During yesterday’s training camp session, the second of the Summer, Outside Linebacker Travis Long went down with a torn ACL, his second in as many seasons. While Long isn’t one of the most important players on this team, this injury has me concerned for two reasons.
First, the injury now stretches thin a position that was already lacking depth. With Connor Barwin getting his first pro bowl nod this past season, and Brandon Graham resigning with the team in the offseason, the starting linebackers have been decided since before the Birds even broke camp. Everything outside of the starters however, has been kind of up in the air.
Outside linebacker is a position the Eagles did not really address through free agency or the draft, they resigned Graham but thats about it. With Long injured, former first round pick Marcus Smith is now the primary back up and that is BAAAAAAAAAAD.
Smith left a lot to be desired in his rookie season mostly because he didn’t play at all during his rookie season, he did highlight some incredible bench warming ability. Of every player taken in the first round of last year’s draft, Smith played the fewest amount of snaps among any uninjured player. He was also viewed as the draft’s most overdrafted player as he was projected by most as a second round pick, and by some as a third round pick. Marcus Smith was even a healthy scratch for more than one game.
Jimmy Kempski of Phillyvoice.com described Smith’s rookie season perfectly on twitter today tweeting, “It shows how bad a rookie season Marcus Smith had when there’s genuine concern about losing a player who has never appeared in an NFL game.” that player who has never appeared in an NFL game is Travis Long. There was already more faith in Long, a player who has never player a single down of professional football, than in Marcus Smith, a player who has actually played a few snaps. But then again, that was part of the reason why there was more faith in Long, Marcus Smith kind of blew dick whenever he touched the field.
But once you hit rock bottom, theres no where to go but up! Marcus Smith can still become a respectable pro. There were report that Smith had bulked up in the offseason and was looking bigger come OTAs. Now with that said, some people compared Smith’s muscle mass to that of a high school athlete during training camp last year, so him getting bigger might just mean he went from nothing to barely something.
A lot will now hinge of Smith’s development because Brandon Graham has been used as a situational pass rusher for the majority of his career. Graham has yet to play an entire season receiving the lion’s share of the snaps, so getting him a few breathers during games may be important.
Chip Kelly addressed the situation today, saying that inside linebacker Brad Jones, who the Eagles signed this offseason, would bounce outside and provide some much needed depth. while this solution is simple enough, Jones has experience playing on the outside, that was his original position with the Packer before they moved him inside, I’m just not sure if its the best solution. While the Eagles have already nixed this idea, the concept of Kiko Alonso taking some snaps outside seems best to me, now I’m not suggesting a full on position switch, just the idea of rotating the linebackers where Kiko would bump outside to give Graham a breather every so often. Honestly, I’m surprised Chip was so quick to remove the idea from everyone’s heads, Alonso has already made himself known as one of the best cover linebacker in the NFL in his young career and Chip even said that he believes Kiko has ability as an edge rusher.
But while we’re on the topic of Kiko, that brings me to my second concern, Chip’s sports science program.
There’s been a lot of fuss made about Chip Kelly’s sport science program this offseason, with the acquisitions of Sam Bradford and Kiko Alonso, two players coming off recent ACL tears who also have histories with the injury, people questioned the program’s ability to get these players back to peak shape. I do trust what Chip is doing an all, but this injury to Travis Long’s ACL now has me questioning the legitimacy of Chip Kelly’s sport science program as well.
When two of the marquee players your team picks up in the offseason are coming off sever injury, you need to be sure beyond the shadow of a doubt that they can come back and preform to the best of their ability. Now Long is a player who is on this team to provide depth and thats about it, a lot less was expected of him this season compared to that of Bradford and Alonso, so the team may be doing specialized rehabilitation routines with the two of them that they didn’t with Long, so I’m just gonna have to give the team the benefit of the doubt.
What this injury really goes to show is that there’s no exact science for 100% rehab of an injury, the risk of reinjury is always present. So if I’m the Eagles, I’m gonna be keeping an extra close eye on the knees of our offense’s and our defense’s quarterbacks.
Snowballs & Batteries 