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Do the Philadelphia Eagles have any dirty players?

Which Eagles player could be considered the dirtiest?

Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Do the Philadelphia Eagles have any dirty players?

Dirty is a subjective term, but that's the question I asked myself and some other Bleeding Green Nation writers recently. There isn't an easy answer that comes to mind. Last year I argued that former Philadelphia cornerback Cary Williams could be considered the team's dirtiest player, but even The Sconce Master wasn't a slam dunk. And now he's gone.

So who is left? Are they even any candidates? Chip Kelly values culture so much. It almost seems hard to believe he'd ever keep too many, if any, dirty players on the roster. Still, for the sake of this discussion, at least one player has to be considered "the dirtiest" even if he's not a super dirty player. Here are some candidates, some of which might surprise you.

Jordan Matthews

Wait, what? JMatt is a dirty player? Well, maybe not. But we do know he's a bit of a trash talker! Remember that time he taunted J.J. Watt?

Yelling at the best player in the league as a rookie is, uh, BOLD. Though it may have helped he was on the sideline while Watt was on the field...

Jason Peters

Some people might call Jason Peters dirty for fighting Chris Baker, but you'd be crazy to say Baker didn't provoke him by laying out a dirty hit on Nick Foles first.

Peters was fined $10,000, but he said: "I'd do it again."

DeMarco Murray

How awkward would it be if Damion Square was still on the Eagles?

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This was a dirty play as far as the rules are concerned. He was fined $21,000.

I also found this line from a recent blog post on Zach Ertz's website interesting. Bold emphasis is mine:

"He’s also one of the hardest working guys that I’ve ever been around. He has a tremendous work ethic, the kind of guy who holds everyone else to a higher standard than they might reach on their own. He also has — I don’t know how to describe it, exactly — basically, a personality that you don’t really want to mess with. He’s the kind of guy you always want to keep in your side of the ring, and he’s going to help our team a lot."

Maybe that's more of a toughness thing than a dirty thing.

Bennie Logan

If you're surprised to see this name here, you should be. By no means is Bennie Logan a dirty player. However, he does seem to talk a lot after plays are over. This is something I really noticed watching the games live in-person last year. I don't have much proof to show here, but there are these tweets from Dave Mangels:

Yes, that's Bennie standing over DeSean. Bennie also favorited Dave's tweet, so he's not hiding from it.

Rest of NFL

After review, I don't think the Eagles really have any truly dirty players. So with that in mind, let's look at the rest of the NFL. Who are the dirtiest players in the NFC East? How about outside of the division? Let's hear your ideas on the dirtiest players in the NFL, whether they're from the past or present.

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