Eagles Release DE/LB Alex Hall

by Bob_Q on Jul 28, 2010 8:44 AM EDT in Philadelphia Eagles News

Earlier this morning, the Eagles announced that they had released DE/LB Alex Hall to make room for the newly-signed Nate Allen on the 80-man training camp roster. If you remember, Hall was the player acquired from the Cleveland Browns in the Sheldon Brown/Chris Gocong trade, wherein the Eagles also netted a fourth and fifth round draft pick in 2010. Those picks fittingly turned into CB Trevard Lindley and DE/LB Ricky Sapp.

In other words, if you boil it down, the Eagles swapped longtime (albeit disgruntled) starter Sheldon Brown and fringe starter Chris Gocong for two rookies in the same position. Let's hope they can fill the shoes of their predecessors, or this deal is going to look pretty foolish.

[Note by JasonB, 07/28/10 1:52 PM EDT ] Quote from Andy Reid on Hall's release.

"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. 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."

More analysis after the jump.

Reposted from SB Nation Philly

When the trade actually went down we had speculated at BGN that Hall & Gocong were more or less throw ins that canceled each other out. Both were very athletic project type players that each team had given up on, but figured a change of scenery or system might do the trick for them.

Whether it was worth trading Sheldon Brown in the first place is up for debate, but when the trade went down we actually figured his worth to be right around a 4th rounder. So even with Hall’s release, the Eagles still got fair market value. Did they replace him adequately though? That remains to be seen.

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Really? Maybe cause I’m a negative nancy but I see this as giving up Sheldon for a 4th and Gocong for a 5th or Gocong for Sapp and Lindley for Brown. Seems wasted. I know the defensive talent was minimal on the Browns but we couldn’t get somebody who might’ve actually made the damn roster?

"I will never have my best season," Brian Dawkins

"There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." Bruce Lee

"This fucking game is over!" Chuck Bednarik

"Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth" Mike Tyson

by Talon Talent on Jul 28, 2010 8:52 AM EDT reply actions

I know the defensive talent was minimal on the Browns but we couldn’t get somebody who might’ve actually made the damn roster?

…or at least the 80-man roster.

Formerly Bye, Dawk :(

by JimmyK on Jul 28, 2010 9:01 AM EDT up reply actions

HA!

don’t remember who but I told them that this guy wouldn’t make the team!

by MightyJoeBanner on Jul 28, 2010 11:14 AM EDT up reply actions

lol. Probably me. I had hopes.

"I will never have my best season," Brian Dawkins

"There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." Bruce Lee

"This fucking game is over!" Chuck Bednarik

"Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth" Mike Tyson

by Talon Talent on Jul 28, 2010 9:42 PM EDT up reply actions

I thought they did good to find a suiter for Gocong.

We was gonna get released. This was before the draft, so if we held him to after the draft, we wouldn’t have gotten a thing for him. So the deal is more for Sheldon than for Chris.

In Kolb we trust

by yophillybro on Jul 28, 2010 8:55 AM EDT reply actions

the 5th wasn't used on sapp

the 5th they got from the browns was traded to the lions in exchange for Ernie Sims.

So the trade is really Lindley and Sims for Gocong and Brown. I am happy with that

by PierrEagles on Jul 28, 2010 9:01 AM EDT reply actions

to prove it

if you look on nfl.com you will find this:

15 (146) Chargers (From Broncos through Lions, Browns and Eagles)

I am pretty sure that is the pick that was traded around, not entirely sure, but it seems to make the most sense

by PierrEagles on Jul 28, 2010 9:04 AM EDT up reply actions

the pick we got sapp

was the 3rd overall pick in the 5th round, which i believe was the buccaneers original pick, but that also came to us through the browns….now my head is hurtiing…..OWWWWWW

by PierrEagles on Jul 28, 2010 9:06 AM EDT up reply actions

Did we get tested after spending that pick…. Did we atleast use protection? Seems to me that the way it got passed around it may have ended up with an STD.

Hey Dez, it's 2am do you know where your mother is?

by sowhatifitisasportste on Jul 28, 2010 9:34 AM EDT up reply actions

Considering it was the Browns we could have also gotten a Staph infection.

Let the beasting begin.

by TransplantedFan on Jul 28, 2010 10:20 AM EDT up reply actions

oh, well then I am not as mad. I still think including this guy in the trade when we could of maybe got someone else with a more realistic chance of making the roster (say a DB) is still irritating. But yeah getting Sims should pay major dividends so now I can be a little less bewildered.

