The Eagles Defense put on a huge show against Indianapolis in their opening pre-season game and despite losing various players to injury and trades, they were able to stop Andrew Luck and company. One of those names missing however was Earl Wolff, but his presence..wasn’t missed.
Wolff has been battling a knee injury and ended last season on the injury reserve list. He was expected to start in the game against the Colts but apparently re-aggravated the injury during practice, seeing him sidelined. Not only that but apparently he struggled to walk at the end of a practice.
So not only are we uncertain on whether he will appear in the remaining pre-season games, but he may well require surgery and miss the opening games of the season. Wolff is expected to consult Dr. James Andrews within the coming days.
The fifth-round pick from 2013 once had a huge amount of potential. Whilst he was hardly built like the Hulk, he was incredibly athletic who could at times emulate energy levels close to that of Brian Dawkins. 45 tackles in 2013 saw a rookie season of success, but then the cartilage issue began to hamper his career.
After rehabbing his knee however, there looked to be a public disagreement with Chip kelly about how ready Wolff was following his micro-surgery. He has spent most of this off-season just stretching and avoiding any team action in training camp.
But if things weren’t looking dark enough, his spot could well be in jeopardy if the game was anything to go by. Ed Reynolds spent all of last season in the practice squad and exploded onto Lincoln Financial Field. Two interceptions and three pass breakups saw Reynolds catch the attention of not only Chip Kelly but every single fan in attendance. He provided excellent coverage all game long, contributed to special teams and appeared to fit right in with the new look Defense.
Reynolds has looked good in camp and we perhaps only saw a glimmer of what’s to come. He established a reputation at Stanford for being nothing but a ball-hawk, racking up six interceptions in his junior year..returning six for touchdowns.
It’s early days yet, but there are limited options at Safety as it is for the Eagles right now, with Earl Wolff potentially missing pre-season or more and Jerome Couplin recovering from an appendectomy, the stage belongs to Ed Reynolds.
He opened his act and gripped the audience, now he needs to keep their attention throughout the set. The encore; a spot on the final 53 man roster.
Wolff is now surrounded by safeties who have taken more reps with the new look Defense, now have game experience under their belt and are almost a fresh start. Chip Kelly has done anything but reassure Wolff and despite being told he can push his knee, Kelly has been insistent that he do avoid contact drills etc. It’s that lack of faith that highlights Kelly’s attitudes towards him. The question is, will the Eagles trade Wolff or will he be kept on the team for depth at a position that is still relatively low on population?
