Gocong Gets a Tryout With the Eagles

Former Eagles third-round pick Chris Gocong will be back in Philadelphia this weekend for a tryout, according to the team.

Gocong (6-2, 263) ruptured his right Achilles’ during training camp last summer and missed the entire season. He was a 16-game starter for the Browns in 2010 and 2011.

Gocong, 29, has played multiple positions in multiple schemes over the years. Most recently, he was on the field for 80.6 percent of Cleveland’s defensive snaps in 2011 (according to Pro Football Focus) as a 4-3 WILL linebacker. Gocong finished the year with 3.5 sacks and a pair of forced fumbles.

In 2010, he played 90 percent of the Browns’ snaps and had a pair of sacks as a 3-4 inside linebacker. That year, he dropped back into coverage 68 percent of the time on passing downs. In 2011, that number was 71.4 percent. In other words, he wasn’t used as an edge rusher either year.

New Eagles defensive coordinator Bill Davis coached Gocong in 2011 and 2012.

Gocong spent his first three seasons in the league with the Eagles before they shipped him to Cleveland along with Sheldon Brown in exchange for linebacker Alex Hall, a fourth-round pick and a fifth-round pick. He appeared in 47 games with the Birds from 2007 to 2009 and started 35 of them, playing primarily the SAM position in a 4-3.

Tryouts are different from spots on the 90-man roster. Gocong and a host of other players will participate in this weekend’s rookie camp, but he is guaranteed nothing beyond Sunday.

Here’s the full list of participants in this weekend’s camp. Bold indicates a spot on the 90-man roster. The rest are tryouts.

QBs: Matt Barkley (USC), GJ Kinne (Tulsa).

RBs: Montel Harris (Temple), Miguel Maysonet (Stony Brook), Matthew Tucker (TCU).

WRs: B.J. Cunningham (Michigan State), Ifeanyi Momah (Boston College), Will Murphy (Oregon), Russell Shepard (LSU), Isaiah Voegeli (Merrimack).

TEs: Derek Carrier (Beloit), Zach Ertz (Stanford), Will Shaw (Youngstown State)

OL: Nick Carlson (Wyoming), Lane Johnson (Oklahoma), Alfred McCullough (Alabama), Nic Purcell (Golden West Community College), Kyle Quinn (Arizona), Matt Reynolds (BYU), Matt Tobin (Iowa), Devin Tyler (Temple).

DL: David King (Oklahoma), Joe Kruger (Utah), Bennie Logan (LSU), Isaac Remington (Oregon), Damion Square (Alabama), Daryell Walker (Hampton).

LBs: Matt Evans (New Hampshire), Chris Gocong (Cal Poly), Marcus Green (Temple), Jake Knott (Iowa State), John Lyon (Harvard), Pete Massaro (Penn State), Gerald McRath (Southern Mississippi).

CBs: Anthony Boyles (Idaho State), Cam Chism (Maryland), Jordan Poyer (Oregon State), Eddie Whitley (Virginia Tech).

Safeties: Dontra Peters (New Hampshire), Kenny Tate (Maryland), Earl Wolff (N.C. State).

Punter: Brad Wing (LSU).

Follow Sheil Kapadia on Twitter and e-mail him at skapadia@phillymag.com.
Become a fan of Birds 24/7 on Facebook.