Travis Long's Eagles comeback ends
Travis Long fell to the ground on a football field Tuesday, and for once, this was a good thing. The Eagles were in the midst of seven-on-seven drills during their second day of training camp, and playing outside linebacker, Long dropped back to cover a receiver, McLeod Bethel-Thompson, running a seam route. Chase Daniel threw a perfect pass to Bethel-Thompson, but Long dived, sending his 6-foot-4, 255-pound body arrow-like into the air, to bat the ball down and break up a potential completion.
Update: The Eagles released linebacker Travis Long Wednesday morning.
From Tuesday:
Travis Long fell to the ground on a football field Tuesday, and for once, this was a good thing. The Eagles were in the midst of seven-on-seven drills during their second day of training camp, and playing outside linebacker, Long dropped back to cover a receiver, McLeod Bethel-Thompson, running a seam route. Chase Daniel threw a perfect pass to Bethel-Thompson, but Long dived, sending his 6-foot-4, 255-pound body arrow-like into the air, to bat the ball down and break up a potential completion.
It was a nice play, so nice that it was easy to forget about the thick black brace that Long wore on his left knee. Long forgot about the brace, too. After the play, he trotted to the sideline, clapping his hands and slapping them against his helmet in anger.
"Got to catch that," he said later. "I got my hands on one [Monday], too. Got to catch some footballs again."
It's just another part of the game he has to work on, another step in a long road. Travis Long turned 25 on Monday, and this is his fourth training camp with the Eagles. He has never played a regular-season game for them. He had been a promising prospect at Washington State, collecting 91/2 sacks in 11 games in 2012 as a senior before he tore the right anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. The injury scared off NFL teams from drafting him, and he signed with the Eagles as a free agent, spending the 2013 season on their practice squad.
In 2014, during the Eagles' final preseason game, against the New York Jets, he sacked quarterback Tahj Boyd and heard a pop in his left knee. He didn't think much of it. When he went back onto the field for the next series, he could feel the knee shift under his weight. He had torn his left ACL. He missed the season.
He rehabilitated the knee and returned last year. During a practice early in camp at the NovaCare Complex, he was participating in a special-teams drill. He was not wearing a brace on his left knee; he had worn one throughout spring practice but had begun weaning himself off it. He planted his left foot, and his knee buckled. Another telltale pop. Another ACL tear, his third in four years.
His immediate reaction was to think about giving up. No more football. When he saw his wife, Sarah, for the first time after that third tear, he told her, I don't know if I can do this again, babe.
You can do anything you want to, she said.
What he wanted to do was try again. In January, when the rest of the Eagles went home for the offseason, Long stayed at the NovaCare Complex to rehab. After June 9, when the players left for their last break before the beginning of training camp, Long stayed again. Often, he was the only person in the weight room, lifting, running on a treadmill. When you're an injured football player, trying again is a lonely grind.
"Every time I did it, it's been different," he said. "The first time, I was like, 'Am I ever going to be able to play football again? Is anyone going to give me a chance to play football again?' Second time, it's like, 'OK, screw this. I'm getting back. I'm playing again.' The last time, it's like, '[Shoot], can I do this again?' But eventually, it all turned around, and I got my mind where it needed to be."
It is not unprecedented for an NFL player to come back from three torn ACLs. Thomas Davis, a terrific linebacker for the Carolina Panthers, did it, and he tore the same ligament, his right, three times in three years. But Davis had been an established starter when he suffered those injuries. He had gotten a taste of what it was like to suit up for an NFL team in a game that mattered.
Long hasn't, and he would like to, just once. He will have to adjust to the Eagles' new coaching staff and their new defensive coordinator, Jim Schwartz. Schwartz's predecessor, Billy Davis, used a 3-4 scheme, and the Eagles had signed Long to fit that system. But Schwartz prefers a 4-3, and the coaches don't have much film of Long to review, but he is hoping that they recognize that he is smart, a quick study.
It will not be easy. But then, Travis Long is used to that.
"I know I can play in this league," he said after practice Tuesday, the brace in a lumpy pile at his feet. "There are people who have been around me who know I can play. I just want to show everyone else I can go out there and play on Sundays. I haven't done that yet, and that's been my goal: to play on Sundays."
Everyone looks for stories in training camp - media, fans, even the coaches and players themselves. Everyone will be watching this Eagles camp to see how Doug Pederson handles himself as a first-time head coach, how Carson Wentz picks up the offense and interacts with Sam Bradford, whether any rookies show promise. These are good stories all, and they'll sustain our interest until the season begins. But if you want the best story, you may have to look somewhere else.
There, you'll find Travis Long, trying again.
@MikeSielski