Are the Philadelphia Eagles anticipating a breakout year from Joe Ostman?
Should everybody keep their eyes on Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive end, Joe Ostman?
This year, the Philadelphia Eagles are a bit of a question mark for a position that they typically would be set for. It’s a good thing they brought Brandon Graham back on a three-year deal, but they also dealt away Michael Bennett to the New England Patriots and patched up his absence with Vinny Curry on a one-year deal. Getting rid of Bennett was quite significant. However, the potential loss of Chris Long could be a major bump in the road for Philly.
Chris Long can still ball. Last year, he managed to play in roughly 58-percent of the defensive snaps and notched 6.5 sacks and 23 total tackles. By the time the season wrapped up, it sure sounded like the veteran defensive end was eager to return to the Eagles in 2019 as the itch to play was still there. Unfortunately, Long wasn’t promised his already-limited role for next year, which is making him re-think his entire playing status for next year.
That leaves the Eagles with Graham and a recovering Derek Barnett as the only sure-things on the team, while Curry plays a rotational role. The Eagles have other guys on board such as Josh Sweat and the just drafted Shareef Miller, but nothing has been proven by them just yet. And as everybody keeps their focus on those guys, it sure sounds like the Eagles are optimistic about an ‘under the radar’ type of player on their roster by the name of Joe Ostman.
A lot of Ostman talks have gone down recently…
Last year, the Eagles picked up Central Michigan defensive end Joe Ostman after he went through seven rounds of the NFL Draft unpicked. Despite being projected as a sixth or seventh rounder, nobody gave Ostman a call on draft day. Maybe it was his undesirable size, or perhaps it was the fact that he had a concerning injury history. Regardless of the reason, the Eagles were gaining some praise after getting Ostman as a priority undrafted free agent.
As we know, Ostman contributed next to nothing for the Eagles in 2018. He was a practice squad player who never saw the field. But it sure sounds like the Eagles are optimistic about a potential turnaround by Ostman in 2019. During a morning interview on 94WIP Philly, Eagles’ General Manager Howie Roseman specifically namedropped Ostman while discussing Chris Long and the state of the edge rushing position.
Next. That Lane Johnson and Zach Brown beef, 2 years later. dark
“He is the classic Philadelphia player,” Roseman said regarding Ostman. WIP’s Eliot Shorr-Parks reported the Eagles are clearly ‘really high’ on Ostman. For those who have witnessed Ostman play at Central Michigan, it was shocking to see the defensive end go undrafted. Now the Eagles could potentially be looking at a pure diamond in the rough.
Seeing as though only two, maybe three defensive ends are guaranteed to have a crucial role in the rotation, there is definitely room for somebody to win over a nice handful of snaps. The more and more we hear about Chris Long’s 2018 role being gone, the more we believe the Eagles have high hopes for another player, and it doesn’t seem like it’s Josh Sweat or Shareef Miller….