The Philadelphia Eagles announced on Sunday evening that linebacker Paul Worrilow has been released. The move doesn’t come as an overly surprising one given his recent battle with a knee injury and the signing of QB Josh McCown.
Worrilow signed a prove-it contract last offseason after a strong year in Detroit where he started eight of 13 games played. He registered 20 tackles, one pass defensed, and a fumble recovery in the process. Prior to this, he started 43 games for the team to give him his first shot in the NFL, the Atlanta Falcons. The strong special teamer suffered a torn ACL during the 2018 offseason, which forced Worrilow to miss his ‘prove-it’ year in Philadelphia. One year later, he signed a similar deal, but the fate is identical.
This does open up a huge roster battle at linebacker though. Behind Nigel Bradham and Zach Brown, depth is minimal. Kamu Grugier-Hill will miss a chunk of the regular season with a grade 3 MCL sprain, meaning at least two more linebackers will now have to make the jump.
L.J Fort
Fort has put himself in the thick of the action this preseason with two really impressive outings thus far. The 29-year old was signed by the Steelers during the 2014 offseason after spending time with the Browns, Seahawks and Bengals. It took a while for Fort to become a prominent figure on the Steelers defense, but he recorded a career-high 48 tackles, garnering the first two starts of his career, including a dominant week 17 showing against his former team, Cincinnati. Alongside recovering a fumble recovery for a touchdown in week 5, he amassed a career-high 12 tackles in the team’s week 13 loss to the Chargers.
Nate Gerry
After a wobbly preseason week one, Gerry displayed a much better version of himself against the Jaguars. Having bulked up by an extra 20 pounds this offseason, it looks as though he’s transitioning to the middle linebacker spot, but of course, his collegiate prowess as a versatile safety enables him to storm into the backfield and blow up the run, screen passes, and any kind of play designed to take advantage of open pockets of space. Gerry should have his spot solidified on the roster, but there’s one man breathing down his neck.
Alex Singleton
Singleton has been a PFF darling for the Eagles so far in preseason and it’s easy to see why. The . CFL 2017 defensive player of the year may not emerge as a three-down backer, but the beauty of nickel packages is that he doesn’t have to be. His real area of specialty is on Dave Fipp’s unit as evidenced by his preseason form in that area and his 27 special teams tackles for the Stampeders during his two-year stint in the CFL.
Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
