Saturday, February 12, 2011
Posted: 5:13 p.m.
By Ray Didinger
CSNPhilly.com
The Eagles signing of defensive end Phillip Hunt says two things:
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One, they dont expect a new Collective Bargaining Agreement to be reached before the March 4 deadline so they are adding bodies while they can.
Two, they believe new defensive line coach Jim Washburn can do what he did in Tennessee, which is take other teams castoffs and turn them into productive players.
Hunt, 25, played four seasons at the University of Houston, but was not selected in the 2009 draft. He wasnt even invited to the NFL scouting combine as a senior. Hunt signed with Cleveland as a free agent but was cut during the preseason. Tryouts with the Eagles and New England went nowhere.
Hunt joined Winnipeg of the Canadian Football League and spent two seasons there. Last year, the 6-foot, 250-pound end led the CFL with 16 sacks. On Friday the Eagles announced they signed him to a three-year contract as a free agent.
It wasnt a stop-the-presses signing even though everyone knows the Eagles pass rush could use some improvement. Hunt is another undersized hand-me-down D-lineman, the kind the Eagles seem to collect like figurines each off-season. But they may have more confidenceand successdoing so now with Washburn on hand to coach them.
While in Tennessee, Washburn turned some average-looking linemen into way-above average players. The best example was Jason Babin, who kicked around the league for seven years and recorded just 2.5 sacks with the Eagles in 2009, but went to Tennessee last season and under Washburns tutelage became a Pro Bowler.
Babin had 12.5 sacks last season, third in the AFC, and he credited Washburn for much of his improvement. Thats why the Eagles hired Washburn to replace Rory Segrest who was fired as defensive line coach after the season. They hope Washburn will take players and actually make them better. Gee, what a concept.
The threat of a March lockout that will freeze rosters factors into this. If a team wants to add players they have to do it now. But the Eagles are also looking at the marriage of Washburn and Hunt as one that could grow into something more than a one paragraph short in the back of the sports section.
I went back through my 2009 draft notes and pulled my file on Hunt. I didnt consider him a blue-chip prospect, but I thought he would be drafted. I projected him as a fifth or sixth round pick. I was surprised when no one took a flier on him, although when he was not invited to the combine that should have been a hint.
He was a tweener from a program (Houston) and a conference (Conference USA) that is not highly valued by NFL scouts. He did not fit neatly into the niche of either defensive end or linebacker. He wasnt the ideal size for an end and he wasnt quick enough (4.73 speed in the 40) to project as a linebacker. So he slipped through the cracks.
I liked him for this reason: he was productive. In his four seasons at Houston (2005-08), he had more sacks than any player in college football (34.5). He also had 53 tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Say what you will about the level of competition in Conference USA, the bottom line is Hunt made a lot of plays.
Hunt hustled like crazy, he pursued down the line and made tackles all over the field. He played every down and played with great effort. Due to his lack of size, Hunt wasnt very good when it came to holding the point. Teams could engulf him in the running game and as a smallish guy that wasnt going to change in the NFL.
But I thought Hunt was worth a shot as a pass rush specialist, a guy who could fit into a nickel package and give an NFL team 12 to 15 snaps a game as a pure pass rusher and a special teams contributor. It didnt work out for him in Cleveland, but he really thrived in the CFL.
The Canadian game is well-suited to a player like Hunt. The field is wider so it works to the advantage of a smaller, faster lineman. Also, it is even more of a passing game so it is all about chasing down quarterbacks and not so much about stopping the run.
The Eagles are hoping they get lucky with Hunt in the same way the Miami Dolphins got lucky with Cameron Wake. Like Hunt, Wake was not drafted when he finished his career at Penn State in 2005. He signed with the New York Giants as a free agent but he was cut that summer.
Wake spent one year as a mortgage broker and then signed with the British Columbia Lions in 2007. Wake had two big seasons with the Lions, recording 39 sacks and earning CFL Defensive Player of the Year honors. He signed with the Dolphins in 2009 and last season he was second in the AFC with 14 sacks.
The Eagles are hopeful that Washburn can turn Hunt into a similar success story.
E-mail Ray Didinger at viewfromthehall@comcast.net
Related: Eagles and defensive end Hunt agree to contract
