Oregon St. DT to visit Eagles

Oregon State defensive tackle Stephen Paea will visit the Eagles next week, a source tells Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post.

Paea (6-1, 303) had an impressive college career and won a number of awards last season. He was named the Pac-10's defensive player of the year and an AP first-team All American. Paea also won the Morris Trophy for the second straight season, which is given to the conference's top defensive lineman, as voted on by the conference's' offensive linemen.

He finished his career with 14 sacks and nine forced fumbles, an Oregon State record.

Paea set a combine record in the bench press by putting up 225 pounds 49 times.

Per Wilson, Paea has shown that he has made a sound recovery after tearing the lateral meniscus in his right knee during the Senior Bowl and having surgery.

Paea is considered a top-five defensive tackle by NFL Network's Mike Mayock, National Football Post's Wes Bunting and ESPN's Mel Kiper.

Last year, the Eagles rotated Antonio Dixon, Mike Patterson and Brodrick Bunkley at defensive tackle. Dixon looked like he could be a gem and a Pro-Bowl caliber player after signing with the Eagles prior to the 2009 season. Bunkley played injured and did not have a good season, and Patterson was solid.

As I've written about before, it will be interesting to see how Jim Washburn and Juan Castillo manage the defensive line rotation, and whether they do things differently than Sean McDermott, who brought Trevor Laws and Darryl Tapp inside in passing situations last season.

If you're looking for the full list of draft workouts and visits, click on the link.

And below you can find highlights of Paea (warning: YouTube clip is accompanied by an Eminem song that contains language which might not be appropriate for some in the MTC audience).

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