Philadelphia Eagles roundup: LeGarrette Blount, compensatory picks

LeGarrette Blount (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
LeGarrette Blount (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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The Philadelphia Eagles lose LeGarrette Blount to the Lions, but that may end up serving them well for two reasons.

Perhaps the hardest thing to digest about winning the Super Bowl might be the subsequent purge that happens as a result. This happens often in the NFL. We won’t act like the Philadelphia Eagles or their fans didn’t see this coming when we all knew there were a few guys signed to one-year deals, running back LeGarrette Blount for instance, and others who were at the end of their current deals that were looking for extensions. Sure, that has a lot to do with what we’re seeing now with player turnover, but that’s not the entire story.

Sometimes, teams on the lower in of the football totem pole look to the teams at the top of the food chain for players and coaches. Notice how both Frank Reich and John DeFilippo both left for promotions elsewhere.

Blount and everyone else leaving helps the Eagles both now and later.

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During the course of a week, the Eagles lost tight end Trey Burton, the aforementioned Blount,  cornerback Patrick Robinson, defensive tackle Beau Allen to free agency. On Friday, it became apparent they’d lose defensive end Vinny Curry as well. Those of you who have wondered about where the Eagles stood in terms of possibly being awarded compensatory picks can rest easy.

The Eagles stand a good chance of being awarded compensatory picks for the 2019 season if they continue to lose more players to free agency than they gain in return.

So far, they’ve added defensive tackle Haloti Ngata and linebacker Corey Nelson.

If Curry, kicker Caleb Sturgis, and Brent Celek sign elsewhere that would help the cause as well. If picks are awarded, placement of those picks will be determined by whether or not players lost were crucial to a team’s overall success. We at ITI discussed this the process when we published a story on the Eagles not being awarded compensatory picks for the 2018 NFL Draft.

That story includes a more thorough explanation of how the process works and can be found by clicking here. To make long stories short, losing so many of these players might benefit the Eagles in the future.