middle. Signing Jeanty may indicate that Fokou will start on the strong side with Jeanty as an experience backup.— soulman386
- Which coaching staff? All of those guys are gone! LOL — jimmyj
- wont make team, who cares— fman727
I read this signing as being for depth and possibly STs. I don't see Jeanty being brought in to be a starter. Could be another one of those signings that they want to take a look at. If he doesn't show promise he's bounced before the final cuts in August— Mabus- Broken leg, yep that sounds like the Eagles
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