Wake-Up Call: Eagles To Reportedly Add OL Moffitt

In 2013, John Moffitt decided he’d had enough of the NFL.

A 2011 third-round pick by the Seahawks, Moffitt started 15 games at guard before being traded to the Broncos. In the middle of his first season with Denver, Moffitt announced he was retiring at the age of 27.

“I just really thought about it and decided I’m not happy. I’m not happy at all,” Moffitt told The Associated Press in a phone interview from Seattle. “And I think it’s really madness to risk your body, risk your well-being and risk your happiness for money.

“Everybody, they just don’t get it and they think it’s crazy. But I think what I was doing is crazy.”

Less than two years later, Moffitt has had a change of heart, and according to Ross Jones of Fox Sports, he’s signing a one-year deal with the Eagles.

From a purely on-field perspective, the move makes sense. Chip Kelly released Evan Mathis, and the team has not drafted an offensive lineman since Lane Johnson in 2013. Moffitt has experience as a starter and possesses some athleticism. He can come in and compete for a starting job with Matt Tobin, Andrew Gardner and others.

If Moffitt can’t beat those guys out, he can still serve as a backup with experience, assuming he can get back up to speed physically.

From a #culture standpoint, the move is puzzling. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has a rundown of Moffitt’s off-field transgressions:

Moffitt, 27, was arrested about 4 a.m. CDT Sunday outside a Chicago nightclub after allegedly punching a man who confronted Moffitt about selling drugs inside the club, according to numerous reports. When police cuffed him, he was reportedly in possession of 10 grams of pot, 1 gram of cocaine and four pills of ecstasy.

The former lineman has made other “dumb mistakes.”

During his time with the Seahawks, Moffitt had several run-ins at Bellevue Square, Lincoln Square and the Eastside’s other Kemper Properties, from which Moffitt was banned in early 2012. After the ban, he was arrested June 14, 2012, for allegedly urinating on a parked car near Bellevue Square mall, and was caught trespassing again that August at Lincoln Square’s Paddy Coyne’s bar.

Jay Glazer reported earlier this month that Moffitt retired initially because he had been battling drug addiction issues, not because he was tired of playing football. That’s not what Moffitt told the New York Times back in November, although in that article he did admit to going to rehab for drugs and alcohol.

Perhaps the Eagles spoke with Moffitt and believe he’s trying to get his life together. Or maybe they see this as a no-risk move that can potentially yield positive results.

Either way, assuming the move becomes official, the Eagles will have a new body competing for playing time when training camp kicks off in August.

WHAT YOU MISSED

Catching up with Lane Johnson. Can the right tackle make the leap in his third season?

“The Eagles could have given themselves leverage, but that opportunity was lost.” What the national media are saying.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

Dave Mangels of Bleeding Green Nation writes about new defensive backs coach Cory Undlin:

Cory Undlin may well be a terrific coach who, alongside three new starters, turns around the secondary. Or he could be another coach who can’t help a helpless situation. It takes more than just a coach to make a unit excel. With so many new faces, the Eagles secondary is an untested unit. With so many plays against, and with the Eagles offense being so potent, the secondary is going to once again see a lot of passes. Even with an improved rate of success, the sheer number of opportunities will skew our perceptions.

Our perceptions may already be skewed. The outgoing defensive backs were so bad that almost by default a new group must be better. But two years ago we said the same things and they weren’t. The Eagles have yet to even put on pads in practice let alone play a meaningful game. To perceive that the secondary is already better is rushing to judgment. Until then, all we have is recycled hype.

Ross Tucker of Sports On Earth offers some thoughts on Kelly:

It’s been exciting. It’s been surprising. It’s been controversial. And it’s been awesome for somebody in my business, the business of talking about the NFL.

He also is running a real-life football experiment at the NFL level, one I always wondered about as a player: Can a coach have success by getting rid of every malcontent on the roster, no matter their talent level?

It looks like we are about to find out.

COMING UP

We’ll take a look at expectations for the rookies.