Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Travis Long has suffered a torn ACL and will miss the entire 2015 NFL season, according to a report from NFL media's Ian Rapoport. The injury took place to the same knee that Long hurt late last summer.
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Long suffered the injury during Philadelphia's training camp practice on Monday afternoon. The linebacker left the practice field early and did not return. The extent of the injury was not apparent at the time, but now it's obviously been confirmed.
This is obviously really unfortunate news for both Long and the team. It's extremely disappointing for Long to have worked so hard to recover only to go through the same injury after not even two full training camp practices. As for the Eagles, they were pretty high on Long. Chip Kelly admitted he would have made the team if he didn't get hurt last year. Long would have been in the mix, along with Marcus Smith, as a backup behind starting outside linebackers Brandon Graham and Connor Barwin.
The Eagles' depth at outside linebacker definitely takes a hit with the loss of Long. With Long out, there's more pressure than ever on Smith, the team's 2014 first round pick, to step up as a sophomore. Other backup Eagles outside linebackers include special teams ace Bryan Braman and rookie undrafted free agent Jordan Dewalt-Ondijo. Inside linebackers Brad Jones and Emmanuel Acho have also taken reps at the posiiton. There's also been talk of defensive end Vinny Curry getting some looks at outside linebacker.