TRUSTS CHOOCH IN A PINCH
The Eagles might have addressed one of their draft needs with a trade today for Detroit Lions linebacker Ernie Sims, a 2006 first-round pick from Florida State.
The trade was a three-way deal with Denver and Detroit. The Eagles sent a fifth-round draft pick (137th overall, acquired from Cleveland) to the Broncos. The Broncos traded tight end Tony Scheffler and a seventh-round pick (220th overall) to the Lions. The Lions traded Sims to the Eagles.
"I'm just real excited, looking for a new beginning ... I'm ready to jump in," Sims said on an early afternoon conference call with reporters. "I'm like a sponge right now."
Sims, hampered by hamstring and shoulder issues last season, was mainly a weakside linebacker in Detroit; strongside is where the Eagles seem to have their biggest LB hole. But Sims said the Lions generally just played left and right, so he was sometimes on the strongside, and sometimes covered tight ends, a big Eagles problem.
“Ernie Sims is an impact player at the linebacker position,” said head coach Andy Reid. “He brings a lot of energy to our already energized defense. We are looking forward to adding him to our team.”
“We are excited to acquire Ernie Sims,” said general manager Howie Roseman. “He plays fast, he's aggressive and his style is a great fit for our defensive scheme. He is a leader who was a team captain for the Lions and we are eager to see what he can do in our defense.”
Sims was the ninth overall selection in the 2006 draft and has since played in 59 games (56 starts) for Detroit, totaling 505 tackles, 2.5 sacks, five forced fumbles and one interception. Last season, Sims played in 11 games (eight starts), and compiled 49 tackles and one forced fumble.
Sims, a college teammate of Eagles defensive tackle Brodrick Bunkley, never developed into the star the Lions thought they were getting when they drafted him. A change in defensive schemes last year seemed to give Sims problems, reports from Detroit indicated, and with the regime that drafted him long gone, his departure wasn't a shock.
"They tried so many different solutions" in Detroit, Sims said. "Different head coaches, different coordinators, different GMs." He indicated he got lost in the shuffle of the NFL's losingest franchise.
The Eagles now own 10 picks in the upcoming draft: 1st round (24th overall), 2nd round (37, 55), 3rd round (70, 87), 4th round (105, 121), 6th round (200), 7th round (243, 244).
Sims, 6-0, 230, said he hasn't discussed his Eagles role with any coaches yet.
Asked whether he viewed Sims as a starter, Roseman said, "We’ll figure all of that out, we do. He’s a starter in the National Football League, but we’re trying to create competition. We have a lot of starters on our defense and our offense. We think he brings that.”
Les
Bowen has covered the Eagles for the Daily News
since 2002.
Before that, he spent nearly 13 years covering the Flyers. It took Les
only a few seasons after the switch to figure out that there was no
penalty box at the Linc, and that the time really wasn't his, despite
what Andy Reid kept saying. Les came to Philadelphia and the Daily News
from Charlotte in 1983. In the intervening years, he has pretty much
lost track of NASCAR, and his accent. He, his wife Barbara, and their
two sons live in Haddon Township, New Jersey.
E-mail Les at bowenl@phillynews.com
and follow
him on Twitter.
Paul
Domowitch has been with the Daily News since 1982.
He has spent most of his nearly 3 decades with the paper covering the
Eagles and pro football. For the last 10 years, he’s been a
selector for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A native of Wilkes-Barre
and a graduate of Wilkes University, Domo started his career in Texas,
working first for the Midland Reporter-Telegram (1976-78), and then for
the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where he covered some god-awful Texas
Ranger baseball teams. His first beat at the Daily News actually was
boxing, which he covered just long enough to lose 2 sports coats to
blood spatter before moving on to football. Domo and his wife Shelley,
a University of Oklahoma grad who still hasn’t gotten over
that Fiesta Bowl loss to Boise State 5 years ago, have 2 terrific
daughters -- Allison, 28, who is an attorney in South Jersey, and Amy,
25, who works in administration for a professional baseball team.
E-mail Domo at PDomo@aol.com and follow
him on Twitter.
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