"I will never have my best season," Brian Dawkins

"There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." Bruce Lee

"This fucking game is over!" Chuck Bednarik

"Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth" Mike Tyson

by Talon Talent on Jul 28, 2010 9:09 AM EDT up reply actions

Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t Alex Hall a Phil Savage guy? I seem to remember reading some article that talked about how high Savage was on Hall and thats why he got thrown into the trade.

Let the beasting begin.

by TransplantedFan on Jul 28, 2010 10:21 AM EDT up reply actions

I sorta remember the same thing.

@philatticus on Twitter

by Dylan Marck on Jul 28, 2010 10:24 AM EDT up reply actions

I think I remember a Peter King fluff bit from his MMQB column where he talked about how Savage never got to scout him until he was in the area and just set some road cones down and made Hall do a bunch of drills.

Let the beasting begin.

by TransplantedFan on Jul 28, 2010 11:52 AM EDT up reply actions

Someone asked Geoff Mosher that same question this morning

He confirmed that that was the 5th rounder we used on Sapp…for what it’s worth.

by Bob_Q on Jul 28, 2010 9:48 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions

well now I’m irritated again. Time for bed.

"I will never have my best season," Brian Dawkins

"There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." Bruce Lee

"This fucking game is over!" Chuck Bednarik

"Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth" Mike Tyson

by Talon Talent on Jul 28, 2010 9:50 AM EDT up reply actions

Good trade IF...

Sapp and Lindley make the 53 and are active on gamedays. Only because they’re younger, cheaper players that we can mold for the future.

But if one or both get cut then this trade is beyond foolish.

by Smitty2K3 on Jul 28, 2010 9:19 AM EDT reply actions

good trade regardless

we made a move to try and find new younger talent. We were done with those guys anyway. Whay not try and get something extra out of them?

by MightyJoeBanner on Jul 28, 2010 3:30 PM EDT up reply actions

You know, if I put on my rosey-shaded goggles and pretended that Sheldon didn’t give up monster plays at the end of the season, I’d be really pissed.

But alas, said goggles are nowhere to be found, so I’m left in a slightly “wtf” outlook.

@philatticus on Twitter

by Dylan Marck on Jul 28, 2010 9:20 AM EDT reply actions

all you got to do is retrace your steps. It’s like finding your keys. Have you checked your glove box? How about the freezer? (weird shit ends up in there…that’s what she said) Then when you find them put one of those alarms on them so you can find them if you misplace them again.

"I will never have my best season," Brian Dawkins

"There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." Bruce Lee

"This fucking game is over!" Chuck Bednarik

"Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth" Mike Tyson

by Talon Talent on Jul 28, 2010 9:25 AM EDT up reply actions

lol…maybe get an app for my iphone so that I can always keep track of my optimistic/pessimistic vision filters?

@philatticus on Twitter

by Dylan Marck on Jul 28, 2010 9:38 AM EDT up reply actions

It was hilarious to hear the Eagles try to hype up Hall when this trade went down even though he had troubling staying on the field with the Browns’ defense. Places even more pressure on Fokou. For all of the bodies the Eagles have in camp at the LB, I still am not sold on this being anything more than an average group overall. Improved from last season just from the fact that Bradley will be back and Sims likely give them an upgrade at WLB.

This was a salary dump and an attempt to get younger. Have to see how it plays out over the next 2 years. At the least, you should get at least one guy who is a real contributor.

by MG77 on Jul 28, 2010 9:43 AM EDT reply actions

I don’t see why we even need to make comparisons. Sheldon wasn’t happy, Gocong was getting cut, and we turned them both into a 4th and 5th round pick.

Alex Hall was a camp body that came with the recommendation from a former Brown who drafted him. Andy took his chances with Alex Hall and gave him a look. Clearly we drafted better camp bodies with our 13 picks.

by Clyde Simmons on Jul 28, 2010 10:27 AM EDT reply actions 6 recs

I thought about creating new accounts just so I could rec this until it turned green.

They call me The Professor.

by Whodie126 on Jul 28, 2010 10:30 AM EDT up reply actions

we turned them both into a 4th and 5th round pick.

Though my initial reaction to this piece was an eyeroll and lots of mumbled 4 letter words you have a very good point. Sure we all had dreams of getting a third, maybe even a second somehow, for Sheldon but what we ended up getting in return was fine.

