Eagles rumors: Initial source of false Derrick Henry trade report explains himself

Remember when we woke up to that tweet informing us that the Philadelphia Eagles were landing Derrick Henry and this was a done deal? We haven't heard much from the source since. That tends to happen if you state something on social media, and you miss the mark. Whether fair or unfair, you're emblazoned with Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'scarlet letter' for the remainder of your days.

Well, the original source was recently seen in the public sphere. He visited one of the most popular shows on The Roku Channel, The Rich Eisen Show. Even had we not watched this live, we would have been willing to wager cold hard cash that good old Rich was going to ask him about this one.

Akbar Gbaja-Biamila still stands by his initial report that the Eagles were in line to land Derrick Henry ahead of the NFL Draft.

Akbar Gbaja-Biamila's post-NFL life hasn't been shabby. He is a co-host and commentator on American Ninja Warrior and one of the co-hosts on CBS' The Talk. In Eagles-centered circles, people are more interested in him blowing the Derrick Henry news though. Here's what he said in reference to that and a clip of his and Matt Iseman's full interview below. Credit The Rich Eisen Show's YouTube channel for the clip. Fast forward to the 9:30 mark for the audio.

"I (was) trying to earn my blue checkmark back after Elon (Musk) took it away. I had a very credible source, and I do believe that I actually messed up this trade because this wasn't supposed to come out. And so, I didn't realize that, A, anybody would be paying attention, and, B, I didn't think that I wasn't supposed to say it. So, I just said, hey, I wasn't trying to compete with Ian Rapoport and all of the other guys... "

Here's more of what he said on the subject. No friends, he didn't walk his comments back. He doubled down.

"Let me tell you something. Howie Roseman could have made it happen. We saw what he did with (the Jalen Hurts deal). He made that work, right? We saw what he did with A.J. Brown. He made that work. This could have happened, but because I got out ahead of it and it just blew up, I just kind of blew up the scene. It didn't happen, but it could still happen. Here's why I haven't taken it down. I felt like, to be honest with you, I blew this one. This didn't happen the way it was supposed to. I should have taken it down, but in my heart, because the source was credible... (points to Rich) You know the source. This is a name you see all of the time."

We understand that much of what he said won't be acceptable. Again, the general public can be unforgiving. Let's try and be fair. Think about a few things if you will.

Looking back, the Philadelphia Eagles were obviously looking for a running back on the trade market at draft time. That's why D'Andre Swift is in Philadelphia, so there could have been something to what Gbaja-Biamila was saying.

It is probably unfair to give him a hard time. He even took the time to apologize for the misinformation, but he stands by his report. His quote was "he wasn't wrong" but "stands corrected". That's respectable. After all, as a former player in the NFL, he most certainly has a list of sources he trusts. He also wouldn't have earned the opportunities he has been given had he not been credible.

On the other hand, it is doubtful the Eagles and Titans would have aborted a trade simply because he posted a tweet. Perhaps other things were at play. Maybe Tennessee's asking price was too high. You have to remember that they were fleeced out of A.J. Brown during the 2022 NFL Draft. It appears we'll never know everything about what happened, and truthfully, none of us really care, right?

Even if this was a possibility and things did fall apart, let's give Gbaja-Biamila the benefit of the doubt. It seems highly unlikely that he would have brought this type of backlash on himself had he not been informed of this from somewhere.