Frank the Tank

Sure he looks semi-retarded in this picture, but Torrance "Tank" Daniels had a great football nickname and, more importantly in the Eagles' current LB scheme of things had more size and team experience than just about anyone else left on the defensive roster. So it came as a big surprise that he follows fellow Eagle veteran LB Jeremiah Trotter out the door on the last round of roster cuts. Indeed, Daniels initially appeared to be the big winner in the Trotter whacking two weeks ago. At 6'3" 248 lbs., he had the requisite size to sub for Gaither, perhaps even platoon with Gaither, at MLB with Trotter out of the way.

His waiving means that rookie Stewart Bradley is now the backup at both strongside and middle LB. And some guy named Akeem Jordan is the 3rd stringer at both positions behind Bradley (though we wonder about that MLB depth chart since Jordan is 10 lbs lighter than Gaither!).

The mind reels at all of the ramifications. Daniels must not have been very good, all his time on the practice squad notwithstanding. Indeed, he joins an long list of practice squad LBs that were being groomed to replace Trotter but couldn't make the plays when the games were for real. Mike Labinjo and Greg Richmond anyone?

The coaches must be very, very high on Stewart Bradley. Were the LBs so bad last year that the three positions will see 3 new starters and 2 new backups? They are placing an awful lot of faith in Gaither and Gocong with no safety net or plan B if they stumble. And thinking of how confident the Reid brain trust was of Matt McCoy at this time last year, that prospect should make any Eagle fan nervous. Speaking of which, if the LBs were so bad that they jettisoned Trotter, Jones, and Daniels, moved Gaither and brought in Spikes, how is it that Matt McCoy is still on the team?!