Philadelphia Eagles: Has Dannell Ellerbe taken over at middle linebacker?
It appears Danell Ellerbe may have earned himself some playing time with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Just a little two weeks prior to Thanksgiving, the Philadelphia Eagles signed linebacker Dannell Ellerbe. It was a moved that turned a few heads seeing as how, for the second time in three years, starting middle linebacker Jordan Hicks‘ season ended with quite a few regular season games remaining on the regualr-season schedule. Still, seeing as how the Eagles were Ellerbe’s fourth team since entering the league in 2009, everyone knew he’d need time to get acclimated.
A little over a month later, he’s playing on Monday Night Football and in on 27 plays, 39 percent of the total snaps on defense, and former seventh-round selection Joe Walker was placed on the team’s inactive list. What stands out even more is Walker was placed on said list despite being healthy.
It isn’t a move that went unnoticed by the Philly media or the Eagles faithful. The question now is has Ellerbe taken over at starting middle linebacker?
What are we to gain from this?
Both Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich and defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz met with the media two days after Christmas. As you’d expect everyone wanted and answer on this particular subject.
Schwartz had this to say.
"It’s probably the way we’re leaning going forward. He’s done things we liked. It wasn’t an overnight thing getting him in there. He’s worked really hard at it, and I think it showed in the game. He’s tough, a good inside run defender, uses his hands well, and he’s active. He stepped up and made a big tackle for loss in that game. Just like any other player, he’s still got a long way to go, but I like the way he’s trending and think that he can help us going forward."
Philly spends a ton of time in their ‘nickel’ set, seeing as how most teams use a lot of three-wide receiver packages on offense. When that’s the case, the Eagles will feature Nigel Bradham and Mychal Kendricks, and typically, that’s led to great results. Ellerbe won’t be snatching any on-field time from either of them, but for now, it appears we have our answer.
It appears Dannell Ellerbe has taken over at middle linebacker.