First Down? DeMeco Ryans. Second Down? DeMeco Ryans. Third Down…

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That's his name, so don't want to wear it out -- especially before one real game has been played.

The
hope was that DeMeco Ryans would come over from the Houston Texans and
stabilize a linebacker corps that was woefully in over their heads just a
season ago. Unfairly or not, his arrival has been met with mixed
reviews thus far -- I'll go on the record as siding with "unfairly."
Nonetheless, the seventh-year veteran's athleticism has been called into
question since an Achilles injury struck in 2010, and the idea he is
still a three-down player is exactly that: an idea.

An idea that
is one step closer to fiction after practice on Thursday, where Jamar
Chaney reportedly took most of the snaps in nickel packages for the
Eagles. We have no way of knowing what the plan actually is until
Sunday, but it sounds an awful lot like the coaches intend to dip into
their depth quite a bit, further supporting the storyline Ryans might
not be the cure-all we had hoped.

For those of you waiting for
Kulp Spadaro to somehow spin this development into a positive, I'm not
going to do that. Upon sending a fourth-round pick to Houston to acquire
Ryans during the offseason, the Eagles declared a three-down linebacker
was bringing his talents to Philadelphia. With the regular season
suddenly upon us, the coaching staff has suggested they are not so
comfortable with Ryans in coverage.

It's not very difficult to
see where they are coming from, either. Learning a new system or not,
Ryans doesn't look particularly speedy. For whatever it's worth, he
didn't make a single outstanding play in coverage during the preseason.
Heck, part of the reason the Texans sent him here was because they
weren't using him on passing downs, so none of this should come as
terribly surprising.

But does this latest development mean
trading for Ryans was a misstep? Even assuming coverage could be a
problem, many have expected "more" from a two-time Pro Bowler. While it
is true his body of work has been more than that of a merely adequate linebacker, his
status as a superstar may have been vastly overblown.

Ryans was never
an amazing athlete, nor was he an incredible playmaker. Just look at the
stats. He didn't do anything special in coverage. He wasn't remarkable
rushing the passer. Yet whatever it is he did, he was widely considered
one of the better linebackers in the NFL.

My opinion is once the
real thing finally gets started, fans will be happy with Ryans. For all
the talk of expectations, few seem to truly understand what the Eagles
have brought in to the middle of their defense -- a leader, physically
imposing, who understands his role and will demonstrate how to tackle.

DeMeco Ryans as a three-down linebacker? Eh... we'll see. As a major upgrade over what the Eagles had a year ago? Duh.

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