May 14, 2017
Last Wednesday, ESPN's Mel Kiper listed undrafted free agents from around the league, and he came up with 25 players that jumped out at him, either because he had them rated as draftable players, or because they were seemingly good fits for their new team.
Included in his list was Tyler Orlosky, a center from West Virginia who was thought of by many as a solid mid-round prospect. As Kiper notes, Orlosky was his third-ranked center.
Orlosky (6-3, 298) started 42 games in his career at West Virginia. He was my third-ranked center.
In the 2017 NFL Draft six centers were drafted:
| Player | Team | Round | Overall |
| Ethan Pocic, LSU | Seahawks | 2 | 58 |
| Pat Elflein, Ohio State | Vikings | 3 | 70 |
| J.J. Dielman, Utah | Bengals | 5 | 176 |
| Chase Roullier, Wyoming | Redskins | 6 | 199 |
| Kofi Amichia, South Florida | Packers | 6 | 212 |
| Kyle Fuller, Baylor | Texans | 7 | 243 |
Orlosky wasn't just high on Kiper's list of centers. He was also the third-ranked center (behind Pocic and Elflein in all cases) on NFL.com, CBS Sports, FOX Sports, and Sports Illustrated. In fact, PhillyVoice even profiled Orlosky way back in November in our "Grocery Shopping" series, calling him a potential fit for the Eagles in case they chose to move on from long-time starting center Jason Kelce.
As is, the Eagles' roster is loaded with centers. Kelce remains with the team, while Stefen Wisniewski signed a contract extension this past offseason, and Isaac Seumalo had an encouraging rookie season after being selected in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft.
The Eagles do clearly have a strong recent connection to West Virginia football, as they drafted RB Wendell Smallwood in 2016, followed by CB Rasul Douglas and WR Shelton Gibson in 2017. They also signed two undrafted free agents in TE Billy Brown and S Tre Sullivan from Shepherd University, which is in West Virginia. Shepherd players worked out at West Virginia's pro day.
Still, the Eagles would seemingly not be a likely team for Orlosky to choose, but here he is.
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