Former starting Eagles offensive lineman signs with Chiefs

Former Philadelphia Eagles offensive lineman Stefen Wisniewski has a new NFL home. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports Wis is signing with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Our friends over at Arrowhead Pride offered some context on why the Chiefs needed to sign him:

Chiefs starting left tackle Eric Fisher has missed three games after undergoing core muscle injury repair surgery. He is expected to be out for at least a few more games. Starting left guard Andrew Wylie sustained a sprained ankle during Sunday’s 19-13 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. Cameron Erving has been holding the fort at left tackle while Fisher has been out, and rookie Ryan Hunter entered the game on Sunday when Wylie left the game. But Hunter was waived from the squad on Tuesday to make room for another veteran player: defensive tackle Terrell McClain, who was brought in to take up the slack along the defensive line with the injuries to Chris Jones and Xavier Williams.

Wis had been a free agent ever since the Eagles released him during final cuts. He was arguably the most notable player the Eagles parted ways with since he made 27 starts (including playoffs) over three seasons in Philadelphia. One of those 27 came when the Eagles won Super Bowl LII.

The Eagles originally declined Wisniewski’s 2019 option back in March but later re-signed him at a lower rate. Wis figured to be a backup interior offensive lineman on this year’s team but his preseason struggles led to him being cut instead. The Eagles decided to go with the guy with more theoretical upside in Nate Herbig — an undrafted rookie free agent signing — as opposed to keeping Wis around.

The Eagles easily could’ve had interest in re-signing Wis had they suffered some interior offensive line injuries this season. They’ve avoided that so far (knock on wood), though, and they’ll continue to hope that’s the case.