Chaney wants spotlight

That spotlight following Green Bay's Clay Matthews around the field Sunday should help illuminate something about the Eagles, as well.

Matthews is living, hirsute proof that linebackers still can be disruptive forces in the NFL. That is something you wouldn't know if you only watched the Eagles the last few years. It is almost as if they apply their old (and discarded) philosophy about wide receivers to the position, choosing a group of interchangeable "C" students over flashy, standout playmakers.

Stewart Bradley, Akeem Jordan, Moise Fokou, Chris Gocong, Omar Gaither, Will Witherspoon. There are some perfectly solid players in that group, but do any of those names strike fear into opposing teams? No.

So it's easy to overreact to this little flash of energy and intensity from rookie Jamar Chaney. Forced into the starting middle-linebacker job when Bradley injured his right elbow in Dallas on Dec. 12, Chaney has played just 21/2 games. That isn't much of a sample. Neither is it much experience for a guy going into a playoff game against a very smart Packers offense.

But there is a little buzz around Chaney. Cowboys tight end Jason Witten raved about him. NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger said Chaney is "already one of the best middle linebackers in the league" after getting just a glimpse of him. Most important, the Eagles seem comfortable letting Bradley take his time to recover because of what Chaney brings to the game.

"He can run with anybody," safety Quintin Mikell said. "He can attack the ball. He tackles well. We have all the confidence in the world in him."

Not bad for a seventh-round pick who hadn't played a single down on defense before Bradley dislocated his elbow.

In his first start, at the Meadowlands, Chaney was in on 16 tackles, six of them holding Giants players to 3 or fewer yards. He was in on three tackles for loss in that otherwise-disastrous game against the Vikings. It was telling that Chaney was one of the players deemed too important to play in that final regular-season game against Dallas.

Chaney carries a bit of a chip about that "seventh-round pick" tag. Like a lot of players, he believes he should have been drafted much higher. Unlike most of those, however, he might prove that he's right. A big performance in a playoff game would go a long way toward making his point - especially with so much focus on Matthews.

"You go out there and compete," Chaney said, "but you also watch the great players in this game. He's one of the best defensive players in this league. He does a great job for Green Bay. He had to make his mark somewhere. He was just a rookie last year. Maybe I can make mine, too."

Matthews was the 26th player taken in the 2009 draft. Chaney was the 220th player taken in the 2010 draft. Thirty-two linebackers were drafted ahead of him, including two (Keenan Clayton and DE/LB tweener Ricky Sapp) by the Eagles.

(Ancient history lesson: Seth Joyner, an eighth-round pick, was the third linebacker taken by the Eagles in the 1986 draft. Alonzo Johnson and Byron Lee are the answers to the trivia question.)

There is a backstory here. Chaney went to high school in Port St. Lucie, Fla. His senior year, two hurricanes hit the Gulf Coast and he wound up playing in just six games. He committed to Georgia on national signing day, but the scholarship offer was withdrawn because of his test scores.

They weren't too low. They were too high. The admissions department decided that a guy with a 2.9 grade-point average couldn't have gotten a 1,260 on his SAT. So Chaney wound up going to Mississippi State. He played very well, but fractured his left leg in the first game of his senior year.

"Early on, when you're young, you say: 'Why me?' " Chaney said. "But then sometimes you say, 'Why not me?' Getting hurt my senior season, not playing. But I'm a seventh-round pick, and now I'm starting a playoff game."

It isn't fair, or even relevant, to compare Chaney to Matthews. The real issue is whether Chaney can give the Eagles the impact play they've seldom had from linebackers during the Andy Reid era. Jeremiah Trotter was the only Eagles linebacker to reach the Pro Bowl over the last 12 years.

From Quinton Caver to Matt McCoy to Gocong, the Eagles have tried to find linebackers in the draft. From Carlos Emmons to Shawn Barber to Dhani Jones, they have tried through free agency. There have been a lot more misses than hits.

It is way too soon to say whether Chaney can become a real force out there. But he can run and his instincts seem good. That seventh-round chip doesn't seem to weigh him down at all.