New Article Posted

An early look at ATL/PHI.

http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/news/Story.asp?story_id=16468

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COUPLE OF NEW PLAYERS

The Eagles added FB Kyle Eckel to the roster and G Nevin McCaskill to the Practice Squad. Sadly, JR Reed was cut.

Eckel was a really good FB at Navy. However, he was much more of a runner than a blocker. Here are his college stats:

http://web1.ncaa.org/d1mfb/playerDetail.jsp?yr=2004&org=726&player=32

Kyle has played with NE and the Dolphins off and on since 2005. He has enough talent to play in the league, but obviously isn't such a good player that anyone felt compelled to keep him. He's not great in any area. Kyle isn't huge. He isn't a great blocker. He's not a great athlete or receiver. Kyle only has one career catch.

The Eagles are going to leave Dan Klecko at FB for now. Eckel will be worked into things. We could see an interesting lineup near the goal line with Klecko blocking for Eckel the runner. Of course, that would require that both guys are active and I don't know how likely that is.

McCaskill (6'4, 292) played LT at Hampton. I don't have extensive notes on him from his days at HU. Nevin didn't have the footwork I thought a good T prospect needed. The Eagles have a habit of taking guys who played OT in college and putting them all over the OL. They especially love LTs.

Herremans, Jamaal, Nick Cole, and Mike McGlynn all started at T in college. Max started off at OT before shifting inside. Obviously Tra and Jon played outside in college.

I hate to see JR Reed go. He is such a good guy and you want him to make it. The NFL has plenty of jerks and lazy guys who don't appreciate how lucky they are. JR fought to keep his job by working his tail off. Unfortunately he only had 3 tackles this year on STs. If you keep a guy to primarily play on STs he has to standout. JR wasn't doing that. I wish him the best of luck and hope he lands with another team. He's the kind of player you can be proud to have playing for your organization.
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