Eagles Notebook: Eagles cut Alex Hall, a victim of defense-heavy draft and scheme

BETHLEHEM - Alex Hall was gone before he even got here.

That is, Eagles veterans don't report to Lehigh until this afternoon, something Hall undoubtedly was preparing for either late Tuesday night or very early yesterday morning, when he was informed he had been released so the Birds could make room on the 80-man roster to officially sign second-round pick Nate Allen.

It's not like Hall was a projected starter or anything, but given that he played 30 games the past two seasons with the Browns, and the Eagles traded for him in April (Hall and fourth- and fifth-round picks for Chris Gocong and Sheldon Brown), you expected he would at least make it into training camp and play some preseason games. The Birds were high on Hall's size (6-5, 250) and athleticism when they acquired him.

But a few weeks after that trade, the draft restocked the defensive line and the linebacking corps in a big way. The Eagles even added a guy, fifth-round rookie Rick Sapp (6-4, 252) from Clemson, who is pretty much a carbon copy of Hall, a sort-of defensive end and sort-of linebacker whose main skill is rushing the passer. The postdraft Eagles did not seem to offer nearly as good an opportunity for Hall. He might actually have a better shot at signing somewhere else now, with rosters at 80, than he would have had he been cut next month.

"Well, you obviously go through the roster and see the guys that you feel don't quite fit in to what you are doing schematically. I think Alex Hall will be a very good outside linebacker in a 3-4 front," Eagles coach Andy Reid said. "We worked him as a linebacker, and also worked him as a defensive end. After the evaluation, we just felt like his best thing would probably be a 3-4, and I think Alex can definitely play in this league and be very successful, he's just got to get into the right situation."

The Daily Todd

 

Given the confusion over exactly what is up with guard Todd Herremans' left foot, Andy Reid faced more questioning on the subject yesterday. The upshot is, because Herremans has had soreness around where he had surgery last year, the Eagles feel they need to be really careful. Even though a specialist who examined Herremans last month felt the foot was OK, such soreness can lead to bigger problems if you don't back off, as the Birds did last month, and slowly build back strength and flexibility.