Eagles Add a Pass Rusher

Enough with the pretty boys on offense.

With the 138th pick in the 2019 #NFLDraft, the #Eagles select DE Shareef Miller.#EaglesDraft | #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/9iyPqsGrI8

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) April 27, 2019

Miller is 6-4, 254. He had 14.5 sacks in his three seasons at Penn State.

Miller isn’t an explosive rusher, but he is quick off the ball. He plays with good leverage and uses a shoulder dip to get by blockers. Miller has good agility, which helps him to round the edge and close to the QB. Miller played both LDE and RDE in college. He rushed from 2-pt, 3-pt and even a 4-point stance. Solid run defender.

A little bit of what Shareef Miller can do. Hard to get around him in the run game or break away when he gets to the ball.

The speed is the big sell here. pic.twitter.com/73ToFnP8rn

— Louie DiBiase (@DiBiaseLOE) April 27, 2019

I had Miller rated as a 5th round pick, but taking him at the end of the 4th is fine with me. The Eagles brought him to Philly for a visit recently and obviously were impressed with the meeting.

Miller does need work, but he is talented enough to contribute as a rookie.

Unfortunately, this means Chris Long is done as an Eagle. Check out these tweets from earlier today.

Thanks for the tag. I mean this with no animosity, but your analysis is shortsighted. My role has been a sub rusher who plays *some* on 1st and 2nd down. That’s changed with or without the draft. I’ve also been explicitly told that my role would decrease this year.

— Chris Long (@JOEL9ONE) April 27, 2019

I’m not willing to come back and play 10-15 base plays a game. I’m overqualified and it’s a lot of sacrifice to hear the same people who tell me not to retire ask “where’s chris long, did he retire?” week 3 when I don’t have any opportunities to help the team. This isn’t crazy.

— Chris Long (@JOEL9ONE) April 27, 2019

It’s not zero. It’s not good. But I’ve always told them to assume I won’t be back, as to not hold them up. They could easily fill that purely depth position with someone else. I had a good enough year to not to be in that situation. Zero hard feelings. It’s a biz.

— Chris Long (@JOEL9ONE) April 27, 2019

So DE was more of a need than some thought.

Brandon Graham
Derek Barnett
Vinny Curry
Josh Sweat
Shareef Miller

Daeshon Hall
Joe Ostman

Solid pick by the Eagles to add a pass rusher who can help in 2019 and possibly develop into a starter down the road.

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