August 04, 2015
The Eagles announced last night that Travis Long tore his ACL during practice on Monday. That would be Long's third ACL tear in four years, and his second in the last calendar year. He is done for the season.
Long was going to make the final 53-man roster a year ago if he hadn't torn his ACL just before the start of the season.
"Travis is playing outside right now and doing a really good job," Chip Kelly said during a press conference at OTAs back in June. "We're really excited about him. We were excited about him last year. Obviously, he got hurt late in the preseason, but if he wasn't hurt, he would have made our team last year. So he's really right back to where he was. He’s really contributing well on special teams and he's making a push toward outside linebacker right now."
The Eagles are loaded with depth at inside linebacker, but they lack depth on the edge at outside linebacker. The starters will, of course, be Connor Barwin and Brandon Graham, but beyond them, the cupboard is nearly bare. Marcus Smith spent time both at OLB and ILB a year ago, but he only played 74 snaps on the season and did not record a single tackle. Unless the Eagles add someone, Smith is probably the next man up if Barwin or Graham went down. Then there's Bryan Braman, who is a very good special teams player, but has not been a contributor in the regular defense at any point during his four-year NFL career.
Long last played a meaningful game in 2012 at Washington State, a year in which he had 9.5 sacks. It speaks to the Eagles' depth at OLB that Long's injury is getting the attention it has gotten. It also shows how bad a rookie season Smith had when there's genuine concern about losing a player in Long who has never appeared in an NFL game.
Long was among a few players with versatility to play both inside linebacker and outside linebacker. Smith, Brad Jones, and Emmanuel Acho are others who the Eagles have given work to at both spots, and there's an argument to be made that Mychal Kendricks has the skill set (although certainly not the size) to contribute in some ways on the outside as well.
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