The Eagles signed rookie outside linebacker Travis Long on Monday afternoon. The move comes after inside linebacker Jason Phillips suffered a torn ACL during a special teams drill (see story).
Long (6-4, 245), who went undrafted out of Washington State, gives the Eagles a versatile option at OLB in the team's new 3-4 defensive scheme. He is also only the third outside linebacker on the Birds' roster with 3-4 experience behind Connor Barwin and Everette Brown.
The former Cougar spent time as a defensive end in a 4-3 system, but he played a majority of his snaps in 2012 as an outside linebacker after the school switched over to a 3-4 under new head coach Mike Leach. That switch in philosophy appeared to pay off for Long, as he registered a career-high 9½ sacks last season.
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Long started 47 games in his career at Washington State and finished with 201 tackles (42 for loss) and 20½ sacks.