How we (IMO) wasted the picks once we got our hands on them is a whole other topic for discussion. The team is once again trying to force square pegs into round holes while there were still much better options on the board (Edds, Hernandez, Mesko, AOA, hell even Bruce Campbell).

VOID!!!

by dt3 on Jul 28, 2010 11:44 AM EDT up reply actions

And also cap room

Nope.

by bigmeanie08 on Jul 28, 2010 12:15 PM EDT up reply actions

For when? Not this year…

@philatticus on Twitter

by Dylan Marck on Jul 28, 2010 12:22 PM EDT up reply actions

“Clearly we drafted better camp bodies with our 13 picks.”

How could you possibly come to this conclusion without seeing how guys actually look in practice and a few preseason games? Sapp might not even play this year if they put him on PUP list/IR.

Who actually is the backup at SAM?

by MG77 on Jul 28, 2010 12:35 PM EDT up reply actions

Keenan Clayton, Akeem Jordan, and Omar Gaither

by The Legend on Jul 28, 2010 1:08 PM EDT up reply actions

Well said

Hey Dez, it's 2am do you know where your mother is?

by sowhatifitisasportste on Jul 28, 2010 4:20 PM EDT up reply actions

This is surprising in that

Hall is someone we invested something in, so he must have shown VERY little to not even make it to the start of camp. There wasn’t a single camp body the Eagles valued less at this point? Pretty telling that he didn’t even have a chance … Andy likes to cut guys early in that case to see if they can catch on somewhere else.

Maybe we didn’t expect to come out of the draft with Clayton, Chaney and Sapp & therefore Hall became expendable?

I agree with MG & Clyde that there’s probably not much sense in analyzing this as a 3-for-2 trade. Gocong’s time was up here and Sheldon didn’t fit with the youth movement/cap dump theme of the offseason. I think they were looking for someone to pay him to do right by him.

I’ve always hated the practice of giving up established starters for second-(now third) day picks. But in this case view it as part of the overall offseason purge. Sheldon especially might be better in 2010 than what we have but the Birds are on a long-term plan here and he wasn’t in it

Secretary of State for BGN aka "Most diplomatic man on this site," as appointed by Talon Talent
Still waiting for the Eagles to Bring It Home For Jerome

by D3Keith on Jul 28, 2010 10:41 AM EDT via mobile reply actions

Maybe we didn’t expect to come out of the draft with Clayton, Chaney and Sapp & therefore Hall became expendable?

Very possible. In fact, the Eagles are on record as saying that they couldn’t pass on Sapp considering where he fell to, and they didn’t expect Chaney to be sitting there in the 7th, so they actually traded a pick next year to get him. These were guys they likely weren’t targeting, but wound up with because of their value in the later rounds. Perhaps they just needed to see a little bit of Chaney, Sapp, Clayton, etc before they felt comfortable cutting bait with Hall, and giving him a chance to have a full camp elsewhere.

Formerly Bye, Dawk :(

by JimmyK on Jul 28, 2010 10:48 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

Any Conditions?

Did we at least put an “if this guy gets cut really, you owe us an 8th in 2011”.. or “a pat on the back, and sincere sorry”. Can we at least keep him long enough to clean my car? Something? Well hopefully Sapp & Lindley do something.

by Sparki on Jul 28, 2010 11:45 AM EDT reply actions

I don’t think they look foolish in this trade because they release Hall but that could be because I thought that he didn’t stand much of a chance to make the team. Sheldon didn’t want to be here anymore so why keep him here? Gocong didn’t fit our scheme and he fell out of favor with the coaching staff. I am fine with getting Ricky Sapp and Trevard Lindley for them.

by The Legend on Jul 28, 2010 11:52 AM EDT reply actions

Not to mention Sheldon is on the wrong side of 30 and you can see his play deteriorate over the season. I know we hate to mention that, but it’s true. Look at his play in each game over the season, and while his “WOW” stats were up, he started getting fooled and looked foolish in quite a few games at the end of the year. You might have gotten a year out of him, maybe two, but really, we have to judge this trade on 2010 Sheldon, not 2009 Sheldon, and I doubt 2010 Sheldon will be, well, very good.

@philatticus on Twitter

by Dylan Marck on Jul 28, 2010 12:02 PM EDT up reply actions