Eagles get corner in trade with Colts

BETHLEHEM - The Eagles didn't really need another corner, Howie Roseman acknowledged Thursday when asked how he came to trade for Kevin Thomas from Indianapolis.

But Roseman liked Thomas coming out of USC in 2010, before the Colts drafted him in the third round, and corner is one of those positions where you always look for more real players. And maybe most important, former Eagles personnel chief Ryan Grigson is the GM in Indianapolis now, and Grigson needed linebackers.

Roseman had a couple of those, former seventh-round draft picks Moise Fokou (2009) and Greg Lloyd (2011), who did not fit into the Eagles' plans. So Fokou and Lloyd now are Colts, and Thomas is now an Eagle. The Birds also got a conditional 2013 seventh-round pick.

Thomas, 6-0, 192, missed his rookie season with a knee injury. Last season he started five games for the worst team in the league. Obviously, he was drafted by a previous regime; Grigson and Co. have no investment in him.

Which doesn't begin to suggest that Thomas will make the Eagles. He faces an uphill fight against guys who have been working in Juan Castillo's defense.

"He's a big corner who can run," Roseman said. "He's played a lot of Cover 2, but we think he can go press. He's instinctive."

Lloyd spent much of last season on the practice squad and never actually played a game for the Eagles. Fokou started 22 games in 3 years, appearing in 43. He initially made an impact as a special-teams defender.