It's okay to be an NFL "camp body"... just ask Jason Babin...
The big news after Kentucky Derby weekend ("I'll Have Another") and the Flyers disappointing 4-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils:
The Eagles claimed offensive tackle Thomas Welch off waivers from the St. Louis Rams on Friday.
Welch (6-7, 310) played in five games last season for the Rams and three for the New England Patriots. He also spent time on Buffalo’s practice squad. Welch was a seventh-round draft pick of the Patriots in 2011. Welch played collegiately at Vanderbilt where he was a tight end before being moved to offensive line following his redshirt season.
Thomas Welch, OT, Vanderbilt, 6-7, 310..
Born Dwayne Thomas Welch Jr. on June 19, 1987...Son of Jennifer Wallens and Dwayne Welch... Mom is realtor and environmental consultant; dad works in finance services... Mom played college basketball at Rollins (Fla.) College... Older brother pitched at Southern Illinois; older sister, Shannon, played collegiate volleyball... Honors student... Played high school with former Vanderbilt Commodore DE Richard Freeman... Welch earned his undergraduate degree in Economics in December 2009.
Now this is a typical pre-season signing that reeks of "camp body"... but not so fast...
2009 (Senior): Considered the Commodores' most gifted offensive lineman, Welch posted 11 starting assignments as a fifth-year senior despite struggling with an ankle sprain during the final six weeks of action... Switched to left tackle after starting as right tackle in 2008... Opened season in outstanding fashion, earning team's Offensive Player of the Week honor after productive efforts against Western Carolina and Mississippi State... Through first half of season, he was consistently earning "winning" blocking grade by coaches despite lack of overall production by offensive unit... Suffered ankle injury at South Carolina and was forced to sideline for encounter against Florida... Tried to play with injury against Kentucky and Tennessee, but missed much of both games... Represented offensive line on the team's team's leadership council...2008 (Junior): Put together a solid season in first year as starter on the offensive line... Started all 13 games right tackle, playing more than 90 percent of the Commodores' offensive plays during the season... Regarded as one of line's most physical players while consistently earning "winning" blocking graded from by offensive coaches... Earned team's Offensive Player of the Week award after performance against Florida, and shared the recognition with TB Jared Hawkins after the 'Dores' victory over South Carolina...
I remember the last "camp body" the Eagles brought in to shake things up back in 2009: that would be Jason Babin, who now (after a one-year hiatus in Nashville) is your starting LDE for the Philadelphia Eagles.
So with the Babin tradition in mind, I will not automatically write off Thomas Welch... Maybe he's the secret challenge ingredient to the rest of the Eagles OL to perk up? I don't know...
All I know for sure is that the signing of Welch adds intrigue to the job security profile of the 2012 Eagles OL... Maybe a swing-man job is truly up for grabs? I don't want to start rumors...but if I were King Dunlap, I'd start working on my footwork drills a little more intently this week...
That's all I've got on a dreary Flyers' Game 4 aftermath...
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Why life is awesome.... because right now the Steelers v cowboys in super bowl XIII (1979, I was 4) is on NFL network.
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Not sure if anyone has posted a link to this story on Brown.... But it was interesting, so I thought I'd post in case anyone who hadn't read it yet could take a look... http://mattwaldmanrsp.com/2012/05/06/rsp-no-huddle-series-eagles-rb-bryce-brown/
nat... one of my favorite characters ever. no matter what movie he is in now, every time i see him i think of him whisteling and walking down the street with a shot gun. Omar was bad ass!!!
Someone please explain why with two outs uncle cholly uses Kratz for his first AB all year... Maybe even EVER??? He was our BEST option in that situation... Really??? SMH
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that guy playing 2nd for the Mets looks turrible... they are lucky he didn't just cost them a run.
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un fucking believable called out on strikes and the first and last both were low... SAME pitches he called as balls on Doc... SHOCKER!!!
Good start Doc... though TBT the home plte ump was squezing him a lil bit... hope our batters get those same pitches called balls... but I ain't holding my breath waiting for fair treatment.
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Thought youse guys should see this: http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/eagles/The-myth-behind-Vicks-injuries.html
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@Blasphemizer He needs to get rid of the ball quicker at times for sure, but most of his injuries came within the pocket, the O-line was pretty craptastic in the beginning of the season last year. Hopefully Bell and Mathis are dialed in, same goes for Todd and Danny.
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Truth...Don't forget that Mudd gets a full offseason with the guys this year too... @Jerky
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Claude G gets a 1 game suspension and Cole gets 5... shameful how Philly is always treated unfairly... by the way how many games do Zimmerman get suspended for purposely throwing at Hamels? That's what I thought.
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mr. goodnews is back C. Hamels suspendid 5 games. According to Phils anouncers he may not miss a start
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@AbeLinc64 Bryce Harper is a super douche. He'll keep getting plunked until he changes his asshole attitude (grows up). Go COLE!!
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Woke up, fell out of bed
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup
And looking up I noticed I was late
Found my coat and grabbed my hat, made the bus in seconds flat
Found my way upstairs and had a smoke,Somebody spoke and I went into a dream
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@TheGreatJB99 The posters over at gcobb are pretty horrible. Not as bad as the philly.com crowd, they set the bar as low as it can possibly go. At least gcobb's members can spell and punctuate better than gcobb, sheesh, what a horrible writer.
Frenchy)) re: signing rookies below, it's the same salary cap for all the teams, however, the rookie salary pool allocation is different for different teams. For instance, Browns will have a bigger allocation than us due to the fact that they have two first rd picks
