Philadelphia Eagles sign punter Donnie Jones

The Eagles announced today that they've agreed to a 1-year deal with punter Donnie Jones and have released Mat McBriar. Jones has been in the league since 2004 and most recently spent the last 2 seasons with the Texans, who let him go after signing Pro Bowler Shane Lechler.

"Donnie Jones is a guy that we have admired over the last several years," said Eagles general manager Howie Roseman. "He has one of the strongest legs in the entire NFL and we're excited we had a chance to sign him. We watched a lot of tape on him and he's coming off a very good season with Houston. We feel he'll add a good element to our special teams units."

Jones has twice been named to the All Pro second team in 08 and 09 when he was with the Rams. He actually set the Texans' franchise records for gross and net punting last season.

He'll replace Mat McBriar who wasn't particularly bad for the Eagles last season, but clearly hadn't regained the Pro Bowl form he had in Dallas before getting hurt.

"Mat was nothing but a consummate professional for us in 2012," said Roseman. "He battled back from a tough injury situation to punt very well last year. We just decided to go in a different direction with Donnie and we wish Mat and his family all the best as he continues his NFL career."

So, we've got yet another new face and curiously, the 3rd ex Houston Texan to joint his offseason. Counting DeMeco Ryans from last year, that's 4 ex Texans now on the team including Connor Barwin & James Casey.

[Note by JasonB, 03/25/13 1:42 PM EDT ] Make it 5, forgot Nate Menkin.