Babin Plays Important Role as Replacement Defender

To many passionate Eagle fans, the name of Jason Babin sounds familiar. However, when presented with the name, most “league-wide” fans and followers of other teams have trouble coming up with a description or even brief summary of the guy and his career. Hopefully at least a few of those unaware of Babin noticed him last night, when the backup Defensive End rotated as an injury replacement starter against the Redskins and played a quietly important role on the aggressive Philadelphia defense.

Because typical starter Victor Abiamiri was held out of the game with a sprained knee, the Eagles were forced to play Week 7 with arguably only one dominant starting DE, in Trent Cole. However, in the absence of Abiamiri, the team decided to run a rotation of several backups, which included veterans Darren Howard, Chris Clemons, Juqua Parker, and Babin (pictured). After reading that list, you might expect to hear that Howard–being a former Pro-Bowler and battle-tested player on this team–was the primary player in the rotation, or perhaps Parker, who was the prime competitor in the offseason for one of the two DE spots. However, it was Babin who saw the majority of snaps at the position after being nailed to the bench with the inactive tag for all but one of the Eagles’ first five games.

Originally added by the team in Training Camp as an emergency Linebacker because of the Stewart Bradley season-ending injury, Babin was able to transition to his natural Defensive End spot as Camp progressed, and played with determination leading up to the preseason. However, his run of aggressiveness to make the team didn’t end here, as he played phenomenally in the exhibition games, notching sacks left and right and playing through every whistle. His hard work and fight earned him a final roster spot, but, as said at the start of the article, was stuck at the bottom of the DE depth chart for the beginning of the season.

In a way, the injury to Abiamiri may have saved Babin’s future with the team. If he hadn’t played, there may have been little chances in the remainder of the season to display his talent and prove his worth on the squad, especially since they rewarded him with a restructured contract prior to the season because of his great preseason performances. Against the Redskins, his intensity was plenty visible. Despite only racking up a trio of tackles, the former Texan, Seahawk and Chief also managed to sack the Quarterback and place pressure on the Redskin offense frequently throughout the contest.

Of course, it is likely that Jason Babin will return to a reserve role as soon as Abiamiri is healthy, but for the time being, the 6th-year player is deserving of some respect. The least the staff could’ve gotten out of his performance vs. the ‘Skins was the fact that he is capable of stepping in as a starter in future situations.